I’m in the market for a new washer and dryer. Do you have a set that you particularly love or hate? I do about 10 loads/week. It has always taken me a long time because the washer doesn’t spin well and the dryer takes forever. I would love a more economical, high capacity set (so I don’t have to take my king duvets to the laundry mat).
Thanks in advance!
We have an LG pair, front loading. Purchased at a discount at a Sears outlet store.
We recently purchased a Speed Queen dryer, and I am very impressed. When my Miele washer dies, a front loader Speed Queen will take its place (unless Miele goes back to making full capacity washers). It was not cheap, but it is solidly built and came with a standard 5 year warranty.
Tore out the LGs Tromm that came with the house and sold them with the old house. Could not get rid of them fast enough. Cheap plastic crap.
Speed Queen washers are great, and very fast. 30 minute cycle or so. I have a traditional top loader and I love it!
OTOH, I don’t like my Samsung dryer. The sensor “auto dry” doesn’t work well so I have to manually set the time, go out and check, etc. I do like that it has a rack you can put inside that makes it much easier to dry sneakers or other large, rigid items. For some reason, many brands to not have racks and that was a deal breaker for me.
Don’t buy any HG washer/dryer unless you can disable the infernal end of cycle beeping without voiding the warranty. Drives me crazy! Our Miele dryer has a beep shut off button, but the washer does not and it is really irritating. That is my gripe with all Miele appliances, which are otherwise very reliable. They act like a nagging mother!
Four years ago I replaced my Maytag top loading washer with a Speed Queen model AWN412 top loader. I was convinced to buy it because I was told that Speed Queen offered “commercial quality” without lots of “extra” control options that would be likely to need repair. It is a relatively simple, durable machine and works well for us. I paid over $700 for it back in early 2014 but have no regrets, as H and I prefer to buy quality – in hopes of the machine lasting longer with less maintenance than the alternative options.
We have a Whirlpool dryer, don’t have records on that handy, not sure how old it is, but has not given us trouble that I recall.
greenwitch, the best way to dry your sneakers without shortening their life is to stuff them with newspaper and let them air dry. I would never put shoes in a dryer.
Have to give 5/5 stars to the moisture sensor on my Speed Queen dryer. It can be set several levels, from swamp-damp to desert-dry. 
Speed Queen only makes washers and dryers. They don’t make refrigerators, dishwashers, stoves, etc. My parents had a Speed Queen dryer for 30 years. After going through GE, Maytag, and Whirlpool machines I spent the money and bought Speed Queen and have never been unhappy.
BB, oh lol, that wouldn’t work in the gulf south. Just imagine the mildew…, no, don’t! I have totally non-leather Khombu sandals I got at Costco and even with them, I have to run the velcro under hot water and let them dry in the sun every once in a while so the heat and humidity, after walking through puddles, doesn’t make them nasty.
I don’t have precious or expensive sneakers but I suppose I could use a low heat setting or even air fluff cycle in the dryer if I did. They don’t tumble at all on the rack.
I have a Samsung pair. The washer just died at age 8 and the repair man said to replace it with either a speed queen (around $1000) or something around $400-500. He said the latter would only last 4-5 years and not to bother to repair them. He also liked top loaders. I, however, wanted to stay with a front loader and found a Samsung front loader in the $500 range. It is close to color (why, so many shades of white, why?) and almost the same height (again, why?).
I know! I gave up on finding a match and just got what I thought would be a good machine.
Thanks so much everyone for all the replies so far.
I never heard of the Speed Queen brand and I’m going to take a look at them at my local appliance store this weekend.
I used a new Samsung w/d at a rental house over Christmas. They were heavenly compared to what I’m used to. I had no idea towels could dry in < 90 minutes.
This is great info tho and I really appreciate all that have taken the time to help me out :)!
My SQ dryer does a full load of towels in 53 minutes. And it can keep fluffing the load up until I finally get to unload it.
@Massmomm – HG? If you mean LG, both our washer and dryer have buttons to turn off or lower the volume of the beeper. I like the wash delay timer. I have the kiddo set the wash to begin and finish just before they get home so it doesn’t sit there growing mildew. (Thank goodness they do their own.)
Speed Queen! They last so much longer than other brands. They are also remarkably heavy do to having metal machine parts - no plastic in contrast to many other brands.
If you local place offers Speed Queen then that is great. If not, it is worth your while to travel to a place that does sell them. I think that some places don’t like to sell them because they last so much longer than other brands.
We just purchased a new set about a month ago, so I can’t report on how reliable they will be, but the last time we had purchased a washer/dryer was in the mid 80s.
We purchased these from Sears:
They are front loaders. I have used a Whirlpool dryer which had a steam cycle, and I really liked it, so I wanted that feature.
I didn’t think I’d use the rack in the dryer. They told me it was good for tennis shoes, ball caps, etc. Then my H was given some muffin mix by a church parishioner and stuck it in his backpack, and forgot about it. The lid came off. He asked me if I could clean his backpack for him. I discovered the “muffin mix” was not a powder, but batter, and it was a gooey mess. After googling “can you wash a backpack” I washed the backpack and used the dryer rack to dry it.
The dryer has a setting for “more dry” and my towels come out dry.
I doubt they will last 30 years like my last Kenmore set, but so far I am enjoying them.
@BSL1199 - here’s the Speed Queen web site. You may find that you have to travel a ways to find someone who sells them. In my case, I just talked to the guy on the phone and chose my model that way and he delivered it. The vendor was a big believer in SQ.
We bought our dryer sight unseen. The store is 4 miles away but did not have the model we wanted on display. It was 2X heavier than the LG. A solidly made machine!
The Miele washer is at least 3x heavier than the washer it replaced. I would have gotten a Miele dryer but Miele got pushed out of the US full size washer market by cheap LG and Samsungs.
I really wanted a Speed Queen after my Maytag of 26 years died. Settled for an LG at half the price. I like the large capacity but hate that it takes almost an hour to go through a full cycle.
I love my Speed Queen washer too! I have the top loading model with electromechanical dial controls. Fast, quiet, and gets the water out very well so the dryer doesn’t have to run as long.
I’m still using an older Kenmore dryer but when that finally dies, I may look into a SQ dryer.