We bought our first HE FL this year. The "perm-press" cycle is around an hour if I do not extend the wash time. Same with a 'normal' wash cycle. Time really has not been an issue for us, because my FL holds 50% more clothes than our old CWHTL (Conventional Water Hog Top Loader), so I do laundry less often.

We now have no more of the twisted sheets and slacks/pants that our old CWHTL gave us for sixteen years.

All I can recommend is the one we bought which for us at least is great so far. Only had them 2 months though.
Wash cycles range from about 40 min (speed wash) to regular cotton/normal cycle that is 51 minutes.
A HOT wash is "Bright Whites" which is 90 minutes and super hot "Sanitary" will go 2hours 56 minutes.

We personally do not have any problems with any twisting of clothes at all. Although have seen some people having this problem.
The washer uses plenty of water, has I think its 14 wash cycles, has a good spin cycle of 1100rpm.
it is quiet, seems to be well made.
Is large enough tub to handle a King size comforter.

We got ours for $728 each for W/D.

It is a LG WT5101HV TL HE with matching Dryer.

Whirlpool FL for 6 1/2 years. Excellent results and no problems.

FL's are demonstrably/inarguably gentler, if that's your hot-button.

FWIW, I pretty much totally disagree with Nunyabiz1.....but hereby announce my refusal to engage.

Get one with a heater.

Hard to disagree with what my personal experiences are with a washer that you have not the slightest clue about because you do not own it.

I assume if I said the Earth is a sphere you would disagree also.

I am sure FL are "gentle" as all they do is simply turn the clothes from bottom to top and drop them into a few inches of water.

Some people (75+% of the US) prefer a TL, some prefer a FL.
To each his own.

You can find many references that will tell you FL clean better and rinse better than many TL and HE TL. You don't need the opinion of those who've never owned one.

I've been a FL user for 11 years (maybe we Canadians are more advanced than Americans - LOL).

Never any smell or mold. You have to perform minor maintenance to ensure your machine remains clean. I too have two children and leaving the door slightly ajar was never an issue here.

Unfortunately I can't help you with TL as I would never choose to use them again.

You have to narrow down your list of needs and narrow down your choice of washer from there.

Good luck!

nunyabiz1: "Some people (75+% of the US) prefer a TL."

Another statement of fact; one assumes that it will be relabeled an "opinion" by the person who stated it. In case it is not relabeled, could you please provide the basis for that statement of fact?

One thing to consider with leaving the door open is how easy it is to do. I can leave my door just barely open by putting a wash cloth over the rubber gasket. My Dil has an LG and you have to leave it wide open which I think could be a problem with small children or in a tight space. It is something about the spring action of the hinge that won't let you leave it barely open.

Thanks for the recommendations. I would not be able to leave the door open at all on a front loader. Our laundry area is in the same open room as our kid's play area. They are very small, and one is very into hiding. Can't take the risk, which I'm sure any parent completely understands! For those of you with front loaders, does anyone leave the door closed all the time? If so, what do you do to avoid a smell? That's one thing that I like about the top loader....but not if the result is that our clothes are getting pulled and stretched!

My DIL has 4 year old VERY active twins. Their playroom in the basement is right next to the laundry room . It is more or less the same space, separated only by a wall the depth of the washer. She does not leave the door open. Her machine is 2 years old. She does exclusively cold water washes and so far so good. It has been all I can do to keep my mouth shut LOL. I think she is asking for trouble.

Herring-maven:"Another statement of fact; one assumes that it will be relabeled an "opinion" by the person who stated it. In case it is not relabeled, could you please provide the basis for that statement of fact?"
======================================================

OK I was a bit off it is actually 85% not 75.

"""some stakeholders commented that 85 percent of consumers prefer top-load washers as evidence for the need to include a top-load option as part of the ENERGY STAR program. Data
submitted by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) supports the claim that 80-85 percent of all models sold are top-loaders with agitators (the traditional wash system used in topload washers), 10-20 percent of all sales are front-loaders, and less than 5 percent of sales are toploaders without agitators""

http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/prod_development/revisions/downloads/clotheswash/ENERGY_STAR_ClothesWasher_Analysis.pdf

I thought that it was common knowledge that TL still have at least a 75% market share in the US.

