I have the Electrolux front loading washer and dryer. I didn't purchase them myself; they came with the house I just bought in September. I don't know what models I have, though the washer says Perfect Steam and Perfect Balance, on the front, the dryer (gas) just says Perfect Steam. The previous owner told me she bought them only because they fit into the tiny laundry closet, but ended up loving them. I like them very much too. They aren't loud, wash well, and have many cycles to choose from. I especially like the touch up with steam feature on the dryer. I hope this helps!

I don't know if this type of thing affects your decision, but could be a reason for bargains.

I had a stacked Samsung front loader washer and dryer at my old house and had no problems. At the new house I have a stacked Maytag front loader and dryer. Do not like the Maytag and wish I would have bought the Samsung.

Best washer I ever had was an Asko. Bought in 1997 and worked great until 2010 when we took to our shop (landscaping) where it blasted countless loads of grimy clothes clean. If somebody wouldn't have broken the switch somehow it would probably still work. It was a smaller "European" model and the only reason we replaced was capacity. At the time we had two high schoolers in sports at home and it took too many loads to keep up. Asko only needs to be connected to the cold water which I love. It heats the water to the exact temperature and is not dependent on how hot the tap water is. Caveats are that wash times are a bit longer and it needs 220V. At least it did then.

ETA - I see they come in larger sizes now.

We love our Fisher Paykel but we did not want a front-loader and it's not on a second floor, so my model wouldn't be of interest to you. But you may want to see what they have.

Do you have to get a front loader / have you had a front loader before?

We have two different brands of front loaders in our PA house. Don't remember what they are, maybe a whirlpool and something else (housekeeper does the laundry) but we HATE them both.

They are our first front loaders and the machines take forever to dry once a load has been washed and if you don't remember to leave the door of the washer open for HOURS (which for some reason our housekeeper has a very had time with), then the whole thing smells horrible and then the stuff washed in them smells horrible. If we did not have the washer/dryers stacked, we would have gotten rid of these stupid horrible things.

By contrast, we have a wonderful top loader in our FL house.

Dee, that was a really interesting article, thank you. I'm actually suspecting that the store is in a heavy pricing war with another store down the street because the first thing out of the salesman mouth was, what pricing have you already gotten, I'm sure I can beat it. I acted like I didn't hear him and didn't respond. Either that or they're trying to unload them?

JShore, thank you for taking the time to share, I'm so glad to hear you're happy with them, that's encouraging and congrats on the new home!

Rory, I have a Samsung stove and refridge and while I need to call service for the new stove (the oven seems wonky) the fridge is amazing. I'd still be willing to give them a try is their customer service wasn't so poor. I'm with you on Maytag, have a Maytag dishwasher & microwave, never again!

Glaserberl, I've never heard of the Asko but can see they are at much higher price point than the Electrolux. The Miele's in that price point are highly rated too (and I believe they're American made). The Electrolux has on board heaters (many do now) and long cycles too.

I've had FL probably 15 years. Whirlpool, Frigidaire and Samsung. The Samsung came with a house we bought. I've been satisfied with all - no problems. I was going to get an Electrolux for our current house but the doors wouldn't open just a crack on the model I wanted - they swing wide open. I always leave my door open a crack and my laundry room isn't conducive to leaving it wide open.

I love FL machines - would never go back to a TL. Beagles - do you have ventless driers? My understanding is they take longer to dry. The only time I've had a drying problem was when I had a long duct to the exterior and it was clogged with lint. Once we got the clog out it worked fine.

Do a search on the Samsung recall of exploding washing
machines. I saw a piece on the today show last week that basically said Samsung
was not really fixing them and still selling them.

Beagles, I have the Kenmore version of the Duets now. Have had the same problem with the dryer since day one, it's junk and takes at least an hour to dry everything! Had it serviced several times and was always told it was the ventilation which is just not true. I've always kept the door of the washer open, but recently, the smell you describe has been present. Bleh... but it did take 14 years to get to that point. I think a bearing is going and it's just time but I'm short and have always had a hard time being able to get everything out of the TL, FL are so much easier for me to use.

3katz4me - You are so lucky to have had NO problems with any of those! Wow! I believe the model I'm getting has that little lever you're referring to, but the machines are in a private area so I don't mind leaving the door open either.

No, our dryers vent. Sorry if I wasn't clear... it is the washing machines that smell, not the dryers. They are wet inside after a wash and if the door isn't left wide open for a very long time until they dry completely, which takes hours, then they start to smell musty and make the clothing smell musty. Is this just my issue ? This started pretty much immediately, if I remember right.

