Perm Press (or Casuals), Delicates or Handwash, Bulky Items, Heavy Duty, etc. ... the various cycles are provided to get best results, fabric care, reduced wrinkling, less wear-and-tear on delicate items ... so yes, I do use them.

On my old toploader, I used Normal for sheets, towels, blankets and throws, throw rugs, really dirty jeans and work clothes. I used Permanent Press for most clothes, because it had shorter agitation times and slower spin. Delicates has shorter agitation for, well, delicate fabrics, like some of my tops and sweaters. Handwash for bras and swimsuits and such. Handwash has little agitation which is important for hand washables. So yes, I used all the cycles. Gentle laundering keeps me wearing my same favorite clothes, like my Nike pants, for years on end. They look like new. Some people don't like to wear things that long, so maybe for them it doesn't matter if they launder them harshly.

Just about every day! But I'm really compulsive about laundry.

Excellent question.

With my old Frigidaire Gallery FL which finally bit the dust two weeks ago, it was very rare I used anything except the "normal" (cotton) cycle; jackets usually were washed on "delicate". The vast majority of my clothes are cotton, anyway...

But now that I have a Miele W4842 with beaucoup choices, I strongly suspect I will use them fairly consistently to match the wash loads. I normally cringe at even the thought of allowing the machine to micromanage various wash loads, but the Miele is unquestionably well-programmed as my observations told me.

I often think that one's usage of other wash cycles is rather dependent on how well the other cycles match the user's expectations. But that's just my opinion.

have you ever washed your favourite cashmere pullover on the normal cycle ?? ;-)

Have you ever washed linen dress shirts on "normal @ 140°F" ?
Perma-press actually makes a huge difference when washing with **true** hot water

I don't use Delicate/HandWash that much because I don't have that much that requires it. But I use PermPress all the time. It provides the maximum water fill on my washer. It is a warm wash and cold rinse.

I haven't used the delicate cycle, but I am a man and don't really have them. I also only sort my clothes by color and tend to use white or normal. I have gotten some bad feeling that my Samsung uses too little water in cycles, so I have been using extra wash, and extra rinse on all clothes and set to heavy soil level for any kind of spots/stains. I like to use warm rinses to get more soap out on normal. I use sanitize to get extra hot washes and cold rinses for whites now too. As you can guess, I think I should have searched for info about water usage before I got our machine. Would not have gotten a Samsung.

When my daughter lived at home I used the hand wash cycle all the time because half of her clothes were hand wash only! I have the GE Harmony which has a touch screen. I have warm or cold preset buttons but otherwise I usually use the screen. You touch the button for what you're washing, ie. sheets, towels, blankets, etc.