Yes FL are very gentle on clothes which is why the wash times are so long probably, when all it does is turn over, lift clothes up and drop them a foot.
I have had nothing but top loaders for 35 years and never had them do anything but clean my clothes.
Don't recall a single piece of clothing that was messed up in a TL.

nict - I still LOVE my Top Loader. It's a Maytag Centennial model, and is very very gentle on clothes. Still not sold on the FL idea of less water. Washed a load of very very dirty work clothes in a FL once, and they came out mud-streaked. Give me my TL with MORE water, any day!

Google "US market share - washers" and plenty of stuff comes up. Nothing I've found supports Nunyabiz1's 75-85% TL assertion. Almost all come in around 60-65%. Linked one below.

Doesn't much matter, though. Both are available from many different brands. Get what you want. But get one with a heater.

Here is a link that might be useful: washer type / market share

Market share doesn't really have anything to do with washing performance. To the mass market, I would guess people are more familiar with the TLs, and have read about the problems that some FL owners have had.
Let's face it "Energy Savings" is the name of the marketing game right now.

To the OP:

LG now has a magnet to keep the front loader door ajar a bit, so to facillitate some air movement, and I believe that they also recommend leaving the dispenser door open.

My parents own a newer LG set with the magnetic door. It is great because it holds the door only slightly ajar (hard to even notice it's open) and the magnet is quite strong to hold it in place.

Think about where mold loves to grow ... dark, damp places. If you leave the door closed on a machine intended to be "water tight" no air will circulate. I too think you're asking for trouble. I think you might avoid issues if you're running the machine everyday and doing several hot washes but if not, you need to allow air into the drum.

Popping out the detergent tray is a way to help allow air to circulate. I do that as well.

Well, machines of any kind accessible to the playroom are matter of concern. I can understand leaning toward TL for that reason alone. On the other hand, there's still the dryer, almost all of which are FL. To my knowledge, the only TL dryer available is Fisher-Paykel.

A child getting into an empty washer drum isn't the big safety concern, IMO. Besides, a child who could climb into an FL drum could probably also open a latched door. And they'll be able to use a chair or stool or table to climb into a TL tub before long, too. I think the real issue is keeping the machine from being started. Some washers have a "child lock" function that a child isn't likely to defeat by randomly pushing buttons.

However, if they seal the door on themselves unnoticed and find themselves unable to open it.....then what?

Hmm, I guess that could happen with the Electrolux push-to-open door. Not with my Miele, I don't think...or any model where you open the door from the outside by grasping a fixed part of the door frame and simply pulling.

Thanks for the comments, however, I'm really not interested in hearing debates on the percentage of TL vs FL or comments about whether you think a kid could get trapped in a machine. I'd really like to hear some recommendations of specific units that other people like/don't like and and don't twist clothes. Much appreciated.

That is exactly what I did until I was as usual attacked by the FL sycophant squad.
Regardless of what they say a good HE TL cleans clothes just as well as any FL.
They just do it in a different way, FL are basically just a clothes tumbler that turn lifting the clothes up about a foot and dropping them into a few inches of water repeatedly for over an hour.
HE TL use an agitator at the bottom to scrub the clothes back and forth and turning them from top to bottom, in ours it also spins the clothes in the wash cycle while forcing the detergent wash water into the middle pushing it through the cloth. In the end you get clean clothes regardless of TL or FL.

Also FL have inherent design flaws that make them more prone to premature bearing failure, seal leaks and certainly mold.
This can pretty much be considered fact for what ever percentage of FL unless you completely disregard the 100s and 100s of reviews listing these same problems repeatedly along with several class action law suits making that same claim.

Best thing to do is take a general consensus of consumer reviews, repairmen reviews, and to a much lesser degree so called professional reviews.
Throw out the obvious idiotic reviews and the ones that seem to be raving over it profusely.
Pay attention to specific problems that are repeatedly brought up by several different reviewers.

Then start a Pro/Con list with 2-3 possible candidates and ween them out until you feel comfortable with your research.

That is exactly what I did and came up with the LG WT5101HV.

So far (only been 2 months) I feel I have made the right choice as the machine is working flawlessly, cleans very well, quiet.

nict - No doubt FL are gentler. I have bottom of the line LG FL that replaced a top of the line conventional Maytag. From the 1 st load I was shocked how much cleaner my clothes were w the FL! I have a 3 and a 1 yr old. I open the door and the dispenser tray after the kids go to bed. My 1 yr old will load it w toys if left open. I've never had a mold or smell issue with it. My average load time is 1.5 hours as I run full loads and always heavy soil. Dry time is 20 mins. My FL can wash 50% more per load than my XL TL Maytag did and leave the clothes cleaner and in better condition FWIW. I can only imagine what improvements come with the better models. My mother has a Cabrio, my sister a different TL HE washer. They both complain or worn out clothes that smell unclean and want FLs. That is after they both swore I'd hate my FL. Hope that helped.