Although, now that I think of it, our upstairs dryer is terrible too. It starts beeping every 3 seconds because it claims the lint trap is full and sometimes the lint trap thingy has to be emptied during the middle of a drying load.... and it is not full of lint either. The stupid thing beeps and sometimes my housekeeper will leave a load drying when she leaves, so I walk all the way upstairs to deal with its beeping and there's like a tiny spec of lint the size of my pinky and the dryer won't start unless I remove it! (First World Problem... but annoying none-the-less and we've had it serviced for this issue and they claim it is working the way it is supposed to, in which case it is the stupidest design ever)

Edited to add, I just looked it up and that demon dryer with the lint issue is a Bosch WTVC3500UC so I strongly urge you to stay away from Bosch! The downstairs units are Whirlpools.

OHHHHH The inside of the washer takes forever to dry. Ok, sorry, I did misunderstand. The smelly washer is a problem a lot of people seem to have and it's not just the Whirlpool either. The new Duets have some cycle you can use so it will dry the clothes in the washer (or something like that) I'll believe it when I see it, our dryer doesn't do anything that Whirlpool/Kenmore promised it would do. I don't know much about the Bosch brand but haven't heard good things.

I've already decided that whatever we end up buying, a 3 to 5 year warranty will be added.

Partst, wow. Going to go read about that...thanks so much!

Lukkiiris - I'm from Germany and was used to front loaders when we moved to the states. I hated the top loaders here from the start. When we bought a house and I got to pick my washer and the Asko came the closest to what I was used too. In 1997 they had only 2 models.

Funny thing - Shortly after we moved into our house we got a call from the city water works. They needed to check our water meter. It appeared it was not working correctly. They couldn't find anything wrong but replaced it. A couple month later they were back asking if we were getting water from the neighbors. Apparently our water consumption was not enough for a 3 person household. I asked them if our washing machine could have something to do with it and they said something like "Well, why didn't you say that you have one of those newfangled machines!"

We have a high efficiency LG top load washing machine. It doesn't smell but neither does it get the clothes particularly clean and the cycles take forever.

We had a brand new Bosch set that started giving us trouble when it was less than a-year-old. We spent years trying to fix it partly because I felt it was unconscionable to just put it in a landfill. Our repair man was on a personal mission to figure it out. As a coping mechanism, my mind has blocked out some of the details and tortured history. All I can remember is the following mantra "no Bosch, no Bosch, no Bosch".

We bought a set from Miele. I really like all the choices of settings for doing the wash. I have no idea if it's really worth the price or better than anything else. The dryer is fine, hard to really get excited over any of it.

We got the top model Miele washer and dryer when we moved to CA 6 years ago. I have had 2 service calls on the washer and 1 on the dryer. Miele repair rep has been pretty good, but it can take a few days to get the appointment. He has been able to do the repair once he comes out, as all they do is Miele and he comes in a van with all Miele spare parts.

No issues with smells, but I always leave the washer door wide open when not in use.

I would buy the Miele brand washer and dryer again.

We have a front load LG; not more than 4 or 5 years old. It is (I find out now) a brand prone to "water hammer"; the banging as the machine fills is scary loud. I am happy with the cleaning ability and cycle length, but apparently the vibration can actually break brackets holding copper pipes within walls. Supposedly there is a plumbing device that can be installed that would reduce this; we really need to get that.

We've had Kenmore (made by LG) washer and dryer for 6 going on 7 years and no issues at all with either of them...except the time DH overloaded the soap in the washer! I now have switched to pods so he can't do that any more!

I have new Whirlpool Duets (bought a couple of months ago) and really like them. No problem at all with them. In a former home I had small sized Askos (it was a condo) and also thought they were great although the washing took (if I remember correctly) much longer than my current front loaders. The one thing I wouldn't go back to is top loaders.

I have a Speed Queen, a year and a half old, top loader in my first floor laundry. LOVE! I am a FL hater for three reasons: the smell, the fact that the washers take FOREVER to cycle and you cannot utilize more water if you want to. The SQ has many cycles and options for water levels. And no smell! Gets everything CLEAN!

My last FL, Frigidaire, needed major repairs every year of its 5 year life. Electrolux makes Frigidaire. The previous one needed no repairs but just didn't get clothing clean. I have a farm- we get dirty.

I bought the SQ from my local hometown appliance dealer, asked them which brand they recommend (they carry everything) Hands down SQ.

SQ also makes front loaders so that is what I am getting for my upstairs laundry. That washer will be for lighter duty, but the sales person states it is just as tough as the TL I have on the first floor. Prices were in line with the big box and BB.

