I'm Italian and from NJ......here is my take on it: Melissa is a BIG troublemaker. In our family, I am the sister in law, I would NEVER allow my DH to not speak to any of his family, just because I had a falling out with them, and trust me it HAS happened. To me it looks like Melissa and her sisters are a little pack egging Joe (teresa's brother) on. Teresa went over to her brother and SIL to congratulate them, and they were HORRIBLE to her. I am NOT a fan of Teresa either, her excessive spending and spoiling she does w/ her kids annoy me, but she was clearly being the bigger person there. Her brother was drunk and ruined his own son's christening by reacting to his sister that way. Melissa's sister should have kept her mouth shut, how do you say to the Aunt of the child being christened you were invited on a technicality. Clearly they all exhibited a lot of class right there. I can't believe Melissa and Joe are expecting an apology. Disclaimer: In NJ, we do not all have larger than life christenings, homes, cars and hair- even if we are Italian.

Ramona seems to be more normal these days. I don't know WTH happened to Luann. She used to be nice, not she's just condescending. Sonya, not sure what to think of her. :-/ First season I liked Jill the most. Guess fame got to her or something. She turned into a b*tch. Alex finally doesn't take any crap from anyone and they boot her - but she doesn't get along with Sonya or Luann so... Kelly, good-bye! Agree about Cindy. A waste. I love Bethenny and always have. Haven't heard about a talk show. Haven't seen BH HW this week.

The only way to tell how much different the water useage would be is to compare the specs on the models you're considering. A Danby should use a lot less water than an Electrolux and even the particular cycles and settings used will make a difference. For generalities, it's pretty safe to say a Bravos is going to use more water than will the average front loader. Many front load users select an extra high water cycle or some even adjust the levels to use more water. I've seen complaints on the water levels on the Cabrio/Oasis/Bravos models too but a lot of it could well be the user. Essentially the same as far as the heater, since it will depend on the model as to which cycles the heater operates. Some only operate on a couple of settings, some could be set to only load cold water so it would effectively require the heater be used on each cycle. The amount the heater operates will add to the cycle times too. It's not unheard of for cycles to be 2 hours or more. Plus it'll depend on the temperature of the water coming into the unit. And some heaters only heat to about 150 while others will heat to over 200°. Especially with a low water use machine it's important to get as hot a water as possible into it when there's no heater. There's a few people who think the world will come to an end if every washer doesn't have a heater. But people have survived without them and will continue to for a long time to come. Heaters can help with certain loads but if you have hot water you can come very close to heated temps anyway. A lot depends on your needs. Also factor in how often you would need high temperatures. If your husband is the primary user of the washer I hope you're involving him in the decision. Seems to me that if he can load your current FL he could load a new one. As long as you know what model you want and you're sure it'll work as you hope, online is a viable option. However if you don't like it for whatever reason, whether you don't like water levels, clothes tangle or whatever you're more likely to have trouble exchanging it for a different model. Personally I have trouble replacing a working appliance. But I would have a concern with capacity on the dryer. What's the capacity of the one you have? Also, how often would you REALLY do full capacity loads? The guideline for dryers is 2 times the capacity of the washer. The Cabrio/Oasis/Bravos, as I recall are about 3.8 cubic feet which mean the dryer should be about 7.6 cf capacity. The C/O/B dryers are only about 7cf as I recall so clearly they bank on you not doing full capacity loads too often. There's larger dryers out there and would be worth considering if you truly do high capacities. But if looks are more important, I'm sure the matching dryer, albeit more expensive, would perform adequately. You could certainly try it and see if it works OK for you before buying a new dryer. Dryers should outlast washers. They're a pretty simple appliance all things considered. And dryers shouldn't be very expensive. They tumble clothes, heat the air and vent the moist air out. Pretty basic when you think about it. I don't think you should be totally soured on FL by one bad experience, especially with the Neptune. In fairness, front loaders have been around a lot longer than just since 2001. 1950s had them, maybe even the 40s? Neptune was Maytag's attempt at improving a design and they had a a lot of trouble at first but did work a lot of bugs out. You might consider some front loaders too, if water savings is a big thing to you. However mold issues can happen if you don't take care of the unit. If you keep it sealed up all the time, don't drain the dispensers and the like you could have trouble with a new one. Also the ambient conditions can contribute to mold on any machine. Each unit and style of unit has its quirks, advantages and disadvantages. Some are rabid fans of certain things which complicates the decision making process. Not sure if this will really help you a lot, but at least it should give you some things to consider.

We just bought the newest Bravos model 800 series washer and dryer and it does have the heater. I have run 3 loads so far - a queen comforter ran on bulky and it filled the top a little more than half way. Then I did a heavy king quilt and it was about the same. I am waiting to do my King bedspread tomorrow - it will fill the machine I am sure. Then I did a load of towels used on my dogs after their bath and one that we keep on the porch to wipe their feet. I must say the cycles are LONG - DH and I stood there the entire time watching it fill, wash, rinse, and spin. For as little movement as it seemed to have - the dirtest towel came out clean. I was really surprised by the spray rinse cycle. I would think it would need to fill the tub up as least as much as when it washed to get the soap out. I am not sure I am convinced they were really rinsed completely. But now to the dryer, which has me really perplexed. It took more time than programed for to get the comforter and quilt dry when using the Bulky cycle. I had to put each on for an additional 10 minutes on the Timed cycle to finish drying them. I did stop the machine a couple time to shift around the comforter to get the damp areas exposed and the same for the quilt. (These were not dried together but seperatley.) Then I put the load of towels in and they were not dry after 44 minutes on the normal cycle. Took an additional 15 minutes to get them dry and these are old towels not thick and lush like my bath towels are. There were about 6 towels in there. Plus I found lots of loose dog hair in the dryer that I never found in my old Kenmore. The vent was full as it always was in my Kenmore but either the hair did not come out in the wash as it usually would with my old machine or it wasn't filtered out in the vent. I don't like having to check for it each time I wash the dogs stuff. I plan on doing the dogs comforter ( yes they have one!) tomorrow. I know it will be full of hair. Any suggestions on the cycle to use to get towels done the fastest and what about the long drying times? Does it take longer to do your laundry than before? I would expect so with the washer but hoping the drying time would be less with the spinning efficency of the washer. In case anyone is interested - Home Depot here is having 10% off appliances the day after Christmas. That is on top of sale price now. hhgregg matched HDs price yesterday for us and delivered today. They also upgraded us from a 700 series washer to a 800 series for the same price as the 700 at HD.