Washer/Dryer

Don't buy a GE Triton XL Dishwasher.  We hate ours.  There's a website through consumer reports that you can join for 24 hours and do research for something like $5.  I think it would be well worth it.

I would recommend either the Pennysaver or DI. Both places fit right into our lifestyle + budget.

WE have always been completely happy with the Sears Appliances that we have.  We keep a service policy on them with Sears.  Our experience about a year ago really sold us for sure.  We bought the washer we had right after we had the fire in 1981.  We have had them dome out from time to time for regular maintainance.  When it was making some noise, we had the serviceman come and he said there was a leak minute enough that we hadn't even noticed.  He said it ws unrepairable and that the service dept. would contact us.  We were instructed to pick out a similar washer.  The one we had was large capacity and had a "sud-saver" which they don't make any more.  I don't understand why with all the conservation consciouness now.  I could wash sheets, light clothes or the like and then pump the water back in to washer for the dirty barn clothes or maybe throw rugs etc.  It wasn't so much the suds or soap that was saved but the reuse of the water especially when you live on septic tank.  We went to the store expecting to have them just give us a discount but to our surprise we got a brand new washer.  i know there is the yearly outlay of the service policy but it covers ALL of our appliences and if we have 2 calls a year it is more than the contract.  Of course it you are a Sean and can repair anything with a baby pin or paper clip it sounds unneccesary but not for us.

Umm, well.  Lowes has the best selection I've seen.  Sears was overpriced when I looked there.  Home depot doesn't have a very good selection.  You may also try my favorite store Fry's down there.  We have the Whirlpool Duets front loaders and they have worked OK so far.  I know other people that have them and some have had complaints/issues but you will probably have that with any appliance these days.  They are all built pretty cheap until you start spending major cash.  That's about all the advice I can offer.  Also beware that the front loaders can be a lot bigger if you are worried about space.

I have had major energy savings since I sprung from my Maytag Neptune front loaders.  The washer takes so much less water, plus the capacity is so huge.  I can be pretty sure that with 5 daughters I do probably more laundry than anyone and I am so thrilled that the huge loads get dry in half the time.  If I had it to do over I would by the platforms to stand them on so I don't have to bend over so far to load and unload, but at the time I didn't want to sacrifice my folding surface on top.  My laundry room is pretty small, so I still can't load or unload if the door to the room is open, but I still love the front loaders.  I also have to say that my dishwasher takes major abuse and just keeps working well -- I don't even know what it is, so I'll have to go look --- it's a Whirlpool Gold Quiet Whisper.  I'm sure it's not the most expensive by a long shot, since it was what was put in by the builder 6 years ago, but it gets everything clean, even when some nameless souls don't rinse or stack well, plus it's quiet enough to hear the television while it's running.

Valorie - did I wear out your washer and dryer when I was down there?  Too many sandy beach clothes?

Hehe, we had the Whirlpool Gold dishwasher and returned it after getting tired of it's horrible performance.  If you put anything in the front of the utensil holder the soap door wouldn't open and many times we found the washer completely done with all the soap still in the little box.  We ended up with the Kitchenaid that is made by Whirlpool and is exactly the same dishwasher (there isn't much selection out there unless you go with a $1000 or more dishwasher) but the Kitchenaid dishwasher had a different spot for utensils and solved the soap problem.  It has worked pretty well.  Still, when you look at the construction of the Kitchenaid it's not all that impressive.

P.S. Kitchenaid makes some higher quality dishwashers but the buttons are all on the top of the door where you can't see them when the door is closed (weird)  I noticed Jodi had one of those at her house.

 

 

We have a Kitchenaid with the buttons on top. I actually quite like it, because it helps hide the buttons from little exploring hands :-)

Sears has sales that run pretty often during the year, so if you wait for one of those you can get a reasonable deal. And they do have a great overall selection.

