I had a couple of pink flamingos in my yard for awhile. I named them 'Tongue' and 'Cheek'. They finally died. I think of,embarrassment.

mc58 Looks like asolo has already got ya helped, but figured I'd chime in again since I already did some testing here at home for ya. I picked up some Tide HE liquid yesturday and have just done a wash in my Affinity using half the minimum dose suggested. (I figured my Affinity would be a decent machine to do a comparison as it has many similiar specs to yours even though it is made by Frigidaire and not Whirlpool.) I am now on my second wash/rinse trying to get the suds out and I have hard water with no softener. From the looks of what I am currently seeing, I will have to do another wash/rinse still. Now my suds aren't high and fluffy like the ones in your picture, mine are on the flat, runny side, but I am attributing that to the fact your water is soft and mine is not. Now my water is not the hardest water. Local water supply is 8 grains, so my water is just hard (between moderately hard and very hard) on the scale I looked at. I also know Tide recommends the use of their liquid detergents in hard water. Something tells me they have made it to be used in the hardest water found, which would explain the suds problem. Adding to the fact it is 2x concentrated now, makes it very difficult to cut the amount down enough to prevent oversudsing without diluting it into another bottle first. After my own test it looks like it is probably the detergent, but asolo already has ya covered in that regard as he has the same machine as you and soft water as well. Anyway, I hope this helps you for what it's worth and it looks like I may either be returning the Tide HE liquid, or diluting it in another bottle and using it for pre-treatments only. I never paid attention before, but I'm thinking maybe I should double check my Cheer HE liquid now too since they are both made by P&G.

Wow! And I thought the granite vs solid surface discussions on the Kitchen Forum were lively...I think this discussion is at least as lively!! I just spent probably an hour or so reading every post...one thing I noticed is that no one mentions that many of the TL machines have temperature controlled water fill...mine has a "warm" and "cold" that mixes hot & cold water to meet what's considered "optimal" for cleaning purposes. The amount of each temp water used varies depending on the temp of the water coming in. My manual even states that detergents do not dissolve very well in cold water and that clothes do not wash as well either. What does work better in true cold water is rinse...items rinse more thoroughly in cold water than hot or warm. My washer does have the traditional "hot" and "cold" settings, but I never use "cold" and I only use "hot" for certain linens...I stick to the controlled warm & cold for the vast majority of my laundry. My experience w/washing in hot water is that colors fade quickly--especially darks (navy, black, etc.) so I don't like using hot water. BTW...those of us on a well worry more about water usage b/c we do not want our wells going dry! Which, right now in this moderate-to-severe drought is a very real concern (mid-Atlantic states). My concern, however, is FL options....do I have options for longer/shorter wash cycles, "type" of clothing cycles, "agitation" speed, rinse speed, additional rinse cycles, soak, and, very importantly, can I wash a KS comforter in it? I cannot do so in any (residential) TLer I've owned or seen to-date. For me, it looks like a FL is my primary option. Both my DS and I have allergies and I need to be able to wash our linens in HOT water (to kill dust mites)--that includes towels, sheets, blankets, comforters, curtains, rugs, etc. [My DS is very allergic to dust (i.e., dust mites)] I've been hearing that many of the European makers (Miele, for example) are stripping down their functionality for the US market--not an advantage in my case! I'm currently researching to find out which FL that is sold in the US is best--so if you live outside the US your washers probably don't compare to US washers...sorry, but your experiences w/specific manufacturers/machines, while interesting, may not be relevant to those of us in the US. Any thoughts or comments?

"It is perhaps a pessimistic view of the power of Oprah." Boy, no kidding! Don't get me wrong, I like Oprah, but enough is enough of people being her "Lemmings." Bee, that's hilarious (but sad) that you only got candy. I keep the TV on all day as background noise since I'm alone (it's so quiet here in the country), and I kid you not, I've never seen him actually decorate. Oh, I see him rearrange furniture in someone's home and make suggestions on what to put there, but as far as his tastes go? I haven't the foggiest idea. Why doesn't he do a show on "layering", like the topics Jim does? Teach us HOW to do it. Or using "texture" in our homes? Decorating styles and ideas are endless! Home decorating has never been more popular than it is now, and he's just blowing it. It's obvious that people did tune in for decorating ideas just by reading this board in the past & talking to my friends, and all of us "decorators" have tuned out because he talks about everything BUT decorating! So I can't judge his talent because he never shows us. Strange.