I'm on my third LG washer/dryer (only because each time I've moved) and have been very happy with them. You can have your builder build a platform to sit them on instead of paying for the stands.

Oh that's a good idea! I will talk to my builder about that. What model do you have?

I have a full sized one and mine is now almost 2 years old.

Consumer Reports has ratings of all types of washers and dryers including washer/dryer pairs. http://www.consumerreports.org/join $10/month digital.

If your current ones work, you may want to take them with you. I have yet to find a decent washer that cleaned like the old kind.

SpeedQueen TC5000.

Old school, full fill and one of the few that allows a true hot wash. The cycle takes about 35 min. The lid doesn’t lock and you can soak indefinitely.

They also make a TR 3, 5 or 7 model but these use a tub agitation system which not as effective in cleaning. SQ increased the cycle time so that it takes an hour to get better cleaning.

We have a bunch of the residential machines that we use in business. Some are 15 years old and none have ever had a repair. They go all day.

Be sure to read the manual for whatever you buy so you can see the cycle times and check the real capacity. Some top load no agitator machines can only be loaded part way.

@cpartist: Please provide the following information:

1. Why anecdotal data provided by you regarding a couple of washers you have owned is more useful than those provided by an independent testing organization that tests hundreds of appliances using consistent methodologies and projects appliance reliability by statistical analyses of thousands of CR readers' surveys.
2. Why I should not provide a link to CR, which offers the data above at minimal cost, to an OP who may not know about the organization.
3. Why ratings of CR -- which you have made clear you do not read -- "are not always accurate".
4. Why Yale Appliance -- an APPLIANCE DEALER THAT TESTS NO APPLIANCES -- provides more useful purchasing information than CR.
5. Why you are obsessed with me.

CR ratings are anecdotal by them and are often inaccurate on appliance feature details. Repair ratings are anecdotal by responders to the survey and are hugely restricted in what they cover and how the data is compiled and presented.

I have contacted them in the past regarding errors on reported features of appliances and they did NOT correct the errors.

My appliance repair person (not a kid new to the business, he is an experienced middle aged man ;0)) told me he thinks somehow LG has 'gotten it right' with the HE washers. That was after I bought otherwise, and when I'm ready to make a brand change that may not still hold true....but for what its worth, he's in favor or their efficiency and reliability right now.

Several family members have purchased GE Deep Fills in the last couple of years. They've been happy and problem free with those too if you are looking at a lower price range.

(there are no Speed Queen or Miele dealers here locally, which means no local service. Little chance of something going wrong and service taking place within 2-3 days)

• @dadoes: "CR ratings are anecdotal by them"

That makes no sense.

• @dadoes: "Repair ratings are anecdotal by responders"

That makes even less sense.

• @dadoes "[Repair ratings] are hugely restricted in what they cover and how the data is compiled and presented."

"Hugely restricted?" Huh? By what?

• @dadoes "I have contacted them in the past regarding errors on reported features of appliances and they did NOT correct the errors."

Given that nothing you wrote elsewhere in your comment makes sense, I'm not surprised.

CR does not differentiate the type of repair reported. ANY event that triggers a consumer to call for service is considered a repair, even it isn't a malfunction of the appliance. A user error or misunderstanding about how a function is intended to work counts as a repair. An installation problem perpetrated by a 3rd-party delivery crew working for a big-box store is a repair when it has nothing to do with a malfunction of the machine. Meh.

CR stated wrong information on features of both a dishwasher and washing machine that I happen to own so I knew they were wrong. I clearly explained the wrong information to them in an email. I received a canned "thank you" reply. I was an online subscriber at the time. They did not correct the wrong information in the online reviews, which can easily be done even if they can't recall printed magazines. They repeated the wrong information in reviews of subsequent models. Meh.

Another problem that occurred at the time is that they retained my credit card information and there was no way for me to remove it from my account. I did not want to renew the subscription and wanted to remove the card info to avoid auto-renewal, and I could not remove it. I contacted them several weeks ahead of the renewal date to ask that the ccard info be removed and they immediately canceled my access with paid time remaining..

• @dadoes: "CR does not differentiate the type of repair reported. ANY event that triggers a consumer to call for service is considered a repair, even it isn't a malfunction of the appliance."

From the CR website: "To calculate predicted reliability, we asked members how many times the products they own broke or stopped working as well as they should."

• @dadoes: "I clearly explained the wrong information to them in an email."

I would suspect that CR has made the editorial decision not to revise published reports, that to do so would the expenditure of limited resources CR considers better spent on conducting new tests and preparing new reports. Or perhaps CR just considered what you wrote to be trivial and not worth correcting.

They repeated the wrong information in a following year report on subsequent model after being made aware it was wrong information.

