<p>The older front loaders were shorter and more cube-shaped. Most of the newest W & D’s are taller, more upright in shape, and do not need a pedestal. Not all of the new units are stackable, so keep this in mind when shopping around. You don’t have to stack a stackable pair, but it’s nice to have the option if you ever move to tighter quarters.</p>
<p>I just had to replace our washer (so decided to do the dryer as well). Our laundry room is on the 2nd floor and we had moved our old top loader washer upstairs. Now is my opportunity to get something quieter. But! I purchased these new units in 10 minutes I had to spare after driving from work for a dental appointment :eek:
I hope I chose well. I bought a Samsung front loader and a compatible dryer.
Delivery tomorrow. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>^Nice choice, mafool. You won’t even know your new front loader is running, compared to your top loader.</p>
<p>Jshain-thanks!
( I hope you are right!)</p>
<p>Replace it.
Sounds like your requirements are not extensive and you WILL see vast improvement in quality and performance even with ONLY a new basic washer.</p>
<p>We bought a Maytag from Home Depot online sight unseen. About $350ish. Top loader.
Sensor to fill based on weight of load. I think that’s it for ‘features’.
So happy with it. Cleans great and clothes come out almost dry.
Cuts our drying time waaaay down.
So, we use less water and then less gas drying. Wonderful!</p>
<p>$350ish for a new washer? That’s what I paid to get my 15 year old Maytag dryer repaired last year.</p>
<p>^^^ Yes, there is such a variety of prices, I would hope to land somewhere in the middle.</p>
<p>And with that, we have decided to cancell the service call and instead I will go purchase a new one later today! Now I just need to sweat over types of models. Sometimes I hate these types of decisions!</p>
<p>abasket…we just replaced our 15 plus year old whirlpool after having repaired it (husband, not serviceman) a couple of times. It too stopped spinning, and would just sit full of water. </p>
<p>So, we bought the GE, top loader. I am not a fan, really. It whines when it agitates, and the water saving feature means that it doesn’t seem to fill as much as it should. I get the idea that less water can do the same job, but in my head, if there isn’t enough water, then the soap might not rinse out well. There was a learning curve on how much (LITTLE) soap to add, so that did help with the sudsy clothes at the end of the cycle. There is no agitator, and the clothes are practically dry at the end.</p>
<p>So, does it work? Yes. Does it clean as well as my old one…the jury is out. It’s just different…</p>
<p>Good luck. We spent a lot of time researching this, and like you, the front loader was not a priority. Our household has shrunk from 5 to 3, with the baby out the door in a few years, so smaller was ok. That said, the drum in this one is huge…6 pairs of jeans and room to spare.</p>
<p>Shellz, thanks - your situation sounds very similar! </p>
<p>I’m torn between not wanting to spend an over the top amount, but also wanting to get something efficient, well working and technologically updated. Seems like if I buy a top loading agitator machine, it will be so outdated in a few years.</p>
<p>I do not have the pedestals for my Duets, and I have no problem with the height. </p>
<p>BTW, the dryer I got has a “steam” feature that is apparently a de-wrinkling/refreshing cycle for items that are already clean. To use it, the W/D need to be installed side by side so that the necessary water can gotten from the washer line using a splitter. Ours can’t be side by side until we renovate the laundry room, so I don’t know how it works. But it sounds great!</p>
<p>Ours cannot be side by side either…I do plan to at least take a look at the front loaders - open mind. :)</p>
<p>I am usually an (over)researcher when it comes to purchasing household items.
Well anything really.</p>
<p>But yes, it’s true, I chose to just go online to homedepot and lowes, read reviews on the lower priced name brand washers and click to buy. So atypical for me but it worked out great after about one year now.</p>
<p>BUT our families needs are modest. Family of 3, hope to be 2 soon.
This low end new top loader is not silent but it lives in our old house basement so it doesn’t need to be. And since it is about 15 yrs newer than the one it replaced, it has waaay more ‘bells and whistles’ even though it’s a cheap model. The capacity is huge and the water saver feature is wonderful.</p>
<p>I realize that some families have a much longer list of requirements for a washer.
For us, we’re moving into the ‘if it lasts 10 years we will be thrilled’ camp.</p>
<p>Musicmom, is yours agitator or no agitator???</p>
<p>musicmom…we have the same mentality…modest needs, inexpensive is a plus, and 10 years (or more…?) would be ideal. I think my GE will do the trick. I am saving my money for something FUN…not the latest greatest household appliance. (OTOH, the Maytag dishwasher we just bought is amazing…so quiet and did I mention QUIET! That was money well spent)</p>
<p>After 10 plus years in our house it kills me to start replacing appliances and paying for household repairs. The water heater is next, I am sure…but I’d rather go on a vacation. Hot water is overrated, right? ;-)</p>
<p>Our washer will also go into the basement of our 1925 house. Not quite scary basement, but the laundry area is definitely “no frills”. 
