W/D help! Maytag, Whirlpool or LG

amother

Wed, Nov 26 2014, 1:12 pm

We finally bought a house!
Please please help me choose a washer dryer I am super confused with all the options. Every store has a different brand they recommend. Every brand has positive and horribly negative reviews online.
Right now my choices are:
Whirpool duet
LG WM357OH
Maytag 7100 series
I want something that will wash well and not need to be repaired after 2 weeks (like so many horror stories I read).
And well priced of course.
If you have any of these or know people that have it or know for sure that I shouldn't get one of these, please be so kind and post. Any help is greatly appreciated!
(I'm in brooklyn if that makes a difference)

OOTBubby

Wed, Nov 26 2014, 1:31 pm

amother wrote:

The advice I was given by a repairman when I need to replace mine is:
1) don't by a foreign brand (like Samsung); stay with American made
2) keep it the simpler the better -- the simplest controls, bottom of the line design will need least repairs but will work just as well
3) stay away from front loader washers which are much more temperamental.

I used his advice; wound up with Maytag for both (very large machines, but bottom line in controls) and they've been great. Probably others will disagree, but there are lots of opinions out there.

amother

Wed, Nov 26 2014, 1:34 pm

The house I bought had a fisher paykel set which wasn't very old but was in terrible condition. Couldn't even be repaired when it stopped working.
I bought a top loader Lg machine that has no agitator, and a matching dryer.
http://m.homedepot.com/p/LG-El.....8178/
Bh I love them both so far, bli Ayin hara!
Anon bec my neighbors know my saga of the machines.

OOTBubby

Wed, Nov 26 2014, 1:41 pm

amother wrote:

Thank you OotBubby and amother. I see you both went with top loader. Hmm. I really want a front loader. OotBubby is the Maytag with an agitator? My friend has a top loader no agitator and is teribbly unhappy. She says the clothes come out very linty and not washed well at all.

My Maytag is a top loader with no agitator.

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, Dec 04 2014, 4:32 am

We recently bought a house that had an HE (high efficiency) washing machine (top loader, but no agitator). For the short time it worked, it did not clean the clothes well. IMO, no HE machines clean nearly as well as the old-fashioned machines. This machine (GE Profile something or other) seemed to spray the clothes with water, swish them around, and spray them around with more water. They never smelled clean. Plus, a load could take as long as 90 minutes. Plus, the towels started to fray, because these machines use some heavy metal cleaning plates instead of an agitator and that is unkind to the clothes at the bottom of the load.

Then I washed a quilt with some sheets and pillowcases, and the machine stopped working. It turns out you're not supposed to wash quilts with sheets in these HE machines; you're supposed to sort clothes by their weight. Enough of a reason, IMO, to not buy these machines; like I have time to sort clothes by weight.

Given that I hated the machine while it worked, I figured it was not worth repairing. So I decided to hunt for an old-fashioned non-HE washing machine. I shopped online at Home Depot and found a Hotpoint 3.7 cubic foot machine, Model # HTWP1400FWW , that seems to do most of what I want. It's hard to get a non-HE machine these days, and most try to be energy efficient in other ways, like by not letting you have really warm or really hot water. The reviews on this machine indicated that you could manually set the controls to get the water temperature that you want. Heaven. Plus, I got it for $350. (It's now just over $400 at Home Depot.)

For a bunch of reasons, I have to wait 2 weeks to get the machine delivered and installed. I am not a happy camper about that. But I'm really looking forward to getting an old-fashioned machine again.

luckysunshine

Thu, Dec 04 2014, 7:07 am

amother wrote:

Which machine did you have? (OP)

Sorry, just saw this now. We have a GE front loader that fits under our counter in the kitchen (don't know the model # off hand). Unfortunately it's the only space we have, and there are very few machines that fit there. They now have an upgraded version of the one we had, and we bought that one. All research shows that it's the best machine for that size, so not sure why ours broke, but we now have a 5 year extended warranty.

amother

Thu, Dec 04 2014, 9:55 am

I recently purchased a Whirlpool Duet front loader. I debated back and forth for a while and finally pulled the trigger.

It was expensive ($1200 after everything just for washer!) BUT I am so happy! I know that it will last me a long time and will be worth the investment. Laundry is much more simple now than it has ever been. I used to pre-spot everything and now nothing needs pre-treating. Also, I splurged for the model that has "precision dispense: which has been amazing. Basically you fill the detergent once a week or so and the machine decides how much to use per load. I am buying MUCH less detergent.

As far as dryers, if you don't mind if the dryer doesn't match the washer, go with a simple no frills gas dryer.

Stick with the name brand appliances. Whirlpool is known for their washers/dryers whereas LG, Samsung, etc are not.

On the other hand, I have a Whirlpool oven and it is terrible.

I believe all companies excel in one type of appliance.

amother

Thu, Dec 04 2014, 10:24 am

Op here
Thanks all for sharing your experience. We were pressured to make a decision because of the November sales that all ended beginning of this week. The whirlpool duet was like $300 more than the LG and at this time I simply cannot "splurge". And the price means plus tax plus warranty, it ends up being a fortune! So I ended up ordering the LG. I hope I won't regret it!
Online reviews that I had read, interestingly enough, were a little better for the LG than the whirlpool. Hard to know really what the truth is. The store salesman told us that lg service has gotten better and Whirpool worse. So now they are somewhat on comparable levels.
Time will tell.
If anyone has the lg model I mentioned in the first post I'd love to hear reassurance that is good!