The mistakes were 1) stating that the dishwasher has a soil sensor when it does not, and 2) stating that the washer does not have ATC (auto temp-control) when it does (very precisely by moderating the flow rates of the valves, not just cycling hot and cold individually on/off).

FWIW, we got top of the line Samsung in our new build. After 1.5 yrs, dryer is already making loud noises.

Wow, thank you everyone for replying. I am not going to take my current w/d with me. The dryer is 25 years old (gas and new place has electric) and the Samsung washer is 6 months old and I don't particularly care for it. FWIW, I used to use CR a lot, but I have found it less useful in recent years as there is so much more information available online and clearly some of the information is out of date.

@wekick, it doesn't look like my appliance dealer carries the T5000. I'll need to look around for that. I do like the idea of an old fashioned machine.

Berlinrl, I wrote the number wrong. It is TC5 or TC5000 or classic model. If they carry SQ, they should be able to get it.

I would recommend avoiding LG appliances. We've gone through 3 different LG washer/dryer pairs in the past 5 years and had to repair them yearly at a very expensive cost. My LG dryer is dead at the moment because I wasn't willing to sink another $350 in it for a new board. My LG washer constantly stops at the rinse cycle and I have to use spin cycle manually after it stops. My cleaning cycle is about 2-3 hrs for speed wash that technically should be 28 minutes.

The LG washer would take at least 1 hr to spin dry even though the display shows 1 min left. We bought top of the line each time so it is frustrating to feel that our money is wasted.

In contrast, my Miele washer/dryer are 20 years old and still plugging away with not a single repair during that time.

I'm in the market for a new washer as well as I need a large volume with extra heating for sanitation (FiL moving in). I remember reading several detailed discussions about W/D on Gardenweb when I was searching a couple of years ago. You might want to look for those.

I wouldn't/don't trust CR for any purchase! No, no no! I haven't looked and could be wrong but I'm betting LG is at the top of their list for washers and why so many here have them. Or, maybe LG was really good and designing an eye catching washer that looks high end and has a bazillion bells and whistles. I don't recall looking at them when I was washer shopping.

We are empty nesters too. I bought the same size washer (top load with agi) that this one was replacing but I had to exchange it for a larger capacity due to the newer water restrictions. Even tho I bought a machine that advertised "use all the water you want", it really didn't. I just washed 14 2xl white t-shirts tonight. Plenty of water and it wasn't even on Max Deep Fill (I like a lot of water). Washer wasn't full. Had room for more clothes. I don't know how tall you are but if you get a larger capacity washer, you may have a problem reaching the clothes. I'm 5' tall. I can reach about 1/2 down the drum. My laundry room now has it's own set of kitchen tongs for removing clothes from the washer :)

I know you said you weren't interested in wifi. Altho I'm a total tech geek, I wasn't either but the washer I wanted happened to have it. And since I wanted the matching dryer, it has it too. I DO find it helpful! Necessary? Life changing? No but it is helpful.

I have a GE GTW845 washer and matching dryer. GE doesn't seem to be terribly popular on this forum but I'm LOVING it! To be fair tho, I don't use it in default/auto modes. I make changes to the settings, including using enough water for clothes to freely move around. I wash about 2/3s of our laundry in hot water and definitely use more than a couple of tablespoon of detergent! You should see what my washer and powered Tide plus Bleach did to those 14 dingy/stained white t-shirts. They were ready to retire and I bought 12 more yesterday to replace them. All but one old t-shirt is back in business :)

I think all the old appliance wisdom I had is barely valid anymore. The brands are no longer the brands we knew. The names may be the same but the product and company have changed.

I used to consider CR the absolute bible. I will say that still, when they have something rated as a best buy (meaning low ish $ and fine quality) I do pay attention.

Other than that though, I have less faith in them. I have started to look at Yale Appliances as well because they do at least have a ranking of (obviously these might not be the brand spanking new models but then again, CR probably hasn't reviewed them either) the number of Brand X appliances they sold, and the # of repair calls for it.

To me that's as good an indication as any I can find.

I used to totally avoid GE but now they are looking pretty good (repair wise) and there is a good chance I will be purchasing a few GE appliances. (most likely though, still sticking with Bosch dishwasher).

THe only universal advice I have seen is that Samsung is to be avoided.

YMMV

@monicakm_gw thank you so much . . . . there is a lot of useful information here! I am 5'3" and I have difficulty reaching to the bottom of the tub of my newer Samsung. What do you think about having an agitator in today's age? In many ways I like the design of the older machines, but I struggle with this one. I do a lot of laundry on delicate. I keep reading that the top loader is not as gentle and an agitator is even rougher on the clothing. How is your delicate/handwash cycle on the GE?

I don’t use CR for any of my appliance choices.

