Re momentum: The document below has some interesting charts, showing market penetration of Energy Star washers, as of 2006-2007. But Energy Star isn't identical with HE, because some traditional TLs met the Energy Star standards, particularly when they were looser. They're being progressively tightened.

Getting back to your question: If you buy anything other than another agitator TL, you're going to have to change your washing habits in some way, so get used to it, or buy another agitator TL while you can. And the current agitator TL's may look like your old one, but they're different in some ways e.g. wash temperatures may be lower, and no more warm rinses.

We just made the transition from an old agitator TL to an FL. Our initial decision, like yours, was FL or agitatorless washplate TL. My wife wanted the latter because it was more "familiar", but I felt the familiarity was only superficial, and that FL technology was much more mature, and therefore less risky. Experiences with the washplate TLs seem to be very polarized: Some people really love them, others really hate them.

Here is a link that might be useful: https://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/reps/pt_reps_res_retail/files/CW_ProductSnapshot_May08.pdf

starfish, I am the grateful owner of an HE TL. Mine is a Maytag Bravos (model MTW6700) and I am couldn't be more satisfied with its cleaning performance and energy efficiency. It doesn't have wash plates, but an impeller.

suburbanmd, I saw an error in that PDF - it lists Sears as a 'manufacturer' making Kenmores, but a Sears appliance store owner told me recently that Whirlpool makes all Kenmores now. I was very surprised to hear that, as I know GE makes some Kenmore dishwashwers (and perhaps other appliances). I realize he could be mistaken. But I do know that Sears doesn't manufacture washers and dryers.

I noticed that "Kenmore" error also... Look at the pie chart to the left, and you can see that they know better. Figure 7 lists Kenmore as a "manufacturer" too. Still lots of interesting stuff in there.

Thank you, suburbanmd and mara. I also heard from a Sears salesman that Kenmore is made by Whirlpool now (and yes, the pie does show Whirlpool's market share to include Kenmores). Apart from Energy Star considerations, it just generally seems that the smell issue has shifted the wave back in favor of TLs.

I have read up on both of your decision-making updates and appreciate all I have learned from them. Mara, the new Maytag should be essentially the same as the Cabrio and Oasis, right? (Or perhaps they have wash plates.) And, suburbanmd, sounds like you ended up with an LG FL -- can you give me your initial thoughts on that? I have concerns about tangling and thorough rinsing (in both) and mildew/maintenance in FL. Thanks.

No tangling in my FL LG WM2688.
Direct Drive, no transmission, no belt.
Rinsing is OK.
Has extra water (wash) options, extra rinse options.
Can select "Warm Wash/Warm Rinse".
Has water heater for Baby/Sanitary cycles.
After a year of using Tide HE liquid, noticed black mold under bottom of Door Lip.
Cleaned it and ran a "Tub Clean" cycle.
Will have to run that more often.
Switching to Sears powder.

GE Harmony TLs are good. (made by LG)

After having two FL over the course of 10yrs, I've decided to go back to TL. I searched to find one that was as NON he as possible. I would like to help save the planet but the FL are just too time consuming, upkeep wise.
The Kenmore I bought is made by Frid and sadly, has dumbed down temp controls. I will try it and see how it does.

About three months ago we replaced our old TL with a new GE Profile agitatorless washplate machine. I couldn't be happier. Also changed to Charlie's shortly after that. Our laundry "room" is the pantry and pass through from garage to kitchen and it is narrow. No room for a cracked FL door. I've been very pleased with the cleaning ability of the GE. I had a problem with spots on tees and that was the reason to change. After talking to the chemist at Charlie's, I added tsp to the wash and got those dern spots out of the clothes.

The new GE washes much cleaner than did the old Kitchen Aide TL. Although we are retired, my husband rebuilds car engines and restores cars and I garden. We have the ability to get clothes absolutely filthy! With the new washer, Charlie's and tsp, no one at the restaurant knows how dirty we really, really are!

starfish, I have a Miele now. This thread, and my "Sat, Oct 4, 08 at 11:00" posting in this thread explain how I got there. I dropped the LG right away once I realized my hottest wash (excluding sanitary) would be merely tepid. This isn't exclusively an LG issue. In other respects I liked the LG a lot, for the short time I had it. Interesting story re tangling: Our house cleaning service likes to use torn cloths, with ragged edges, for cleaning. They'd come out of the old TL "tied together" by the edges, and I'd have to rip them apart. In both FLs, the LG and the Miele, they come out individually, not to mention a lot cleaner.

suburbanmd, I'm sure you didn't base your decision solely on your washer's performance on cleaning cloths.

