I only have the steam washer so I can't comment as to which is better to get the steam in. However, I can say look around for the older LG steam washer/dryers that are floating around. They came out with the new square door models so the round ones are much cheaper now. I picked up a pretty red LG steam washer last week for $950 delivered. Love it so far!

By "fill" I was referring to filling with clothes - a traditional agitator-type top loader is rougher on clothes when the water level is set for a partial fill. The vanes usually are usually largest at the bottom and will just violently shred your clothes, especially at the faster agitation speed. The worst in my experience were late-'80s and '90s Whirlpool (and related brands) that had an agitator that couldn't twist very far in either direction, and tried to make up for it by agitating very fast (most of them would automatically slow down to the "gentle" speed partway through the cycle, even if the regular or heavy-duty cycle was selected, but by then the damage was done). It was particularly bad in their apartment-size 24" wide washers, which had a small tub that didn't leave much room for the clothes to tumble; large items like pants or bed linens were particularly at risk. Other manufacturers of that era, like Maytag and Speed Queen, had a 180 to 210 degree arc to the agitation that allowed it to twist back and forth more slowly and still move water through the clothes. Actually, the only top-load washer with an impeller plate (not sure if that's the right term) I've used, an 8 year old Haier, is substantially rougher on clothes when washed or rinsed with anything but a full water fill; but the plate spins faster than most recent HE top loaders and it doesn't have a recycling waterfall or a spinning drum to help with washing so the rotating plate is the only mechanism for moving water. I'm guessing the new large-tub top loaders are more gentle.

I'm sure there will be others more informed than I am but here's what I heard today while appliance shopping. I asked the salesperson about the differences btw the steam wash and steam dry. As you indicate, they advertise the wash as being stain removal and the dry as being wrinkle removal. The sales person said that the cycles are pretty much the same thing. He noted that the LG dryer uses a water dish for the steam while the washer takes water from the water supply going to the washer. One other brand (I forget which - someone will know) has a water supply from the washer to the dryer. I am hoping to get wrinkle removal but I only need the washer. Frankly, it seems like the dryer would be better at wrinkle removal. I already have a spare dryer at home. The salesperson said the washer would work to refresh clothes and remove wrinkles. Incidently, I have a HUGE problem with wrinkles using my Whirlpool FL. However, I just learned that it's mostly caused by the small drum size of the particular washer/dryer pair we own (2.3, I think) We purchased this set because we had a small area for appliances in our old house. Now that we've moved, we have two hook-ups and DH hooked up our old dryer, which has a large drum and the wrinkle problem is much, much less.

CR's reliability chart shows the percentage of each brand that "needed a repair or had a serious problem." Let's look at two hypothetical brands, "Brand A" and "Brand B". 12% of Brand A's machines suffer from a drain pump failure. Definitely serious, but if it's fixed promptly, and the replacement pump doesn't fail, you get over it. On the other hand, 12% of Brand B's machines suffer from an "unfixable" problem, such as: 1) Frequently takes an unreasonable amount of time to spin, or fails to spin; 2) Damages the clothes in some way; 3) Failure of a component whose replacement costs as much as a new machine. Brand A and Brand B will look equally reliable on CR's chart. Which one would you rather buy?