In our guest house that we rent out to Airbnb guests we have a LG 3700 series front load washer and dryer and it’s amazing. It cleans well and all the guests seem to love it. Got it on Costco. Delivery and installation was great. Good thing about Costco is all the installation (new water hoses, dryer vents, cords) are all included in the price along with a 2 year warranty vs 1 year warranty (4 years if you use their citi credit card).

There is another thread about someone who bought LG 3900 series front load washer and dryer and loved them too. The 3700 does not have turbo wash but was not a deal breaker for me.

In our main house we have 5 front load washers and dryers. I have Miele octoplus set, another smaller Miele set, Maytag set, and two speed queen sets. Now those speed queen sets clean like no other. It’s a heavy duty tank machine. It does not have an on board heater though and for some that’s a deal breaker. Right now if any of my sets in the house broke and I were to replace I would get another LG set most likely 3900 since I already have a 3700.

brlinrl, I'm not a laundry expert...I mean, I guess if anyone has been doing laundry for 40 years they're somewhat of an expert if they care at all about their laundry but despite the "agitators beat your clothes up" mantra, I had to stop and ask myself...I've been using a top load agitator machine for 40 years. Are my clothes beat up? Have holes, snags? No they don't. Would they last longer if I didn't use a machine with an agi? I don't know because I'm not one to keep an article of clothing for decades. I think dryers do more harm to clothes than washers and that's why I don't put any of our good clothes in the dryer. You've been doing your delicates with an agi for years. How have they held up? I wash all of our nice items on delicate/gentle cycle and cold water. Pretreat (with the same liquid detergent) any stains. Specifically on the GE, I haven't washed enough "good clothes" yet. I think I've done 2 loads and have enough now to make another load. I don't work outside the home, have a lot of clothes and can wear them multiple times before washing. After wearing a shirt, I'll hang it on the bathroom door, spray it with this...

• Odor eliminator
• Fabric refresher
• Static remover
• Ironing aid

and let it air out.

Larisa, I hope you don't mind me asking why you have 5 w/d in your house? You said you have a washer in your Air BnB. Must be a HUGE house to be able to accommodate 5 w/d sets!

I wanted five washers and dryers. We have a new build house. My laundry room is just as big as our master room which is massive. My husband and I built our forever home. He thought I was nuts for wanting a laundry room so big. I didn’t think it was nuts for his man cave so he quit bugging about it. Our builder has done homes with 2 hook-ups before but never 5. Our laundry alone has its own electrical panel lol

All together we have 6 sets including the one in the mother in law house. It’s a 3/2 mother in law :) The main house is 4500sq fr 5/6.5 bath house with a man cave too.

That's a lot of washers, Larisa. I think you should post some pictures of your laundry room!

My last 3 washers (over 15 years) have been high efficiency top loaders without an agitator. I wear a lot of clothes for work that are 'fine knits' which I love because they don't need to go to the dry cleaner, don't wrinkle and are very comfortable. One jacket I nearly ruined in my new Samsung because the spin cycle was so fast. I learned quickly to decrease the speed. So the delicate cycle is important to me. I've never had steam in washer or dryer, but this appeals to me as well.

After your comments, I'm thinking of going for the LG 3700 or 3900. Also, since we are talking about a new build, I've reached out to the builder to do something with building a platform rather than buy any company's pedestals. I should probably the surf the internet also, to see if somebody has generic laundry pedestals.

Can anybody speak to how quiet the LG 3700/3900 pairs are? My new laundry will be right off my master bedroom. I've had a first floor laundry for years, so this wasn't as important, but I can see putting up a load before I go to bed.

I'm also thinking of purchasing at Costco to get the longer warranty. I think my current card (Chase Sapphire) doubles the warranty so I may not have to open a new Citi account.

I see no mention of moderately priced washers that heat to 150 or more, are they gone? I have a 14 year old Bosch FL, that I love. We have self installed a pump for $120 over it's lifetime & that's it. I do believe the bearings may be slowly going. I so wish they still made this American type. I need one with a heater that actually is used. I am preparing for the future. Any options out there?

Yes, I'd love to see your laundry room too. Do you have like a dozen children? It's just my husband and me and the 5 cu ft washer I bought (to get the amt of water I wanted) is an overkill.

DH's man cave is 24x26 or 28. My laundry room is just big enough for a washer, dryer and hot water heater. When we were building (as 22 yr olds), mom told I should make it larger. I didn't listen. Why take up any more room than necessary for a w/d? :o Now it's landlocked. But in a few weeks it will have a new walls, ceiling, texture, chandelier and paint with SPARKLE :)

My currently laundry is a combination mudroom laundry that you pass through from garage into kitchen. The floor plan works nicely, but the space is tight. In the new home, the space will be about 10 x 12 but dedicated to laundry. We only do about 4-5 loads a week, so this is more than sufficient.