Could you please elaborate RE: "the compact washers typically give usable capacity by weight"?

I did not understand that, I am sorry.

They give the capacity, say, 2 cu ft or 2.5 cu ft. Not sure how it is related to weight.

Also, a dawn comforter may not weight all that much but it won't fit a compact washer, that I am sure of.

Thanks!

With a more compact washer, you will be limited in terms of what you can put in it.

What size bedding do you have? What other larger items do you sometimes wash?

I often do smaller loads in my full-size washer because there is only my husband and myself in the house. Sometimes I wait and the loads are full.

However, when I want to wash our king sheets, king comforter, curtains, pillows, etc., I can do it without worrying about having enough space.

I would never go smaller. More often than not, size DOES matter. ;)

I have always had a compact washer for 1-2 adults. Reduces wait to accumulate loads. Always washed a set of queen sheets and 4 pillowcases in one load. The effective dryer capacity is less and I break the sheet set into 2 dryer loads. Also heavy clothes - lots of sweats - need to be broken up into 2 dryer loads. I currently have a 24" GE front loader with dryer stacked.

The biggest issue is how low to the ground it is. They don't sell a base for it so I had a one drawer high (IKEA drawer) base built by a carpenter which was pretty simple. I also purchased very thin rubber, cut to size for the top of the washer so the dryer does not shift. It all works perfectly. It's been installed about 1 1/2 years.

pretty much all the commercial laundry machines are rated by weight capacity, not volume. only the US seems to spec residential machines by drum volume and not by dry laundry wash weight capacity.

the latest bosch axxis washer is rated at 2.3 cu ft or 8 kg/17.6 #. my beat up old danby is rated at 1.62 cu ft or 10#. about the only thing that doesn't fit in the danby is a king sized comforter.

when i'm on travel, the local laundry mat charges by the pound. for a week's worth of laundry (colors and whites), i've yet to exceed 8# and it's quite a large volume.

You do realize that almost all full size washers have a WATER LEVEL setting, right? You don't HAVE to fill up the tub in order to run the machine. If you only have a few items just put the water lever on the lowest setting. Usually there's a LOW/MEDIUM/FULL setting or at least a choice between two settings. If you don't absolutely need a small W/D because nothing else will fit, then why would you go smaller? They often cost the same or more than full-sized appliances.

@tirmite,

Perhaps you didn't notice this thread is 8 years old.

Many topload washers nowadays have automatic load sensing that the user cannot directly control, and a "deep wash" option for a full-fill, nothing between. A few have half-fill/load-sensing for the designated Normal/Eco cycle, and all other cycles (Heavy, Bulky, Delicate, etc.) are full-fill. Frontloaders are all load-sensing, no direct control other than some specialty/delicate cycles filling a bit more to cushion the tumbling action.

Yes, I did notice it was 8 years old when I replied. Since HOUZZ left this thread up after all this time I figured people are still reading it and maybe somone else would benefit from my comment and not make a mistake purchasing the wrong W/D. If she or any other buyer would do a little research before buying it would be easy to learn about features even if they are automatic and no buttons or dials exist. I've noticed MANY angry reviews, for example, about combo all-in-one machines where people are upset they take so long to dry. If they saw they run on 110v and not 220v that alone would indicate those machines can't dry as quickly. And condensing driers by nature will take much longer. One just has to adjust the way one does laundry and not have the same expectations. And regarding your comment, one still would not need a tiny machine if a larger one automatically adjusted the water level and someone could do small loads without feeling like they're wasting water and energy. Your info is helpful. Thank you.