I looked at a Samsung WF330ANW washer set yesterday. It looked quite nice with a nice finish to it. It has the diamond drum for being gentle on your clothing, and it does not have silvercare or steam. But it does have an array of useful cycles. It also has a 4.3 cu ft capacity so you could wash comforters in it.
The store I was at was selling it for $589.00. It seemed like a lot of washer for the money.

Thanks dualref, I also went to FutureShop last night to take a look. I narrowed down the models to Samsung 448 and Bosch Vision 500 Aquastop. The Bosch set looked ok but seemed a bit flimsy (kinda plasticky). Samsung definitely looked sturdier. I also like the diamond drum that you also mentioned, Bosch doesn't have that. I want to love the Electrolux but I've started to see some negative reviews. They also haven't been building the large capacity washers for very long so I don't know whether I can trust them. The Electrolux we get in Canada are completely different than the ones they have been building in Europe.
Still a bit confused...Hearing lots of positive reviews of both Bosch and Samsung but also tons of horror stories.

Hi, a noob here. I'm in the same boat, trying to find a new washer/dryer set and have already vacillated between Samsung WF328 (US$550), LG WM2501 (US$850) and now I'm leaning towards the Electrolux EIFLW55H (US$1100).

My first research suggested that the Samsung W/Ds were of high quality, but after reading Consumer Reports' review summary, I changed to the LG WM2050CW, later upgrading that choice to the LG SteamWaasher WM2501.

Then I found these forums last night and that made me think about choosing the Electrolux, although my budget has now more than doubled as you can tell. :O

Would like to hear more from other forum members. I would love to own the Miele of course, but I'm not going to spend $4,000 on a new pair. I also learned that the steam feature is rarely useful, so glad I found that out.

Seeing today's prices makes me sad that I sold my old San Francisco loft and my Miele Novotronic W1929, which was simply fantastic.

Ubercool, this forum is amazing (I recently found it also), but it can leave you more confused than ever. I've been researching washers and dryers for weeks now and I seriously need to make a decision. From all my research I have learned to stay away from LG, even appliance salespeople have been pretty consistent in saying that they don't recommend LG. I would love Miele but can't justify spending the money.
Just curious, what in ConsumerReports scared you away from Samsung? I've only found good reviews there.
I like Electrolux but I've been reading consistent negative reviews when it comes to weird dryer whistle noise, touch push door and dispenser sticking and some have mentioned clothes snagging.

Hi bancora, I guess it was the relative ranking that influenced my choice, with the LG WM2050C[W] outranking most models I was considering, which is silly since the Electrolux WaveTouch EWFLW65H[W] was said to be inferior to the LG, go figure.

While the Samsung WF448AA[W] was rated slightly higher than the LG, it was also more than double the price. Of course, that was before my budget-busting incursion here last night. :P

I'm glad to learn that you have received very little good feedback on the LG, because that helps me decide to stay away. Best Buy now has the Samsung WF328AAG for $880, but that's not on sale.

Would you pay $900 for a Samsung, if you could get an Electrolux for $1,100? That's the crucial question.

I see that Best Buy has the Samsung WF330ANW/XAA on sale for $600. At half the price of the Electrolux, that's really a difficult decision. At first glance, I saw very little about Samsung here. Have you found good reviews? :)

So here's more confusion. I called a trust local appliance repairshop that came highly recommended by a lot of people. They service all makes and models. They were absolutely adamant that I should stay away from Samsung and would highly recommend Bosch or LG as their top two recos. Apparently they get lots and lots of service calls for Samsung but almost none for Bosch and LG. Now I'm totally confused and may start researching LG. When I asked about Elux they said they have had a few repair calls but since the products are quite new they can't really comment. They did say that Elux looks a tad flimsy.
What are we gonna do??

Hi bancora, keep in mind that people tend to have their biases. That repair shop may simply be seeing more traffic from people with certain brands, because consumers will recommend repair specialists based on brand. Think about how someone who owns a BMW might look for a BMW repair expert by querying family, friends and co-workers.

Also, just because they see a lot of Samsungs, doesn't mean the brand necessarily suffers from more defects than average. Here in the U.S., repair shops see twice as many top-loaders, if not more, based simply on marketshare. In Europe, the reverse is obviously the case:

Marketshare, Top Loading Washer, Front Loading Washer
Europe, 10%, 90%
US, 65%, 35%

That said, it's kind of surprising that the shop would see so many Samsungs, given that LG has the largest U.S. marketshare among front-loading laundry units:

http://www.lg.com/us/press-release/article/lg-electronics-captures-number-one-market-share-in-front-load-home-laundry-revenues-in-us.jsp

Another factor that introduces biases in discussion forums like this, is that you will mostly see the complainers here. People who like their washers and dryers rarely visit owner forums to report their positive experiences. But the complainers will drown out Best Buy and other retail forums with their nightmare experiences, especially when a manufacturer fails to address their problem properly.

So you need to be judicious when shopping and look at the total number of positive reviews, the way Amazon.com does it, to form an educated opinion. Too bad that Amazon.com does not really sell washers and dryers, that would really be helpful.

Hope that helps. :)

Thanks so much! And yes, I agree with you on all fronts. Well, I can tell you I've decided to eliminate Electrolux from the running simply because it's a first generation machine of its kind, I think they will be amazing machines a few generations later, it's a bit too $$ for me to be a "tester". That, coupled with some of the issues I have read, is enough to make me think I want to stay away.
I have spoken with another appliance supplier store, good ol' mom and pop shop that's been around forever, reliable and honest. They said they stopped selling Samsung because of the amount of issues Samsung have and dissatisfied customers the Samsung brought.
They like Bosch a lot and apparently Bosch sells very well there with very few issues they ever hear back on.
Since you planted the LG bug in my ear I decided to re-research LG. Yes, the horror stories are many but apparently LG has worked out a lot of kinks in their last few models and are apparently much better. So I started looking into the latest steam model (the square window one). People seem to be generally satisfied with them.
So now I think I may be deciding between LG WM2801HWA and Bosch Vision 500 Aquastop.
Hope this helps you too ;-) I'm way too type A, sooo tired of research ;-)