Front loaders are horrid. Have them, hate them, would never buy again.

Eleena,

I've been using a 6-years-old Whirlpool Duet for a couple months. I've found it to be a *very* nice machine. Yesterday I ran a very small load of two new t-shirts (one black, one navy) on the Quick Wash cycle. It did great. This is the first time I'd used Quick Wash. It obviously used a different and varying tumble pattern (different than Normal, for example) to facilitate reasonable cleaning of a small load (two or three items, as per the cycle description) in a short time.

Thank you!

Dadoes,

Do you ever get mold in the washer?

Mine gets moldy behind the rubber thing all the time even though I leave the door open. I have read it used to be a problem with older models. I e-mailed Whirlpool asking what to do about it and never got an answer.

And my Duet does not have a Quick Wash cycle. :-(

I guess they introduced it after we bought ours.

Lindy,

Why do you find them horrid, I wonder?

It is funny, but I really dislike top loaders and would never go back to them. I have had front loaders since 2000.

Plus, I cannot stack top loaders, can I?

I know that some stacked units have top loading washer but the reviews are not great.

I'm the guy that fixes our appliances in our house, so I look at Consumer Reports frequency of repair first. LG is the best for front loaders. Front loaders are probably, the best when you consider washing performance and energy efficiency. They may not be the quietest or vibration free if that is an issue. My first pick would be a Consumer Reports best buy in the front loader category:

LG WM2250C[W] -- $800

And if lower noise is a priority then this one for about $100 more. It has a shorter cycle time, is quieter, but is not quite as gentle. Both have stainless steel tubs.

LG WM3070H[W]A -- $900

On washers my experience is that the more features they have the more likely they are to fail. Dryers are simple, and just get the one that matches the washer you select and has the auto dryness setting feature.

IIRC, there are such things as stacked full-size top-loaders. Not as fancy as the electronic ones around today, but still available.

I've had an LG pair stacked for about 7 years. I don't get mold. I leave the door open all the time, and sometimes the drawer. I do at least 1 load a week with bleach.

The complaint about the LGs of this time is the bearings going out. When they do, there will be a slow leak in the back and a lot of noise. It requires a near-full disassembly of the unit to reach the bearings, so the labor cost is greater than the value of the machine. However, this is true for many front loaders today.

The cycle times vary depending on the size of the load. However, the PermPress time is fixed to around an hour (+/- depending on chosen soil amount). There is a Quick cycle around 30 minutes. Extra Rinse adds another 20(?) minutes.
Mine also has Sanitary which is at least 2 hours and I think a bit more.

The dryer is the only thing that seems to have issues about load size. It does not dry as well on small loads due to the sensor placement (I think), but I just increase the desired dryness level a notch and that seems to take care of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: GE stacked unit

Interesting, when my Maytag top loader died, I switched to an Electrolux front loader and have been very pleased with the performance. No mold, no funky smells, good cleaning, and lots of options for me to choose from. And once I figured out what options I like best for which loads, I could save them for easy recall next time. I have the 70s model and have not been unhappy with the quality so far, have had them for almost a year now. Mine are used fairly heavily. I do 6 or 7 large loads a week, plus a few smaller ones. I find no difference in cleaning whether I'm doing a half load of lights or a full load of towels. It takes my moderately heavy king sized comforter and my king sized blankets and bedding with no trouble.

My electrolux has a quick wash feature, but I use it mostly for an extra rinse if I am trying out a new detergent and overdose. :-) Other than that, it's fine if I have a panicked request for uniform shirts or a specific pair of jeans, but I don't have any illusions that 15 minutes is long enough to get anything really clean on a regular basis.

Cj

I have the Samsung WR419AAW front load steam washer and the matching Samsung DV419AGW front load steam dryer. I believe they stack. I've had them going on 2 years now and couldn't be happier with them. There are only 2 of us in the house but I also have a king-sized bed, so I needed something large enough to accommodate king-sized sheets and comforters.

I've never had a problem with mold or a moldy smell. I always wipe the inside of the rubber seal after a day's laundry, dump out the detergent cup (it always gets some water in it...that's normal), and I leave the door slightly ajar. My neighbor has the same set and never does any of those things and has never had a problem, either!

I would buy this set again in a heartbeat. Haven't had any issues at all so far. Contrary to lindy, I would never buy another top loader!

This post was edited by karenlee56 on Thu, Jan 31, 13 at 16:50

There is a very active laundry forum with many knowledgeable "laundry experts". I suggest posting there. They were very helpful for my case.