FWIW, I just got a Samsung FL a few weeks ago and I can't begin to explain how much cleaner everything comes out, than when we had our trusty (but small) Maytag (before their quality dropped). I was reluctant to replace it because it worked flawlessly, but we wanted to avoid going to the laundromat to clean our comforters. The Samsung is 4.3 (actually stickered in the stores as "5.0") its the WF520. The one thing I don't like is like most HE FL, the water is not as hot as one might like. I just plumbed in a wye connector at the cold inlet, to bleed in some warm water. In the winter, in the garage, with temps around 50-60 degrees, I just don't feel the wash was getting warm enough. In the summer, I may turn off the hot water line going into the cold inlet. (don't be misled--the incoming water is still only barely warm, at the cold inlet).

Furthermore, I've got a tech coming out this morning to check on the overall operation, as "sanitary" never goes over 134 degrees. Hot-inlet temp is over 140 degrees.

Like Sandy16 and dave1812, when I switched from agitator TL to FL I was blown away by how much cleaner everything came out. Nunyabiz1, I don't recall you saying anything similar about your switch to HE TL.

"That is exactly what I did until I was as usual attacked by the FL sycophant squad."

No ... you were arguing with everyone who doesn't agree with you AGAIN. Bringing up points not relevant to the discussion at hand.

Funny ... I see lots of comments from happy FL users (or the "sycophant squad" as you call them). Where are all your TL supporters?? Where are all the elated TL users (since SO many Americans prefer them)?

@nict, unfortunately you can't dictate how a conversation will flow on an open forum such as this.

I think some posters were merely trying to explain how some FL doors work so you would see that you might not need to fear it with your kids. Obviously, it's your call to make. I'd be getting the best FL I could afford and if I had to open the door when my kids went to bed ... so be it.

Whirlpool with Fan-Fresh.

On the Duet w/ FF, can you remove clothes then close the door and re-engage FF to dry out the machine? Or is FF disabled after opening the door?

MRB

After our Duet died we bought a WP TL and it has worked very well for us. (1 year). It is a non-he machine, so you could use any soap you desire. I use Tide on whites and Sun on everything else. (powdered). The Duet came with the house and was 6 years old when it died. We did have that FL smell problem, but I used white vinegar and borax once every few months to cure that issue. I like the soak feature with this TL machine which allows me to open it up and add something while the clothes soak. The TL was cheaper and I think much easier to repair (less electronics) than the FL machines. No matter what machine you buy I would recommend getting the 5 year warranty from HD or Lowes. It was only 100 dollars and well worth it when the machine has an issue.

We all have our faves, I suppose.

Top loaders never got my clothes clean. Well, I thought they were "clean" at the time because I had nothing else to compare with. When I bought my first front loader in 2000 - a Maytag Neptune - I was blown away by how clean everything came out. I had a years-old stain on a white shirt that was obliterated by the Neptune.

When I moved to Seattle in 2002, I sold my Neptune pair to my aunt and bought an Asko set in Seattle. These were smaller units, but perfect for my townhouse. They cleaned amazingly well. I swapped those out in 2009 for my XXL Miele which continues to give me the clean clothes I've come to expect from a front loader.

From the standpoint of twisting clothes, all of my front loaders did it to some degree. The Neptune and Miele have tilted drums, the Asko was a true h-axis design. They all twist clothes. The biggest factor in twisting, I've found, is the spin speed. Maximum speeds tend to exacerbate the problem by plastering the clothes against the drum, making them more difficult to remove even if mildly twisted. It's not a big deal, as everything comes out smooth and wrinkle-free from the dryer. Make sure any machine you buy will continue to tumble the clothes after the wash cycle is completed. That's one feature which is missing from my Miele and it annoys the heck out of me.

"Make sure any machine you buy will continue to tumble the clothes after the wash cycle is completed. That's one feature which is missing from my Miele and it annoys the heck out of me."

You know, I was concerned about this feature when I purchased my Miele. My previous Frigidaire had it and I wasn't sure I'd be happy without it.

I don't miss it one bit.