We bought the Whirlpool Duet set back in 2003. Only problem was a belt after 10 years which DH fixed for $20. It did take a long time to dry clothes. When we moved, we sold the set because the dryer was gas and we needed electric. So after a bunch of research, I went with what I know, and bought the newest version of the WP Duet. I love them, and it only takes 30 minutes on medium to dry a full load. I wonder it the drying time has anything to do with electric vs. gas and we also have less than a one foot dryer vent run.

Love my front loader. Like more efficient dishwashers, takes a long time to run a load. But on the plus side, gosh you can jam a lot of clothing in there. I do my king size (medium weight) duvet. And it is very gentle on clothes. I also have good success with light/quick wash for normally worn clothing which takes the cycle down to ~45 mins. On high spin speed, clothing comes out half dry which I love and cuts down on dry time. Always leave the door cracked and I manually dry out the door gasket as well, this seems to alleviate all smell. The previous owners of my house appear to have neglected these steps and the washer reeked when I first moved in.

As for the original research, I feel your pain. I love researching things, but I hate it because all the information online is so conflicting! I wish someone would just hold my hand and tell me what is going to break down the least.

I have always left the door of my FL washing machine open a crack and I've never had any odor. I learned that years ago on the laundry forum, which by the way, is how I first discovered these forums.

All my driers have been electric and don't take particularly long to dry - maybe 40 minutes. If you have a vented drier that takes a long time to dry I would recommend you make sure you don't have lint clogged somewhere in your duct. The drier makes adjustments if the ventilation is inadequate to prevent overheating and fire. We ended up pulling a softball size clog out of the duct on the outside of the house - after fishing something in as far as we could on the inside which must have dislodged it.

Normal load of wash is about 50 mins - nothing compared to my DW which is over 2 hours. I can of course get the washer to about 90 mins with different settings.

I think my normal wash (cold/cold/full load/high spin) is about 1h15.

I've had front loaders since the late 90s, first the much reviled Maytag Neptune (which we had no trouble with) and then a Frigidaire Gallery (an Electrolux brand) and then after a move another Frigidaire Gallery.

I really like front loaders. Yes, you need to keep the door open to avoid it getting mildewy inside (which can be remedied by running an empty load with bleach). Living in California with the drought we've been in for the past several years, I appreciate the water conservation. They usually have higher spin speeds than top-loaders, so save time and energy on the drying end as well. Plus you can stack full-size washers and dryers, so that's a bonus.

They are also great in that not having the center agitator means you can cram an awful lot of clothes into one load and they still get clean.

I love my Miele washing machine. Going on 6 years now. Never have had a service call. I do leave the door open but that's it. I love all the wash functions. If you read the laundry forum, they teach you how to add more water if you want (I've never done this). I have two young children and it gets out 99% of stains on the first try with minimal effort from me. I really can't say enough about it! I did not get the dryer, as a matching Miele pair wasn't in the budget. In my research (mostly on the laundry forum here) they said the washer is most important. As long as you have a dryer with a sensor you are good.

If I were in the market today, I would do either Miele (if I didn't need high capacity; they discontinued their "American" size washer which is what I have) or Electrolux.

My Miele can do an express load in 30 minutes, a normal load is 1:04, and I can extend it all the way to 1:54 for heavily soiled items. Within that, there are many other choices including about 7 water temps and 6 or 7 spin settings.

You don't have to have a front loader to have a high efficiency machine. My FP is EE and conserves water. I'm assuming there are other brands of HE top-loaders. Not trying to sway the OP on her choice, just stating facts. Robo, that seems like a long time for a load, I'm going to have to time mine sometime. I will say that clothes are well "wrung-out" so they don't need as much drier time. Ours does have a center agitator, but there are only two of us and we don't have the need to cram alot of clothes in a load. I don't remember what year we bought ours, they are at least 5 years old, maybe older. We've not had a single problem or a service call on either. Honestly, this is one of the few items/brands that I would honestly do a commercial for. We are that satisfied.

We got LG front loaders in 2006. I had never heard of LG back then but they came highly recommended. Dh worked in the tech industry and did quite a bit of overseas travel and knew the company was well regarded overseas. We have four kids, all of whom play sports, so you can imagine the amount of laundry we do. We have never had any issues until about two months ago when the washer kept failing to drain during the spin cycle. We had a repairman come out who diagnosed the problem (needed a new drain pump) which was going to cost us about $350+ for the part and labor. We considered just buying a new machine since it is 11 years old and apparently the typical example life span these days is about that before the more expensive parts need replacing. Before researching new machines, I happened upon an bulletin board for appliance repairs. I stated my issue and asked whether it was worth it to replace or repair. Several repairmen responded that the part itself was inexpensive and fairly easy to repair for any person is is relatively handy. I found the part online for $30 and a step by step you tube video on the parts supplier website which I sent to Dh to see if he wanted to attempt it. He did and while it took a couple of hours vs. the 45 min video, it works again! This is the only time we've have any sort of problem with either machine.

