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I'm growing up!! :) What's a good washer dryer to buy?

L

loosbrew

Golden Member
hey all,
Ok, so now has come the time in our lives to make some big serious decisions...appliances. see...we're not the type of people to buy crap, usually anyways....if we can afford the good stuff, we buy the good stuff.....so i ask all of you adults or mature youngins 🙂....what is a good brand of washer and dryer to purchse? we preferably want a stackable combo or a stackable that can also be seperated....
so give me your opinions folks!!

loosbrew
 
Go to Sears and find the one with the most buttons and is the coolest looking. That's pretty much how I've based my entire life so far.

Sorry, I use the ones that came with my home, and won't be buying new until the washer spins right out of the laundry room, as opposed to stopping when it wedges itself in the doorway.
 
Do not get one of the crazy surf the net on the washers giant LCD ones, you will be paying sweet $$$ when that suka breaks
 
I would advise against stackables unless space is a premium for you (small apartment/condo). They're small capacity and cost a lot.

My family has had Kenmore (rebadged either Fridgidare or Whirlpool) appliances which have worked flawlessly for over 10 years.

Maytag also has a solid reputation. I would visit your local Sears.
 
Go to all the stores that sell other brands of washers and dryers besides Maytag. Then go to Best Buy and look at the Maytag Neptune washer and dryer. Awesome. My old roommate's parents had a set in their household of 5 (6 when he was home) so they were constantly doing laundry. They loved it. It's damn good on the environment (and thus your utility bills), looks cool, is very quiet, etc etc. Be forewarned, it's pricey, but according to his parents, worth every single penny.
 
Those Maytag Neptune washer/dryers look pretty cool. I wonder how much of it is just marketing, though.
 
I just bought a bunch of new appliances for my new house about a month ago... 🙂 Ended up getting a Kenmore washer/dryer and a GE refrigerator. My parents have had good experiences with both, and they have a GE fridge that is now 22 years old and still going... 🙂 I'd say you really can't go wrong with any of the major brands... just get one with the features you want.

Dave
 
Kenmore has always been good to my family when it comes to laundry equipment. Get the faetures you want. If you have a gas hook-up, use it. If you don't, have one installed. Electrics cost a lot more to operate and they don't dry as quickly.

OT: BTW the Kenmore UltraWash dishwashers are pretty damn good when the time comes for one of those. My mom bought a Maytag dishwasher and she hates it. She has to pre-rinse. She admits she was suckered by a "good deal." I bought an Ultrawash, paid retail, and I'm happy as the proverbial clam.
 
if you can afford it, get a front load washer. uses less water, and cleans better. cuz gorwing up is hard to do... =P

anyway, maytag is SOLID. or if you have a sears, kenmore is okay. make sure you get ones large enuf to fit your many pairs of socks.
 
wow, thanks felas...i almost didnt expect such a response here....and i also didnt expect so many peopl to be concerned with my grammar!! 🙂 anyways..problem fixed and im looking into all of your suggestions! i was looking at the neptune last night ut $1900 for the stackable is a bit much...we have the perfect spot for the stackable but we would prefer a normal set as well.

thanks a bunch guys/gals and have a great weekend!!!

loosbrew
 
forget about that washer/dryer & take yourdirty clothes home to mum.
she'll have it washed & ironed for you, no bother! 😀
 
Got to drop a line here, I'd avoid the new Maytags like a plague unless you get the front loader.

I bought a new set for my wife a little over a year ago. Not the very top of the line but one step down. The only difference between mine the and very top of the line is the bells and whistles.

So with that noted all I can say is that Maytag has drastically changed their design. Within 10 months of purchase the washer would no longer spin out completely so I called for a repairman to come out. Seems as though they are rather scarce in my area and it would have taken 2-3 weeks to get an authorized one out here. I called Maytag and to their credit they agreed to let me get a local repairman and then re-imburse me. (I had to pay up front for the repairs and then send the bill to them.)