No idea on what models are good, though. Our washer and dryer were purchased 13 years ago when we first got married, and I'm amazed they've made it this long. I'm sure we'll be in the market for new ones sometime soon, but we'll see how long they hold out.

Thanks for all the input.  I love picking eveyone's brain and getting their experience.  I can see why you would like the buttons hidden but Jodi says it is annoying as you have to open the dishwasher to see what cycle it is on.  Jay has the same thing.  We looked on Craig's List at washers and there were only about 10 in our area.  Most of them were front loading and I LOVE the top loading so I don't have to bend over so far to get the clothes in and out BUT after reading Shelley's comments I can see where it would be a big savings.  I would like to put them on a platform but too much work.  The water savings is great as we are in a drought but the energy is miniscule as we don't wash much so I will probably stick with the top.  We looked at Sam's Club last night at a GE that was really nice for $436.  Brad went to the Consumer Report site but we were nervous about signing up and getting stuck for more months so maybe we will go to the library and read about it.  At this point I have the Whirpool guy coming out Thursday for $50-$75 to see why my agitator doesn't agitate and maybe it will be a cheap fix--ha ha right, but oh well.  It is probably all that sand that Shelley put in there--just kidding.   

Fischer Paykel were some of the quietest/nicest sets we delivered/installed at Lowe's.  They might be a bit smaller in size though, I don't remember. 

http://www.fisherpaykel.com/laundry/

 

I say we start using the laundromat. I have lots of quarters to spend. It could be a social experience, too.

would you give up the donut shop for the laundromat?

Jonathan has a consumer reports online subscription.  If you're interested he probably wouldn't mind if I sent you the logon.

Yeah that would be great or I can send him the name of this washer but it would be nice if I needed to look up more. 

Ok, I emailed it to you.

Sean

Yes, I would consider giving up the donut shop each morning and trade my quarters for the spin cycle. It might be an even social exchange.Probalby run into the same people.

 

Sean,

Can Nate get us a dishwasher? Maybe loaded with precious china and shipped UPS to our doorstep? We don't need to buy insurance, do we?

HAHA brad, I'm sure we could arrange that.  You should receive it in 8 months.

Thanks Laura--got it.  I will look it up.

You could always get this:   http://www.drillspot.com/pimages/1613/161358_300.jpg

I'm sure your mom already has one of those, Geoff!

HA HA HA HA

Well I made an executive decision and had the Whirlpool man come out for a $69.95 service call.  He was here a TOTAL of 10 minutes and put in 4 new plastic pieces, each smaller than a dime and only 2 of the 4 were broken, spaced equally around the inside of the agitator.  They click inside the gear-like mechanism making the agitator continue to turn around.  The total cost was $155.72--for pieces of plastic and his expertise.  He said they break from overloading the machine.  OK, I have overloaded the machine for 8 years now so maybe the machine will last a few more years and I can get my $155.72 money's worth.  I watched very carefully so in case it happens again I can order the pieces and take it apart myself.  That would be something to look for in a new machine--no plastic parts.  I did look in Consumer at the GE at Sam's.  The exact model # is not there but the one close to it is rated best choice.  Thanks so much Laura and Jonathan. 

And you always complain that I load  it up  with too little every time I do the washing! Only because I like to do it before I run out of clothes and so that the lid on the basket doesn't fall off!! haha

Valorie, Fred would have fixed it cheaper!

Yeah, we could have bought you a bus pass to come down and had it done. Oh well, if it happens again, we know how to fix it ourselves now. And if I do the washing from now on, it won't happen again. (haha0

We just went for our walk this morning,  and the people behind us were selling a one year old Kenmore machine for $60. Nothing wrong with it, just moving into an apt and no room for it. Oh well..........

We have the Whirlpool Quiet Partner II dishwasher and I love it. But we had such a ghetto old dishwasher in our condo that anything is a step up! I'm amazed at how quiet it is and how many dishes we can fit inside. Maybe this is on most new dishwashers, but I love having the silverware on the door instead of in the bottom main part.