Our regular cycle takes 55 minutes to wash and the clothes come out fairly dry. Unless it's an oversize load, to dry takes 45 minutes. There is a sensor that will decrease the time if the clothes don't need as long. I can also add more time if it's an oversize load. I leave the door open on ours because it's in our basement - it can smell if left closed and not dried out.

My neighbor just bought a huge TL machine that can fit about 3x as much laundry as mine. I looked at the reviews when we thought about replacing ours but they weren't great. I wish I could remember the brand. she had the FL machines prior but decided to go with the TL because of its huge capacity. Mine is pretty big and while hers would come in handy for certain large loads, I wouldn't need that huge size on a regular basis.

I love my Electrolux front loads with steam. I've had them for about 4 years now and zero problems. I'm only 4'11 so top load machines are evil. Plus front loads are more efficient and I can fit my king size comforters in them.

The newer FL machines (under 5 years) are better designed to not leave water standing under the barrel. They drain more thoroughly thus reducing the mildew factor. I leave my FL Maytag Maxima door open between washes and no problems. Also I only use one tablespoon of Tide powder per my trusted repairman's advice. Liquids use animal fats and those feed mildew. I also tried a cheaper powder (Foca) and almost immediately started to smell mildew. I stick with Tide and get great wash results.

I have an LG pair and have been very happy with them.

Electrolux front loader pair about 18 months old. Cleans very well. No problems with odors, but I leave the washer door open. Most loads are on "sanitize." Every other week a load ( DH's white underwear) has chlorine bleach.

Blfenton.......I have an LG top load washer, about 5 years old. I do most loads now on "speedwash" which is about 30 min. I'm retired and DH works in an office so I figure how dirty do our clothes really get? The longer cycles are there if I feel something is soiled enough to warrant a longer wash. I've had no mechanical problems yet and am generally happy with the pair.

I have 15-year-old front loader washer and dryer. We got the pedestals, and I have to say they are nice--I like the drawers underneath where my kids put their dirty socks and other unmentionables after sports practice. I also appreciate not bending over so far to get inside.

Mine are one of the original frontloaders and I've had 2 repairs on them that I can remember. They perform very well but I'm careful to use HE laundry detergent and only half the amount, at most. I also don't vary the cycles much so I'm not challenging the electrical components (or so that's my theory). Because of their age, I know we're nearing the end of their lives but I'm willing to do a few more repairs unless they completely break down.

I also blow them a kiss and thank them each time they complete a cycle. I swear this is the key.

I keep my washer door cracked open a bit when not in use to avoid the smell. It makes sense if you think about it--to keep a FL leak-free during a cycle vs. a TL, the seal must be more tight when closed. A TL still has some air circulation when the lid is down.

I am cracking up Lisa! And I am grossed out prairiemom. I guess I need to go back to the laundry forum to read out powder detergents.

I have had a WP and Two LG sets. the only time I change is when we move. My latest shopping saga is on the laundry forum. I always used timed dry. for some reason the sensing has never really worked for me on the LG's. Timed dry= no problems except the king down comforters that do seem to take two cycles to dry.

Absolutely love our Samsung front loaders, had them for a few years now and not a single problem with them. Never a smell, clean great, definitely recommend. I always leave the door ajar for air circulation and drying out and I only use powder never liquid he detergent. I would buy again. The installation guys told me I was very lucky I didn't get Electrolux because they had so many problems with them. I had looked at the Electrolux but preferred the features of the Samsung.

Before them I had commercial grade speed queen top load , they were awesome machines and still working when I replaced them. I gave them to my cleaning lady at the time.

Wanted to add that I too only use powder detergent (mine is he). My repairman recommended powder, and only half amounts, for both my laundry washer and my dishwasher.

Raven, I'm not surprised that you love your Samsungs, I think most people who don't have issues with them do. I have a Samsung stove and refrigerator. I love love love the fridge, the stove, I like but need to call to have the oven checked as it seems to be a little off. The reason I've chosen not to buy another Samsung is because of the recent problems with many of their products and the common complaint that their customer service is extremely poor, the worst of the worst. Their poor service has a LOT of people very frustrated.

I have two year old Samsung front loaders. No issues with them whatsoever. The tech who installed said to use a rag after each wash to wipe out the plastic ring to prevent the residual water in there from developing mold / smell.