Which is probably one reason why a real pretty set just isn’t a top priority on my radar.</p>
<p>abasket- yes, agitator.
The capacity is amazing compared to my old one. Easily handles queen size quilts.
Could NEVER get away with that with the old one.</p>
<p>And we DO have a very scary old house basement…can’t even call it a laundry room…it has exposed pipes and accompanying spiders…
So we absolutely would not spend for ‘pretty’. :)</p>
<p>It is sad to say that we have gone over to the dark side with ‘stuff’.
We used to buy middle of the road or more high end thinking it would last longer and serve us better. That just isn’t ringing true anymore, except maybe with cars.</p>
<p>So, now we buy disposable items and replace. Bought a $60 brand new name brand blu ray player at christmas to replace an 8 yr old DVD player/recorder that we had probably spent >$300 on. Didn’t need the DVD recorder anymore as we have Directv hard drive thingy…wanted blu ray. DH found a fine home for the old machine with someone at work (we don’t actually trash our old stuff) and we are enjoying the blu ray machine.
We don’t expect it to last 10 yrs but then again, we probably will ‘need’ the next new thing before that anyway.</p>
<p>We also love giving things away on freecycle.</p>
<p>I’m with musicmom.
We are empty-nesters, closer to the end of life in a family-size house, dismayed by the relatively short life, high ticket price, high cost of repair, low performance, low reliability of these new-fangled home appliances! They sure are cool-looking and cool-sounding, though!!!</p>
<p>Every month, after a remodel 11 years ago with med to high end appliances, one of our machines in the house breaks down… It is getting crazy. What is next!</p>
<p>I am glad to hear that the recent washer purchasers feel their front-loaders are cleaning well and offering extra good performance= for those prices they should!<br>
Please let us know when their first repair occurs, and how much the repair costs- to me that is a big factor, too.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, the old style top loaders have agitators, and are considered inferior by the manufacturers because they agitate the clothes so hard. The impeller was invented to reduce the agitation’s deleterious effects on the clothes.
However, I am hearing pretty bad things about the “impeller” style top loaders ability to clean- the new type that is supposed to do less harm to the clothes. These take HE detergent, if I am not mistaken.</p>
<p>Anyway, I look forward to hearing more news as the new appliances in your family age.
Thanks all for your great comments.</p>
<p>Anyway, given our family’s needs, I plan to go with a Roper (made by Whirlpool) or similar low low end agitator non- top locking top loader. My 11 year old Maytag Atlantis needs a new transmission, but I am using it with glee till it totally dies! Right now it makes pretty bad noise when it spins, but it still does everything it needs to. It would cost over $400 to repair…</p>
<p>Front loader! No need to choose small/med/large load water amounts or wait until you have a “load”- the washer adjusts for you. Spins out so much more water. Fits so much more- queen sized comforters et al. I sometimes fill the washer as much as I can and split the load for drying- saving time for doing one wash load and less/better drying.</p>
<p>Different washers will have different features- including spin speeds (rpms, how they determine low/high…) that extract more/less water. My mother used to do our family laundry at the laundromat (hated to have to go with) and she would pay the extra $ to put loads in the “extractor” to get rid of the water top loaders left.</p>
<p>I agree with skipping the pricey underneath cabinets as well as the top piece available. I went to Home Depot and bought a sheet of shower liner material which I then lined with carpet pad material and cut to size to make a counter on top of my side by side washer/dryer arrangement that fit to the side and back walls (with cutouts for the hoses). This was to prevent stuff from falling behind/between with the lack of a high back. Transferring wash from washer to dryer would have been easier if I hadn’t had them customize with my dryer to the left when we built (can’t reverse washer door), but not a big deal.</p>
<p>When you think about it, our ideal kitchens and laundry rooms would have to be huge to put everything at the most convenient height…</p>
<p>Well, it’s bought! I ended up with a top loading no agitator Maytag with a large capacity. I think it’s the best fit for us. Looked a good bit at the front loaders but just wasn’t interested in the front loader price plus, in our basement the washer and dryer are not right next to each other which made the idea of transferring the clothes while bending over even more awkward. Final price, $530 (plus tax and all) I’m satisfied.</p>
<p>Won’t be delivered till the weekend, but crossing fingers I made a good decision!</p>
<p>Sounds like a well thought out decision.
Isn’t it so good to be DONE with the shopping part and it’s on it’s way to you?</p>
<p>Bet it will work out great for your family.</p>