I have a FL LG and couldn't be happier. I don't understand when people say there's more maintenance involved in a FL.

Just leave the door open between uses, run a tub clean cycle once a month, and once in a while wipe out the gasket to check for mildrew. I've not experienced any smell or mildew issues. My clothes are much cleaner then with my old TL, and I use less detergent and water. Also the machine is gentle, clothes don't wear out as fast.

I have the GE Harmony, an HE TL and I love it. I'm not a big fan of FL's (I only have limited experience but it was enough to make me cancel my HE3 that I had on order!) and I think the Harmony is a great compromise. It has lots of room, conserves water, you can leave the door open without walking into it. If you're not sure about an FL then an HE TL is the way to go.

I don't know if there is any buying momentum toward any kind of machine. I have both a front loader and a regular agitator top loader, and I like them both. I have no experience with the HE top loaders, but they also seem to do well.

They all do the same job, albeit in different ways. Choose whichever one you like the best that has the features you want.

I've been using FL for over 30 years.In Europe and now here in USA and I prefer them to TL. They are gentle on clothes, efficient and now very good looking too (that is important for me too).
Have LGWM2496H XL capacity, couldn't be hapier.They don't make them no more!!!! Would love to know why. I even though about buying extra one while there is couple of them on line and store it for future, that's how much I like it.

buzzley, what kind of stuff do you prefer to wash in the agitator TL?

No preference, just depends on my mood. I don't really notice a substantial difference in cleaning between the two. I do think that towels washed in the top loader, being somewhat more damp going into the dryer, come out a bit softer, but the difference is negligible.

Well for the original question, is anyone still buying FLs or has momentum switched, certainly people are still buying FLs! The HE TL market is there and giving people an alternative and sort of a compromise in some ways. The HE TL however is a very small percentage of the market as yet. My opinion FWIW is that it will grow. I think a lot of people like the TL style and will opt for that option, especially now that the other benefit on some FL, that is a heater, has now crossed into the HE TL market.

I can also say this, as I go down the aisles in the stores now, the HE detergent shelfspace is expanding and non-HE is shrinking so obviously HE machines are being bought and FLs would be the lion's share of the HE market.

Not seeing the actual item but it could be that the form was using "manufacturer" as interchangeable with "brand". Kenmore of course is only a name, all Kenmore items are built to Sears specifications by other manufacturers. It would also be appropriate to say that Maytag (and Amana, Estate, Roper, etc) does not build anything anymore, they are built by Whirlpool, so the Cabrio, Bravos and Oasis are all sibling machines though some contend that one is somehow "better" than another which is very difficult to support.

...especially now that the other benefit on some FL, that is a heater, has now crossed into the HE TL market.The top-of-line model FAV9800 of Maytag's Neptune TL HE machines had a water heating feature when it was introduced to the market five or so years ago.

on a recent trip to Lowe's I noticed only a few models of traditional top load washers. a few HE top load, namely the whirlpool cabiro and F&P washers. and a ton of front loaders from many brands. so I would say people are buying front loaders and they and becoming more accepted by mainstream consumers.

I just received my Speed Queen top load and we love it! tow JUNK GE top loaders, and a desire to stay away from all the $$ electronics in the FL steered me to the speed queen, buit like a tank, 50% heavier than the old 1 1/2 year old, 3 service call) GE junk.

I went with a WP Duet 9200SQ, I think. We have a dry climate (less condusive to mold), single-story home on slab (not many basements in Phx)so no second-story issues. I looked at the Cabrio and determined it would use waaaaay more water than I was willing to spare from the rose garden.

We bought the set in March '08 and I haven't bought detergent since. There's a learning curve, of course, switching from an old TL to a new FL but I'm catching on. The first thing I washed was our quilted mattress cover. Whoa! It hadn't been that clean since I bought it. After that, I threw my husband's nasty stiff-underarm t-shirts in there and let them have it, too. Except for some purple spotted dark blue towels, I'm happy with my decision.

