Miele washer is what I've had for a long time. It heats the water. And a gas dryer. Not Miele. I don't think Lowes has Miele. AJMadison and Designer Appliances have it. Free ship.

I wouldn't buy a Samsung appliance right now. Costco has both your brands. When you buy with a Costco Citi Visa you'll get 4 years of warranty at no cost. Costco doubles the manufacturers warranty and doubles that with the Visa card.

>>>" but CR does not factor in reliability and Customer Service."<<<

Your are right about customer service but the fine print for CR's most recent round of washer tests now says that their overall ratings for washers do reflect some reliability/longevity data. Hard to say how much of a factor that is, though.

FWIW, like Dan1888, CR does recommend staying away from Samsung washers for the time being because of reliablity issues. IIRC, CR's survey data reportedly shows that almost 1 in 4 Samsung washers (23%) have major problems in the first five years of ownership. LG reportedly has a much lower incidence. (The Yale Appliance Blog reports a rate of down around 6% for the LG washers it sells.)

LG has been getting better marks of late for post sale customer service, but the service can still be uneven. Great for some folks, bad for others. Might be a geographic regional thing.

Frankly, until recently, LG would not have been on my radar for a replacement washer. However, friends have been reporting good luck with their LG washers and I've recently run across a number of sites with information that I found helpful.

For example, a seller/repairer called Lorain Furniture --- a long time participant on automaticwasher.org where long lasting and effective washing machines are highly valued and discussed --- recently concluded that that the LG3770 might be the best current mid-priced front load washer available for both cleaning ability and servicability. Link to the video is here. He has a number of videos showing LG washers' entire cycles and washing results in actual operation. (You can find a list of these videos by googling "lorain furniture + LG 3770" as your search string.) Also, if you have not already seen it, the New York Times site, Wirecutter, just published a review of washing machines and liked LG's FL models a lot. Link is here. Wirecutter does earn money through affiliate marketing links, which should be taken into account with specific product recommendations, but the article also discusses and links to many other review sources which can be helpful when doing your own research.

In addition to DAN1888's points about reasons for buying an LG from Costco, I did find that Costco's prices on the LG front loaders were about 5% higher than the current price listed at Lowe's and Home Depot for the same models. OTOH, there also is Costco's absolute customer satisfaction guarantee -- you can return the washer and dryer for a full refund if you simply do not like them. And, depending on where you live, you also might qualify for free delivery and installation including haul- away of old units.

Interestingly, LG has recently announced that it is building a washing machine factory in Tennessee. As I understand it, production of machines won't start until November or December of this year. Between now and then, however, the trade-war tariffs are likely to keep LG prices higher than they have been.

Others will have to comment on buying extended warranties from Lowe's. I have not had any experience with them.

I'm now thinking about Whirlpool, what about the Duet or other front loader?

You mentioned wanting to buy from Lowe's but, AFAIK, Lowe's does not carry any Duet models any more. (Are still being made?) Lowe's does carry several of the current Whirlpool FL models. Home Depot carries Maytag versions of them with different door designs. My recollection is that Wirecutter picked the Maytag version as a "budget" alternative to the LG models. The knocks on these Maytag/Whirlpool frontloaders were, as I recall, mostly about slightly lesser reliability rates and very long cycle times (like 80 minutes for the normal cycle) but otherwise competent cleaning.

I'd personally buy a LG over a Whirlpool or Maytag for one major reason...RINSING! Whirlpool/Maytag models do not spin between rinses during the normal cycle. My mom has a Whirlpool and the only way to get laundry out of it without a sticky/filmy feel is to always run an extra rinse cycle and use the heavy duty cycle which spins between washes and all rinses.

My MIL has a LG WM4370HKA and it is a fabulous washer with many cycle options. On top of that, it's an excellent rinser, fast and very quiet.

I bought a Whilrpool FL from Lowe's about a year ago; it is 8540. I have been very pleased with it and find the clothes are really clean. When they had a good promotion it was a really good deal.Whirlpool 8540 FL at Lowe's

I adore my LG Steam W&D. (Yep. I said adore! I love them!) I have had them for several years. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with LG.

A friend changed out his Washer/Dryer combo and my set is around 33 years old! It has an agitator inside. I hesitate upgrading after talking to several customers at Best Buy that had upgrade theirs; and were sorry they did since their current washer and dryer were still working and now the current combo are all electronic and broke down after less then 4 years in service! The circuit board and labor were close to half the cost of their unit!

I have the LG pair and am very happy with them.

stumpydarby and cpartist, which LG models do you have? I'm back to wanting LG!

They don’t make my model anymore. That being said, it is very similar to the current LG wild cherry red front loading Steam W&D.