I would definitely consider mixing different washers and dryers if the matching dryer is louder than you like. No one is going to care if they match, even if you had them sitting in your kitchen. I don't know many people who have all matching appliances in their kitchens, they get what suits them for each appliance. The same should go for washers and dryers. I have the Cabrio HE washer, very quiet, I love it. I have an over 10 year old Kenmore dryer that I have repaired once 2 years ago. I love my dryer, I love the door that folds down instead of opening to the side, and the front lint filter. I will probably never own the matching Cabrio dryer because it does not suit my needs. It has a door that opens to the side, and I believe a top lint filter, I don't like those. I will probably replace it with another Kenmore when the time comes. I don't like the service at Sears, even the sales staff at my Sears is less than helpful, but they make great dryers. Maybe you can find a store where you can listen to the dryers run at least. Should be possible, no water to hook up. Remember that you don't have to buy somewhere even if you do stop in to look. Make sure you buy someplace that will take care of you and stand behind the merchandise. Some places in my area will let you play with the appliances a bit more hands on, but they are very into the hard sell. Don't let anyone push you into something you are not sure of. I guess I should know a bit about this, I used to be in retail, a diamond consultant at a major jeweler. Talk about hard sell! I didn't have the proper killer instinct for that job!

Here's some more info on the timing: This afternoon, just before heading out to get the mail, I noted the remaining time on the washer. It said 7 minutes, and in the spin cycle, though it wasn't spinning yet. When I got back (we have a long driveway), it still said 7 minutes and wasn't spinning. So I watched for a few minutes. I had a hunch that the load was unbalanced when it tried to spin, since it was the weekly load of sheets and towels, and I was correct. But it was interesting at how hard it tried to shake things up to re-balance it. It wasn't just stop, tumble a bit, and try again, but was a mixture of tumbling in both directions, some low speed spinning, tumbling, etc. Someone put some real effort into the computer program for this. When it tried high speed spinning again, I could see it shaking, then stop, and go through its paces again. I gave up watching and went back to work, but in a little while it was spinning happily, with no vibration. So the good news is that the Perfect Balance works. The bad news is that it can add time to the cycle. I could, of course, tried manually re-balancing, but I'm not at all sure how to do that on a front loader. I don't remember noticing any trouble balancing on similar previous loads, so it could have just been a quirk in the way the towels got caught in the fitted sheet, or something similar.

I’m only one person, but I love my Samsung top loader— love it. It has a very large drum, fits a king comforter when necessary. It is pretty quiet, I think. It sings a pretty song when the load is done. The controls are simple and logical. Previous washer was under warranty, but the warranty people they kept sending were so terrible, crooks even, who wasted so much of my time, I just got these Samsung units. Middle of the price spectrum, I think around $800 or so each. I’m not an expert on laundry, but we do a lot— about 2 to 3 loads a day. It does a great job.

"I've only lived in a condo and rarely entertain. I probably only need 3,300 at most. I figure since I am building, why not build as big as possible since that will be the trend?" I am going to ask you to think about things again. When I looked for a new home I measured every cupboard and drawer in my kitchen, every linear foot of hanging space in my wardrobes, every cupboard and drawer in my bathrooms and every room in my home. I then went through my house and noted what I loved about each room, what worked in each room, what was wasted space in each room and what failed to meet my needs in each room (Remember - I am a data analyst). Then I made my list of criteria for the "perfect home". I was planning on building, but visited tons of homes that were new builds and existing homes on the market. I knew about 3 years in advance of my move that I was going to move, so I had time to educate myself and find ideas that I might not have thought of on my own. I happened to visit a home that was a custom build in 1970 and it checked every box (even had a large office with no windows - required by my company for work at home staff - computer cannot be viewable from any window and must not be in a common or shared area of the home.) But my point is that you may be able to afford a 5000 sq ft home, but if it is not needed it will increase the initial cost, it will increase the cost to furnish, it will increase maintenance costs, cost to insure and property tax. Someone also has to clean this space - if you hire someone, that too will cost more. Is this the best use of your money? Could you have less and retire earlier? Will it bring you more joy than spending that money on family vacations? Trends don't matter. We live in our homes, not on the glossy pages of some magazine. What works for the designers may not work for you or your family. What works for your sister or brother or best friend may not work for you and your family. The only important piece of this puzzle is what will be best for your family. My sister had a couple that cleaned her home for years. They drove a beater car, lived in a modest home and raised 2 children and somehow were able to afford to send both through college. Then they came to my sister and told her that they were going to stop cleaning homes at the end of the year. They were still relatively young - late 40s, early 50s. She asked what they were going to do instead of cleaning homes. They told her they were building their forever home, retiring and traveling. They had saved over 1.5 million dollars and no longer needed to work. Only wish I had had some of their foresight.