Top load vs. Front load washing machine

DallasIma

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 4:27 pm

Tell me what you prefer and why. I have a lot of clothes that I wash on a delicate, casual, or cold water cycle. Not buying immediately but my current washer is 10 years old and has had 2 repairs in the past 2 years. Ideally I want a high efficiency like I have now, at least 5 cubic feet capacity.

amother

Burgundy

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 4:32 pm

I have a fifty plus year old washing machine that was left with house
Top loader ge
Love it.
Works hard
Clothes get clean
No repairs, poo poo, in last 3 years
No musty smells in machine

They don’t make them like they used to!

happy chick

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 4:34 pm

Top loader are better than front loaders, imo. However, most top loaders today are made without an agitator and I can't wrap my mind around that. How do the clothes swish in the machine? What makes it clean?

amother

Yarrow

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 4:58 pm

Have top loader due to laundry room width constraints (not much standing room with door open). Love that I could pause and resume.

Don't like the depth...way too deep I need to stand on tip toes to reach the bottom. If you plan to get a large capacity keep that in mind.

amother

Dodgerblue

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 5:00 pm

I used to have a front loader and hated it. The small clothes like kid socks would get stuck in the rubber molding or whatever that’s called and if I pulled them out at the end of the load they were covered in disgusting junk because all this gunk would get stuck in the molding. When I got a new machine I switched to a top loader and am very happy with that decision bH

amother

Narcissus

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 5:08 pm

I just bought a GE top loader this week after my old fashioned washer finally went after many years. So far so good. The delicate cycle isn't as delicate as the old one, and there is no hand-wash option which I used very often. But the clothes get clean, bh.

I didn't go for a front loader because of size limitations and also because many people complain about mold and I am sensitive to smells. Would definitely recommend.

amother

Tealblue

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 5:11 pm

happy chick wrote:

It works that same as a front loader.
I wouldn't get a top loader nowadays for this reason alone, that it doesn't have an agitator. It's basically the same as a front loader just with the door on top.

DallasIma

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 5:46 pm

Turned out my old machine is in its death throes and would have cost more to fix than buying a new machine. So I had to make a quick decision, and after seeing what was available in my local store and the amount of water a front vs. top loader uses, I went with a front loader after all. It's coming on Monday IYH. Maybe after I've used it for a while, I'll come back to this thread and let y'all know how it's working out. To happy chick and Tealblue, my old dying machine had an impeller, and it was kind of a pain to have to load the clothes around the center every time. So, that's at least one thing I won't have to worry about any more.

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 6:25 pm

I can't reach the bottom of a top loader and I've been happy with the 2 front loaders I've bought.

amother

Chambray

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 6:30 pm

amother Tealblue wrote:

It works the same as a front loader.
I wouldn't get a top loader nowadays for this reason alone, that it doesn't have an agitator.

One of my friends says an agitator is not good because it's too hard on the clothing.

I prefer a top loader because if you forget something you an open it in the middle of the cycle. With the front loader you're stuck.

DallasIma

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 6:31 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

I can't reach the bottom of a top loader and I've been happy with the 2 front loaders I've bought.

Yeah, I'm very short and I had to stand on tiptoes to reach the bottom of my old top loader. But I'll have to bend to put clothes in and take them out of a front loader. Nu, nothing is perfect.

Batsheva1

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 6:33 pm

I'm in the front loader camp. Most commercial machines at laundromats are front loaders and that already says something about the quality of the machine. If top loaders were better, that's what they would have at laundromats. Front loaders use less water and clean more efficiently. In addition, some front loaders can be stacked with the dryer so take half the space.

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 6:36 pm

DallasIma wrote:

Yeah, I'm very short and I had to stand on tiptoes to reach the bottom of my old top loader. But I'll have to bend to put clothes in and take them out of a front loader. Nu, nothing is perfect.

You can get a pedestal but dryers have always been like this!

I find the new top loaders even harder than the ones of yore.

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 6:36 pm

amother Chambray wrote:

Not true, some let you pause and you may have to wait a minute for it to be safe to open, but I've added things...

DallasIma

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 6:58 pm

They showed me a pedestal, but it wouldn't work in my laundry room because of the cabinets over the washer and dryer. But come to think of it, as someone here mentioned, I do have to bend to get clothes in and out of the dryer. So this will be OK. Also as far as being stuck when you want to add things, my old top loader was very annoying because the lid would have to lock, then if I needed to add something I had to stop the cycle and wait until the lid would unlock. So if I forget something with my new machine, so, I'll do another load afterwards. No big deal. Way way back in the 1950s, my mom had one of those old front-loading Bendix washing machines. So in a way this new machine will bring back some fond memories!

DallasIma

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 7:01 pm

ap wrote:

Which company did you buy

I looked at both LG and Samsung (I have an LG dryer that's a few years old) and it seemed like 6 of one and half a dozen of the other, but I decided to go with the Samsung. Model # is WF45T6000AW if you feel like looking it up.

amother

Chambray

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 7:05 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

Not true, some let you pause and you may have to wait a minute for it to be safe to open, but I've added things...

Oh, that's good. The ones in my building don't allow that. They're changing the vendor soon, so maybe we'll get better ones.

Cheiny

Tue, Aug 08 2023, 7:14 pm

DallasIma wrote:

I was told by a salesperson in a well known appliance store that the front loads has issues with mold and having to clean it out on a regular basis to prevent it…