There is also a laundry forum on GardenWeb, but, as you already are here, I shall address your question here.

First question: Do you take guests to your home for a tour of the laundry room? If the answer is no, and you do not care if the so-called styling of the washer and dryer match each other, then consider getting a hamper door (hinge on the bottom, not the side, of the door) model of Whirlpool dryer (also sold by Sears as a Kenmore). The model has been around, with refinements, for five decades or more, and it is fully debugged, and, except perhaps for a new drive belt every seven or eight years (a cheap and easy replacement), just keeps on running and running and running. Dryers are, and should be, simple appliances, basically just tumbling the laundry in front of a fan than can be blowing heated or unheated air. Except for the essential feature of a moisture sensor that shuts the dryer off automatically when the laundry is dry, and (in some models) a shelf in the middle of the drum that does not tumble for drying delicates, most high-end (that is, expensive) dryer "features" are silly and not utilitarian.

With that part of the decision out of the way, and looking at washing machines, a good feature to look for is a stainless steel dimpled surface drum. The dimples on the drum's surface reduce the degree to which fibers from your laundry are pulled through the water drainage holes in the drum during the high speed spin part of the cycle, and that helps maintain fabric appearance and increases fabric life. However, the dimpled drum criterion will limit your choice to the only two brands that have dimpled drums, Miele ("Honeycomb" drum) and Samsung ("Diamond" drum).

The Miele is the premium choice, reflected in price. There is some evidence, anecdotal but persistent, that Samsungs have insufficient protection of the electrical circuits against "dirty" electrical line power spikes and surges. Fortunately, for under $10, you can compensate for that implied design deficiency by placing a Tripp-Lite Spike Cube at the electrical outlet where the washing machine plugs into the wall. The latter is the path that we chose, getting a 400 series (ours is a '419, but I think that model has been superseded) Samsung several years ago, and it has been plugged into a Spike Cube from day one and never has given us any trouble.

If you are coming from an exclusively top-loader history, do not allow the numerous and endlessly recurring threads on this site about "musty smells" from front-loading washing machines get to you. A few simple tips will avoid the issue: (1) Use much less detergent per load than you have used in the past: back way off, then bring the quantity back up in drips and drabs only when you discern that not all of the soil is being removed because you reduced detergent quantity too much. (2) Add a scoop -- 1/4 to 1/3 cup per load -- of plain borax (40 Mule Team is fine) to every load you run through the washer. (3) After unloading your laundry from the washer, do not close the washer's door until it clicks; just let it sit against the latch without engaging the latch; that will allow enough air to circulate to fend off mold.

Good luck, and enjoy your new appliances.

There is a laundry forum here, you should check that out.

The condensed version of the answer to your question is : look at the units from Samsung and LG.

I went with Electrolux 70 series this time around, but the 60 series would be a good value choice. I've had the Whirlpool Duet steam models and they twist and ball the clothing in both the washer and dryer. And by twist I mean I get a 'braid' of clothing involving almost every item that's in the washer. Pants legs and arm legs all braiding together. Sheets ball up so tightly in the dryer that it traps other items inside the ball and I have to stop the machine and refluff everything about every 15 minutes. Annoying.

My first set I ever had was Sears (Kenmore) HE3t. Those were nice machines and no twisting like that. It crapped out on my after 6 years though that's why I didn't repurchase the same brand.

My appliance guy said people LOVE the electrolux machines. I also bought a second w/d for the lower level and went with a more economical choice of GE. Don't know much about those at all but they seem to get good reviews.

I have owned A LOT of front loaders over the years. Based on my personal experiences and talking to repairmen, not just salesmen:

1. Speed Queen (best quality but pricy, minimal on design, cycles, and features though)
2. Whirlpool (nice compromise between the above and below)
3. LG (seems to lead in price, style, and features, and they seem to hold up pretty well, but when it does break parts and service can be a pain compared to the domestic brands)

I'm not a fan of how Electrolux halted laundry production in the US for both their own brand and Frigidaire and moved it all to Mexico. Whirlpool did the opposite.

Though there are some differences, these machines work in fundamentally the same way. If yours are balling and twisting clothing, you have a problem. I don't even see how this can happen in one machine and not another, since they're all just rotating drums...

If budget permits, Miele.

We bought a Whirlpool Duet combo (FL washer, electric dryer) for our new casa. Very happy with them, albeit after only 5 weeks. They are far superior to the lousy GE set we had in our last house, but those were circa 2007.
The models are WFW70HEBW (washer) and WED70HEBW (dryer).
I can report that these are well made, large capacity, perfectly functioning units that clean and dry our washables to our high expectations. No frills here - no steam or other gew-gaws, just workhorse function and capacity.
It looks like these have been updated in Whirlpool's lineup and the newer version has "72" in the nomenclature instead of 70.
In any event, highly recommended if you want simple, efficient machines that do a great job and offer high value.

Miele is good quality but they discontinued the American size machines. They are still importing the Euro sized ones so if you're OK with the smaller capacity, they are an option.

I'm pretty sure they also discontinued vented dryers here, so you can only buy the condenser ones.

This post was edited by hvtech42 on Fri, Jun 13, 14 at 14:14