I've always shaken each item out before placing in the dryer so I find it's made no difference to me personally.

It's far more important to have a feature such as "Wrinkle Prevent" in the DRYER and it is to worry about having a WASHER that tumbles clothes periodically, after the end of a cycle...

darn typos! "...in the DRYER and it is..." should have been,"...in the DRYER than it is..."

@ dave1812 & livebetter

We shall agree to disagree. My Asko washer tumbled clothes after the completion of a cycle and I liked that the clothes would come out relatively tangle-free after a few tumbles. This feature is nothing more than programming, and should be a feature included in every machine. There is no technical reason why it should not be done, and yes I fault Miele for not implementing this very basic feature.

It's certainly good to have this feature in the dryer as well, but that doesn't mean it should come at the exclusion of having this option in the washer. It's not an either/or scenario - the feature should be in BOTH units. This seems to be an extremely basic oversight on the part of a company (Miele) that prides itself on having invented the automatic washing machine. But I digress...

sshrivastava, what I'd like to see is a feature to get ALL the clothes unstuck from the drum, at the end of the cycle. :) Even with the washer on a pedestal, at 6' 5", it's awkward for me to bend down and in, to get all the items off of the drum. The several slow back and forth spins the Samsung does at the very end, isn't enough to get them unstuck.

I was SO glad to see your post!!! In Dec/2011 we purchased a new washer/dryer b/c we sold our old w/d with our old home. Our new washer is the Samsung WA5471AB; not sure about the dryer, but it was sold with the set. I HATE both of them!!! The washer is ruining our clothes as it twists everything, including sheets, into a big, wrinkled mess that cannot be corrected by the dryer. I have noticed that the clothes are looking 'worn' before their time. I never have dried my clothes - except for socks/underwear/etc - for more than a few minutes. I take them out and hang them up damp. In the past, as they dried, the wrinkles fell out. Not so anymore. Now,everything is so wrinkled that I spend my nights ironing. I thought these were supposed to be 'energy efficient' models. My husband is calling Samsung in the morning b/c he is tired of hearing me cuss out the washer & dryer every time I do the laundry. We are in our 60's & don't need heavy duty cleaning nor large capacity drums. We don't have that much laundry!!! We did our research but we got caught up in the new, high technology & felt this was what we needed. I just want my old washer & dryer - top load Maytags - that were reliable & just did the washing & drying that was needed.

I don't know if you saw my thread about the Bravos by Maytag. It is a top load no agitator style of washer and I had the same problems you speak of. The dryer was just as awful with the weird times. It was set for 40 minutes and yet it would run for much, much longer. The steam didn't do much of anything, it certainly didn't take out the spider web like wrinkles from the washer.

I finally couldn't take it anymore and sold them. I almost felt bad selling them. I sold the washer for $100 and the dryer for $300 for a set less than two years old that looked like new.. Like you I had a 1996 Maytag pair that probably would have lasted for another few years but I got caught up in that government rebate thing and that is what pushed me to get rid of them sooner. Dumb...even with the rebate they are cheaper now.

I ended up getting a front load GE GFWN100WW with matching dryer. Very happy with them but still worry about the smell thing and mildew down the road but the function of them is great, quiet, no wrinkles and works so much better.

My question to those of you with an HE top-loader-�is it hard on your clothing or would you recommend your brand/model?

nict, I own a Maytag Bravos HE TL, and absolutely love it. I read the washer manual several times when I first got it, as I wanted to be sure I used it correctly.

It is not hard at all on my laundry. I don't have problems with tangling, shredding, or anything else.

My former conventional TL's were much harder on my laundry.

I love its huge capacity, as that means I can wash much less often, and can also wash comforters, sleeping bags, etc.

I also love that it uses so much less water than my traditional washers, partly because we are on a septic tank, also because this has made a noticeable difference in our water bills.

I also end up saving electricity because I can wash far fewer loads than I used to, plus laundry dries much faster in the dryer because the washer spins it out so well.

The wrinkling is a deal-breaker for me. I just spent mucho for a Fisher-Paykel combo.

Please...tell me...other than replacing it, is there anything I can do to ease the terrible wrinkles? I have tried cold and warm water, I override the high efficiency and turn on Fabric Softener (although I don't use it, I understand it gives a bit more water to the rinse). Low spin. Still my husband's t-shirts come out looking fractured or, as another poster said, like spider webs. I want to save my investment, but is it worth losing my clothes??