I can't answer you questions regarding fabric preservation and such as I don't have a Miele myself. Just want to mention that LG, Whirlpool, GE, Bosch manufacture compact front load washers too in case you wanted to stay small.

The 3.0-3.5 cf size is hard to find these days. I had two 3.5 Fridgidaire FL washers as that was maximum size I could fit into my house. In my experience, that is a good compromise size--not too big, not too small. A happy medium. I didn't have good overall performance from these machines, but the sizing inside and out, was good. Ironically enough, even though my Fridgidaires were poor performers, they did a better job at cat hair removal than my current top load Speed Queen washer. Go figure how that works out.

You could try not filling your Miele as full and see if the wear and tear reduces. Laundry does need a certain amount of 'wiggle room' inside a washer. Maybe that would help.

Thanks Sea!

We are building a new laundry room and I can have any size w/d. Originally I was going to get the biggest, but then I decided I'd rather have too smaller washers so I could wash two loads at once. Not so much more $$ than getting the big LG with the side kick base.

So, I don't need compact, but was checking them out because I keep hearing about the love for Miele. But maybe that is when one doesn't have the space? I could actually live with the 2.5 cu ft, but I worry that for my husbands bigger loads with bigger jeans etc, it may not cut it.

In reading now, I just noticed that a few people mention that ventless dryers are more gentle on clothes. They also mention that the little giant allows you to program it for more water. Maybe the water level on your Fridgidaires was higher?? Who knows! The more I read the more I don't know :)

Because the little giant is now going to be a little smaller than the new Miele washer, I'm not sure if there is a reason to look in that direction. The right hinged door and increased water levels is appealing, but the M1 is bigger and much much less expensive

We have a Miele W4842 (now a discontinued model) that is quite large and really is too large for the two of us. Our next washer will have to be smaller. Clothing has not suffered, and the hair comes off in the dryer.

So are you both saying you think the 2.4 or 2 cu ft is perfectly fine, or do you just do small loads. My loads aren't big, and because of Miele's reputation, I"m just assuming I must be overloading them which is causing the wear and tear.. not the actual machines.

If I'm wrong and there is no reason for something bigger, I'd be happy to get the Mieles (most of my kitchen will be), but they seem to be smaller than I want but they get so much love I need to figure out why :) I just don't want to have to do laundry ALL the time

Are you separating fabrics, i.e. washing jeans, sweatshirts (especially if they have zippers) and towels separately from your thinner tops? I feel like that would have much more impact on premature wear than overfilling the drum.

I do wash jeans separately. My loads with sweaters will have other delicates, like yoga pants and undies etc. My sweaters are all piling since moving to this place with the Mieles. Because Mieles are supposedly the best, overcrowding was the only thing I could come up with.

either way, need to figure out what to put in our new build because they need info. If I went with the little giant with the right swing door, the location would be in one area.. or the other new Miele or anything else, it would be in another location. And mieles don't vent, so IF I could be convinced to go with those, I would rather save the money running the ducts for outside venting etc..

If I understand correctly, you can wash king sized quilt in a Little Giant, but not the regular 2.cf washer. I have the small 2.cf and I can wash a modest size queen comforter in mine, but that is maxed out. I have been washing my office clothes in my set for 4-5 years. They don’t wear out. I use special dark detergent for my clothes. Otherwise for undies, a variety of products. I use Persil powder for my towels. I’ve washed silk, wool, down without problems, using special detergents for these fibers.. Maybe you have a rough damaged spot in the washer or dryer. Take a microfiber cloth and see if you can snag it in the surface to find out.

As enduring has said I never had any problems with my Mieles being hard on my clothing. I have had 4 different machines (different houses) and different age of the machines. I now have a soon to be 10 year old and it has the Miele honeycone drum. If I want gentle washing it is always the miele I use as I have 2 other washers as well.

You need to use the right program teamed with the right detergent for the fabrics you are washing. In the manual there are guids to how much you csn put into the machine based on the program. A full cottons wash is a full drum almost packed and It will be clean but for wool or delicets it is only maybe 2 or 3 garments.

I have two W19XX washers and one W3033. They all work equally well. The W19XX washes at hotter temps but I have not noticed too much of a difference in my kitchen towels which are washed at 200F on the older machines versus 170 on the W3033.

I am not sure what machines you have and what your laundry practices are but I had guests staying with me who loved the Miele because they said their top loader leaves a ton of lint on their clothes. I have not used a top loaded in over 20years so can't really speak to them.

If you post the model of the machine you are currently using and what detergents you are using, maybe the board can assist in providing you accurate information about how the machines should work.

I only have three of these machines because I found them on craiglist locally at absolutely ridiculous prices, the W3033 was $150 for instance.

They fit a ton of stuff. I have Bath sheets from Waterworks which are 800gsm Turkish towels and I believe they are 40"x76". I can fit two of these towels plus all my hand towels in one load. They spin without a problem and these machines range in age from 20yrs old to 5years old. I am the original owner of the 20year and the 11year old machine and the W3033 was purchased used but was only used for two months.

I also wash 2 of my king sheets (super sized roughly 120"x126") and pillowcases usually about 6 at a time. I do this because I iron my sheets. if you don't iron your sheets, you may not want to load the machine so tightly as the sheets will wrinkle. I have no problems fitting full loads of everything in my machines.

