nsb23: "I've read to stay away from samsung and LG.' Consider the source. It happens that the worst appliance repair service that we have experienced in more than half a century was with Whirlpool service, but I do not tell everybody to stay away from all Whirlpool appliances because of our poor service experience with one appliance; be aware that anecdotes of bad service by one brand or another are just that: anecdotes. I suggest that one take others' blanket statements about two major world brands to be puffs of hot air. Both LG and Samsung make excellent washing machines. The two Korean companies are making a huge push to become the biggest brands of large appliances worldwide, and they are well on their way to that goal. The perfect appliance has yet to be built, and every individual machine may have features or missing features or manufacturing defects that you may find an annoyance. Looking for a stainless steel drum is not a bad idea. Looking for a dimpled stainless steel drum is a better one, but it will limit you to two brands, Miele ("Honeycomb" drum) and Samsung ("Diamond" drum). When local areas of your laundry's fabric get pushed into the drainage holes through which water is extracted in the spin part of the washing cycle, wear of the fabric is accelerated. The drainage holes in the Miele Honeycomb and the Samsung Diamond drums are positioned around the dimples in such a manner as to reduce the pushing of tufts of fabrics through the drainage holes, and, fortuitously, the design also allows the diameter of the drainage holes to be reduced, further limiting push-through. Dimpled drums are a very worthwhile feature. Here is a link that might be useful: YouTube video that explains the Samsung version This post was edited by herring_maven on Tue, May 20, 14 at 17:22

I am so very happy to have an old-school top loader again. My front loader finally bit the dust and we didn't even bother to try to have it fixed. It was here in the house when we moved in - we're kicking ourselves for paying extra to keep the set, we should have installed our old ones - and these were awful from day one. The first pain was the kamikaze clothing that leapt out from both washer and dryer when the door opened or you pulled something big out. It sucks that something you've just washed has to wait to get cleaned again. Plus, with a bad back, I didn't like bending down so far. It is infuriating that you need to spend extra money on those pedestals to raise them up, and laundry baskets won't fit under either door without them, so, again, when the door opens, things can hit the floor, which is horrible. The machines come out of the box with this huge flaw and you need to spend $150.00 minimum to make them work as they should. They should just be taller from the outset. Also, I like pulling things up out of the washer and then putting them straight into the dryer without having clean wet clothes go into a basket that has previously had dirty clothes in it. Then came the smell. Now it's possible that the previous owner pre-fouled the thing, but that gasket? Where water ALWAYS was? Yak. Mold city. No amount of bleach and cleaning would keep this thing clean. My clothing is now much cleaner after just a week of having a top loader again. I'm very sensitive to detergent left in fabrics, and mine are once again clean and my towels are far more absorbent. It's possible that a new machine, for way more money than I just paid for my new GE top loader, might be better, but we didn't want to spend that much and are happy to have the old style machine back.

I have pedestals and I'm 5'0". Unlike akl_vdb the aesthetics are fine in my laundry room. We are remodeling and I will keep the pedestals or if we ever replace the machines, have similar set up. I could make more space and enlarge my pantry if I stacked them as some of my neighbors with same model house have done, but I'm too short to reach the dryer if I do so. Maybe I own different models than Cooper8828 but I've also seen various models stacked in other locations and they are too high for me. I can see into the dryer but not reach the buttons. Suggest you mock up the layout on a wall with painters tape, measure where the doors and controls would be and mark them (with tape) and see how high/low they would be.

I didn't think I had mold either until I pulled back the rubber gasket and took a look. Then what I found there and inside the detergent dispenser was beyond disgusting. I have always left the door open all the way since it was brand new. Now I also leave the detergent dispenser open and I still get mold. It's impossible to get the mold out of the gasket so I will need to get a new one for about $300. It's difficult to get your arm in the dispenser socket to clean as well. This washer/dryer I was told to be one of the best front loaders by 4 different mom and pop appliance stores (Electrolux) and I 've had 5 service calls in 5 years and my husband and I are empty nesters. My neighbor who got the Speed Queen at the same time as I got my FL has had NO service calls and she has 3 kids. I will not be replacing the gasket and instead will get a new Speed Queen top load washer and dryer. I don't need all this hassle. Photos attached.