I looked at GE, Maytag and Kenmore and after determining that 3 of 4 were made by Whirlpool/Maytag, I went with the Duet because it cost $2200, including the pedestals, delivery, hook-up, hoses, tax and removal of the old set we'd had for 17 years. I'd been looking at them for some 6 mths waiting for a price I could live with.

starfish, one would think new Maytag should be essentially the same as the Cabrio and Oasis; however, I've heard washer-savvy repairmen say that the Bravos is better simply because it is newer and bugs have been worked out. I bought a Bravos w/d set several months ago and I am thrilled with their performance. This washer uses much less water than did my traditional washers, it holds much more laundry, and it cleans exceedingly well, plus spins so well, the dryer dries it much faster.

I like my LG FL's...my appliance guru told me that people use too much detergent and this is a major contributor to the mildew smell. She said she is down to a single tablespoon of HE detergent per load. I admit I use a bit more, but I no longer have a mold/smell issue. I occasionally run a tub clean cycle, and I do a bleach load once a week. I also use white vinegar in the rinse cycle. It's great that there are options for people with top and front loaders, but personally I really like the FL's. I can't believe how much more the tubs hold, and it is much gentler on my clothes. I also really like having my machines elevated...less strain on my back and no more lifting heavy, wet laundry up and out of the TL.

Thank you all for your input. I wish I could say that it has cleared up the FL vs TL decision for me but, alas, I now just realize that it will be impossible to find a machine that will last even half as long as my mother's Kenmore from 1965. It's actually less pressure now that I realize that I should consider this more a short-term purchase. I know what issues to consider, thanks to you all. Now, I'm just going to go with the best deal I find this weekend....

I'm definitely an FL convert, but there's one thing I don't like about them: It's a pain if you have only one item to wash, and that item absorbs a lot of water. The machine won't be able to achieve a balanced spin cycle, and the item will come out soaking wet. So you have to find something compatible to wash along with it. Some such items might spin ok alone in an agitator TL, if you wrap them around the agitator.

But for really large single items like comforters, advantage is back to FL.

suburbanmd, I've been washing comforters in my HE TL Maytag Bravos with no problem at all; in fact, its capacity of 4.6 cu ft is one of the largest on the market. I just don't see how that advantage goes to FL.

In an FL, the entire comforter is exposed to the tumbling washing action. In my old agitator TL (double-action agitator with the spiral vanes on top), only the very bottom of the comforter was agitated. Sometimes the very top of the comforter floated out of the water and stayed dry, unless pushed down by hand. Admittedly I don't know if HE TL's overcome these problems.

To compare an HE TL with a non-HE TL is to compare apples and oranges. HE TL's are completely different from TL's w/agitators; there's no problem to overcome. In my Maytag Bravos HE TL, I wash comforters on the Bulky cycle which uses enough water to completely saturate the comforters. They come out totally clean.

OK, made our decision: bought a Samsung FL 448 washer/dryer pair. We will put it in our main floor laundry, but I am planning ahead a few years, thinking that those Samsungs will end up stacked in my second floor laundry closet, while we get whatever the latest, greatest machines are at that time for our main floor. I hear from several sources that these Samsungs are abosolutely the best option for a second floor set-up. To be delivered in a couple of days. Will let you know what I learn,

We had to replace an old Sears TL 4 months before moving -- actually, we had to help our buyers do that. They chose a Maytag FL, which allowed me to "test drive" a FL for 4 months. It was okay, but I wasn't totally sold on a FL.

I'd decided to go with a F&P top loader in the house we're building. However, our well produces less water than optimum. When the other 3-4 houses in our development are built, we'll share the cost of bringing in city water, and that will be used to supplement the well, but till then, DH and I will get along with what we've got.

So I checked the water usage of the F&P (thinking it was about midway between a FL and TL) and learned it uses 40 gallons per load!! We simply can't waste that much water, so we're back to a FL.

I asked our appliance advisor what he'd choose if he had to replace his 18-year-old Bosch set, and he said either a Samsung or another Bosch, but because the Samsung had some distinct advantages, that's what it would be. Our water usage will be 8 gallons per load, which is hugely significant in our situation.

Our situation is probably unusual, but I think there are many situations in which a FL just makes the most sense.

Not unusual at all. I have a friend building in Hawaii who will have to rely on rainwater captured by his home's roof and stored in a cistern. And regardless of water's availability, we shouldn't waste it.