Since you will be buying two washers, I would worry less about capacity as you can spread any large load over multiple machines.

I am also a clothes sorter, so things are sorted by fabric, color and function. For instance, kitchen towels are washed separately from bath towels, jeans are washed separately from any other clothing. One of the advantages of these machines is that you can do large enough load and you can also do really small loads which is usually not possible on the larger front loaders.

Good luck!

I'm on my fourth set of compact front loaders. I've never found any of them to be too small -- except the Asko which was smallest and had a super low water level.

Most here will likely agree that good laundry practices are like knowing how to play an instrument. Miele washers are among the best instruments on the market. I had mine for years and never had any wear on clothing -- quite the opposite -- things came out looking renewed.

If you are stuffing a compact front loader full you don't have "small loads." 2/3 full is about right for most loads.

Washing sweaters with other clothing will likely produce abrasion which in turn can cause pilling. I've always done sweaters on the wool cycle with wool-appropriate detergent. I don't mix those with other clothes. I wouldn't wash underwear or exercise clothes on wool.

OTOH, maybe you just don't get along with the Miele. It happens. I've seen people hate their dishwasher also. Inconceivable for me and perhaps others but it happens.

If the door swing also doesn't work then I don't understand what the question is. The answer seems fairly obvious.

Thanks!!

Well, after much thought and research this weekend, I'm sold on the Miele's and fine with the small capacity. I've learned a lot here, so thank you all!

Now I am just making sure that there is anything so special about the little giants vs their new W1 and T1. From the calls I've made today, it seems people were mostly buying the little giants because that was the biggest they could buy for home use, and that reason now goes away with the W1T1. They do handle a bigger work load and should last longer, but that won't be important to me, considering the cost savings of not getting them.

It seems the best feature of the Little giants was to add more water, but I'm just going by what I read and really have no knowledge about the subject.

The little giants would have solved my layout problems because the door swing worked better for us, so you are right Rocogurl, but because spending 2k more for two washers to solve my problem seems crazy, I'm going to alter the laundry room design. We were only at the shop drawing stage. We have a drain in the room for a sink and another for the washer, so I'll look at some configurations that will work within those parameters. Nothing will be perfect, but the room was never great anyway.

So, it looks like 2 W1's and 1 T1. I don't want to stack them because I hate bending, so I am hoping to find room to put them side by side and on a platform. While a 2nd dyer seems nice, Im thinking the dryer is much bigger than the washer, so we can probably wash two loads and put both in the dryer. I don't dry things with elastics to help the longevity, BUT, because the heat pump dryer is supposed to be so much more gentle, I'm wondering if I'll wind up drying a lot more than I currently do. My clothes are not so special, but I just like my things to last. Any thoughts on if the new dryer will replace hang dry?

That was a mouth full !!!

Personally, I would rethink a single dryer. QuickIntenseWash on the W1 can wash in 59 minutes. Where as the T1 dryer cycle can take longer than that. If I had the room, I would go with two sets stacked.

oh really.. is this because it will dry faster if it's not as full.. .i think so, and that makes sense!!! the only negative is then it puts the washer lower which is a big negative.. hmmm... maybe a washer and washer stacked and same with the dryers.. that way i can be at eye level most of the time and bend for the second loads ??? does that sound good? or, if i could raise these high enough, i could put them counter height all the way across and storage underneath. i imagine that is getting too tall though.. i have a long skinny room :)

I was just told that Miele has a closed system and can't leak. This means you don't need to worry about a floor drain and a pan. Anyone know if this is too good to be true?

Depending on height of where the dryer buttons wind up, you might be able to build a concrete platform to hold the stack to raise it a bit. W1/T1 will have two stacking kits, one has a drawer which will raise the height of the dryer a bit and the other will just be a thin profile connection kit.

You can’t stack a washer on top of a washer. Can you make the laundry room larger? Since you are building new is it possible to design the laundry room better to fit these needs?

I don't know anything about the Miele models the OP is referencing here. Only the 3000 series and the LiGis.

The reason to buy a LiGi would be to have a very powerful internal heater, extra cycles and digital readout. It is likely a more robust machine as well. Larsi has that set and it's on a concrete pedestal. There have been photos posted several times.

The water levels are adjustable on all Miele models.

If I were considering a new machine on the market from Miele I would be absolutely sure that good service is available where you live. You don't get aftermarket service that's competent from anyone but Miele. Those warantys are important. If service is too far away that won't be helpful. Best to check thoroughly in advance.

The Little Giant uses a lot of water by current front-loader standards. It's very configurable (e.g. prewash and wash times, prewash temperature). Wash temperature can be set in increments of 5 degrees Celsius over a wide range. It has programs you won't find in a residential washer, like: Kitchen Linens which can be set to do two prewashes preceding the main wash; Sluice programs which do two prerinses followed by a hot or very hot main wash, to clean soiled laundry. The 5000W heater is also a selling point. This is two and a half times more powerful than the heater on typical European 240V machines.

CATS - Your post is old but we flooded the Miele washing machine twice

I can’t remember the actual cause last year but this year the hot water shut off failed and water gushed into the drum and out the belly…