How many washers do you have? Why do you need more than one?

Do you share the laundry responsibilities or does one of you do all the work? I think you can guess where I am going with that if only one of you does the laundry.

ha! We do have a really old set of top loaders upstairs in our home and the downstairs laundry/mud room has the front loaders.

IMO front loaders wash better are easier on clothes and honestly I have never encountered the smell at all I use a no fragrance laundry detergent approx. 1 tblsp / load I use oxyclean no bleach and no smell. I do however wipe out the inside maybe once every 2 weeks when I clean the laundry area. I think built in is a bit of a misnomer since you still need to access the water taps for sure and I find under both get gross and are so much easier to clean under when not “built in” per se. I lkke the idea of a counter that moves out of the way to keep stuff from falling behind and storage is a big desl IMO.

Thanks! I was thinking more of this as it gives counter space above.

One thing to be aware of with top loaders - we stayed with my daughter for a bit - I could not reach the clothes in the bottom of her top loader (I’m 5’1) - I was too short! I had to get a stool or get someone to reach the clothes :(

Candace has a point. I got a new top loader and I can barely reach the bottom! (I'm 5-7"!)

Sure does hold a lot of clothes though.

I'm 5'1 and I don't have issues with my Speed Queen top loader. I hated my front loader.

I was happy when it was time to replace them.

I love being able to monitor water levels and amount of detergent.

When it was time to replace machine in one of our rental units, the repair man recommended Speed Queen.

I have had both and prefer front loaders. We don’t have a smell either, but we mostly keep the door open. I also do a “tub cleaner” cycle once a month. Top loaders are harder to empty. When I visit my mom I have a hard time getting everything outta there!

I won't tell you to do something your wife doesn't want, especially if she's the one that does the laundry.......but I love my front loader and am happy to keep the door open a little, since it gives me so many more "pros" than that "con": Gentler on clothes, makes doing the laundry cheaper (in energy and water costs), and uses less water (a limited resource).

Love my top loader. Yes, it's deep but I'm almost 5' 10" so no problem for me.

I’m mid forties and grew up with front loaders and have had them in all of my adult homes (my rentals always had stacking top loaders...) Front loaders save energy, use less water, use less soap... yes you have to leave the door ajar because otherwise it’s a giant Petri dish but that isn’t hard (ask my husband, I leave dresser drawers open all the time.). That said if she does the laundry she gets to pick!

Do front loaders have a deep water wash option like some top loaders do?

I may have found my "happy medium". Looks like GE has a new feature that air dries the washer to keep it from getting moldy. This was my wifes biggest issue with the front loader. We will see. Thanks everyone for the great input! https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-5-0-cu-ft-Sapphire-Blue-Front-Load-Washing-Machine-with-OdorBlock-UltraFresh-Vent-System-with-Sanitize-and-Allergen-GFW850SPNRS/311972521

Who does the laundry? That person makes the decision on the machines. Period.

@tcscwi Have you installed the washer yet? Are you happy with it? I'm asking because I had a front loader ~15 years ago and I did not think it cleaned my clothes well. I want to know if things have improved.

We have both front and top. I ended with whirlpool top loader upstairs and front loader GE with Fresh vent downstairs. Both are great. The fresh vent keeps the tub from molding and not having to keep the door open.