Thank you, everybody!

Yes, I did find the laundry forum - but only ~15 minutes after posting here. Surprisingly, I got only one response there (so far, that is). :-)

Please, keep the input coming.

Bumping for more opinions :[)

I went from a top loader to a front loader... i was very worried that it would be horrible when it came to cleaning.

The laundry section of this site assured me...

I am very very happy with my elux washer and gas dryer. My clothes come out way cleaner than they did with my top loader... the water and power savings are just a bonus.

I am also looking for a stackable - but a small one. I don't need to wash 30 towels at once or 16 pairs of jeans. My top choice is the Miele. Perfect size but not the perfect price. Any suggestions for something similar but at a better price point?

I have done some research, and the LG WM2650HWA seems to have some really good reviews.

One thing that I have read over and over again is that the front loaders usually suffer some mold problems, but the other benefits seem to outweigh the single problem.

Good luck on your search!

LG WM2650HWA Review

I disagree with the comment that front loaders "usually" suffer from mold problems. What they suffer from is lack of consumer education about how to properly care for them. This was particularly true years back when they started becoming popular in the US market. My MIL was an early adopter and hated her front loader--smelled bad, poor cleaning and rinsing, etc. Now that she's learned to leave it open between laundry cycles and run a cleaning cycle now and again (hers does not have one built in, the old machines often didn't), and wash a load on hot occasionally (she's a cold water washer) she likes it just fine. She's also figured out the right amount of detergent to use, and so is getting clean clothes without getting buildup in the machine. I've had my front loader for a year now, and have zero problems with mold and musty smells, and I think it cleans just fine. I leave it open for a few hours after use, I run a cleaning cycle every month or two, and I do at least one to two loads of laundry on HOT (whites, kitchen towels) weekly. I don't anticipate ever having problems. It's not that hard. Believe me, if it were a fussy process I wouldn't have one if you gave it to me for free. I do think some are built better than others, but that's the reason you do research.

Best of luck,
Cj

We are very happy with our LG front load duo (fancy models with steam). Front-loaders are really good for doing small loads with minimal water/energy use. Here in CA, our marginal electricity cost is 35c per KWh, and water is a precious resource.

When we moved to the USA, we were boggled to find that top-loaders were still the norm; those went out about forty years ago in Europe.

We have well water and a whole house water softener. After we replaced the 20 year old Maytag top loader with the E'lux front loader, our softener salt usage went down 50%, almost exactly. DH, who does the salt shopping, mentioned it the other day, he was surprised that the difference was that significant.

Cj

Just don't get an HE top loader of any brand. They are just horrible. I had the Maytag Bravos and it tangles clothes horribly, tears them up, the clothes come out with so much soap in them because there is literally hardly any water in the machine at all. I have had things come out that were not even wet. It's gross. I believe in saving water but it is no savings to have to rewash everything. I ended up getting rid of the pair when I just was fed up with it. I know how to do laundry and also how to read directions and was doing everything I could to make things right.

I sold the set and bought a front load GE which is very nice but honestly, the wiping out, the not being able to run a single item like a rug because it won't spin is a pain. I miss my old fashioned TL Maytag I had before I started down the HE road. It never complained or gave me any problems. It was just old.

As a concerned citizen for you I would advise against the HE Top Loaders. Anything else is up to preference because my clothes and sheets are doing fine in the new set I have but honestly, I think my next set will be an old school top load going back to the future. I don't want pedestals and I don't like getting nearly on the floor to get clothes out and then wiping and leaving the door open. I would also advise going low tech. I don't think most people ever use so many settings and less is more when it comes to circuit boards. I love the simplicity of my mid range GE pair. It's plain white and has digital but not a million settings. It does not have an onboard heater which I don't miss, our faucet hot water is hot enough and old machines never had them so for us it wasn't a big deal, just something else to go wrong and raise the price of the machine. Good luck with your purchase and of course all of this is just my humble opinion and first hand experience.

I'm also looking for a washer and dryer, and there is not a lot of activity on the laundry forum. I'm trying to narrow it down between the whirlpool duet and the ge. Any advice?

Definitely Whirlpool Duet. All but the compact Whirlpool front loader are made here in the USA, I believe a lot of the GE front load line is still made in China.

I have an LG and while it's been good overall, it did need repair shortly after the warranty expired and I regret not buying American.

The newer GE Right Height front loaders are made in Louisville, KY. We've ordered a set, but need to finish our laundry room before we can install. The reviews seem promising, for what it's worth.