Absolutely! We're just 1 month in though with a 9550 set which is now made in Mexico (no longer GE). Huge improvement over our 25yr old Lady Kenmore (Whirlpool) set that was actually still going strong (just rusty from a mishandling in a couple of moves). Our daughter swears by these, and complained whenever visiting about the old machine....and you know what, she was right....no comparison. Underwear, towels, whatever much whiter brighter, and clothes are handled much better than with an agitator and many many gallons of water. The dryer was little changed though after all those years....still has a welded seam that makes a slight thump each rev just like the old one which by the way was never repaired after all those years. One improvement in the dryer though is the steam (or water squirt), does magically pop the wrinkles right out and is quite convenient.

I'm glad I found this thread! I have wanted a Duet washer and dryer for three years now. We'll be buying a house / condo after the beginning of the year and was basing my desire for the Duet on my father-in-law's set that I've used. Sounds like the Duets were "de-contended" over the years to reduce their "cost" to produce. What a shame. I certainly have noticed FL washers becoming more popular over the last two years or so. After seeing people mention Bosch in this thread, I've decided to jump ship before I even board it. I've been looking through the Bosch and Lowe's web sites, although there are a number of Bosch dealers here in Anchorage. My two requirements in an appliance are A) Energy Rating and B) Noise. Our Kenmore (really Whirlpool) fridge was actually below the U.S. Energy Guide rating a few years ago. It was almost to the bottom of the energy usage on the Canadian guide, even. I don't mind mixing brands. Just as with employers, there's NO reward in brand loyalty. They can change design or build quality practically overnight to satisfy the holly stockholders. Now to go try to dig up some 'dirt' on the Bosch white goods. We use a Bosch dishwasher at work (residential level machine) and it's shockingly quiet. The prices are in line with Duet-class Whirlpool goods and the energy use seems quite low (not to mention attractive styling).

At first glance the floor drain idea sounds like a pretty good idea, but when you think about it, the only thing seperating the inside of your lovely home from a filthy sewer, is the U-bend water trap in the floor drain. No problem if you flush it regularly, but if you let it dry up you're going to be waking up to the lovely smell of sewer gas. However, this would work if it can be connected to another drain, and then have both drains flow into a U-bend trap. That way the other drain would presumably keep the U-bend closed off. I'm not a plumber though, so please treat this as speculation, not a suggestion. As far as putting the washer in a tub is concerned, I tend to agree with your sales person. The risk is that it will lower the friction between the washer and the floor, and your washer will start walking all over the place. It's true that a washer on a pedestal is going to weigh 250 lbs plus, but the problem is resonance between the washer and the floor, not that the washer isn't weighing enough, because these resonances are specifically caused by the washer being so heavy. So, if you have a vibration problem with the washer, it's specifically because the 250 lb weight of the washer is interacting with your flexible floor. Weedmeister's suggestion regarding manual single handle water valves actually has quite a bit of merit, because if you think about it, you realize that you're dealing with probabilities here. Let's say for aurguments sake that the odds of you having a broken water hose is 100,000:1, and the chance that you would forget to turn the hose off is 100:1, you can calculate the chances of you having a flood as 10,000,000:1, and you've effectively turned the remote possibility of a flood from a broken hose into something that's impossible for all practical purposes. The trick lies in being able to train everyone who uses the washer to turn the valve handle to the off position after every wash load.

Hi looser, I got the 800!!!! It was somewhat of a rush decision since, although my machines were working, I've been getting a lot of staining on clothes for a while. The other day I opened the washer and it was full of water - Oooooh Noooo!!! I was washing brand new towels, but hadn't overloaded it. I think the machines are just old and run down. I was able to find another cycle to get it to empty, but it's happened before and the machines were making noises. So, I called my kitchen appliance dealer and they let me switch some kitchen appliance off an open ticket, to add the Bosch set (this way I wouldn't loose my discounts from a special sale). I'll buy the appliances when they have another sale. I just didn't want any more stains, rust and oil, on anything else so I just went ahead and took the plunge. I'm glad you mentioned that the 800 has more flexible cycles. The salesman told me it did, but to have it validated here works for me. They had a 500 on sale, but it didn't seem to have the individual features of the Duet. The Manager really sold me - I think because of this forum, he was willing to "talk" to me about details. It will be here tomorrow afternoon - NEVER thought I'd be excited about a washing machine and dryer. Just hope I'll be just as excited when my granite is installed!! BTW, I almost did get the Duet, but for the money, they would have been almost as much as the Bosch.