Anyway (Getting long winded...) he took my machine apart and said "Wow they are making these just like BrandX (Really cheap brand), don't be surprised if it quits on you again!" He ended up replacing all the belts and pulleys because the motor was binding up instead of sliding back and forth. I now have to tip the machine back and lube the slide area every now and then. 🙁 Not what I expected from a $500+ washer.

So be forewarned, Maytag has cheapened up their entire line except for the Neptunes. My repairman (Who BTW was a Maytag guy for years but got tired of the way they payed) said that Whirlpool is the way to go.

Rob

PS on a good note Maytag did extend my warranty for another year and listed my complaint. I told them if it needed repairs again within the warranty I wanted a new machine.. Uhhh huh sure... :Q

 
Kenmore constantly rates the highest in the Consumer Reports testing. They don't know their stereo equipment, but they can pick a washer and dryer!
 
I just went through this a month ago:
Need Large Appliance Opinions & User Ratings Jul/19/2001

In response, I got a very helpful PM from a knowledgeable friend:
  • " An old friend of mine, XXX XXX, has been running a small appliance repair
    business for over 40 years. I asked XXX what he would buy, and he said
    he would choose the Whirlpool "Calypso" washer and dryer over the Maytag
    "Neptune" products. You might want to check the Calypso line out here:

    http://www.calypso.whirlpool.com/home.asp

    This is Whirlpool's own self-praising site, but there is a fair amount
    of description that gives an idea of how the Calypso differs from other
    machines.

    I have had two front-loading washing machines in the past (one from
    Bendix, and one from White-Westinghouse,) and although they worked
    wonderfully well WHEN THEY WORKED, they broke down a lot more often than
    any of the top-loaders I've ever had. My friend XXX says that the heavy
    load of water and clothing causes considerable stress and imbalance to
    the drum as it rotates, and it is very difficult to engineer these
    devices to do a good job of cleaning, be reliable, and be a
    customer-acceptable size and price. So generally the manufacturers
    choose to go with the good job of cleaning and the customer-acceptable
    size and price, while leaving out the reliability which would add to the
    bulk, weight, and cost of the unit.
So, I ended up shopping for the Maytag Neptune, Whirlpool Calypso and Fisher & Paykel. They just happened to be featured in that month's Consumer Reports too. The top rated Calypso units from Whirlpool and the Sears Kenmore rebadged Calypso required two service calls during their testing. Otherwise it seems to be the top choice by quite a few people I spoke with.

I finally called a place that sells and services all these machines and was told the exact same thing. He's also the one that pointed me to the Consumer Reports review. I then asked, between the three I was looking at, what would he personally buy today? He said he'd go with the Fisher & Paykel. So that's what we bought. As a bonus, it's got a much smaller footprint than your average washer. And as a double added bonus it's only $699.00! It's America's most energy efficient washer today, which is also cool 😉
 
After 10 years of marriage and thousands of loads of laundry, I can say that if I ever build my own house I will have hookups for at least two and possibly 3 sets of W/D's.

The reason is that the wife seperates everything. This works out to be about half a dozen small loads. It takes all day to do the loads of laundry. If we had three of those stackable setups, we'd be done in short order. Proabably a happy medium would be one full size W/D set and one stackable setups.

As for what is good, generally all the big name brands are good, and most of them last 15 - 20 years. Of course you can get a lemon from anybody, but appliances as a whole are very long lived.
 
My suggestion is to go to the library and read Consumer Reports to get a good idea of what to get. I bought a Kenmore Washer and Dryer that was just a rebadged version of a combo that Consumer Reports listed at the top of the front loaders. Sears does a good job of chosing their Washer/Dryers and they have decent prices as well.

I used a Fridgidaire stacking unit when i was living in an apartment. It worked pretty well, was a front loader, and it was fine when it was just my wife and I. Once our daughter was born, we needed something with bigger capacity.

I suggest a natural gas dryer if you have the hook-up. We couldn't use one in our new house, re-routing the gas line would have cost about $1,500 because the laundry room just wasn't located in the rightr place.

Michael
 
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