Our old washing machine broke a couple of months ago; and, even though we could have fixed it, we decided it was time to go with a new front loader instead.The main reason we wanted front loading machines was because of the space savings when stacked.After a week of research, we settled on either this LG model or the comparable Samsung, based on reading pretty much every review we could find - we settled on the LG because of price.
Aside from the fact that these are extremely heavy compared to our old top loaders, the installation was fairly straight forward.The water hoses are a couple of feet longer than a typical washer hose (even other front loaders), which was great for us since we ended up stacking them a few feet from the water inputs.They are also very easy to setup and use.
At first we were a bit nervous about the height of the machines when stacked, but those fears were completely unfounded.I'm 5'9" and I can access both the washer and dryer with ease.The washer tub is actually tilted upward to make it easier to access when it's sitting on the floor instead of a stand.As a quick reference, if you're worried about the height, the bottom of the dryer opening sits at 54" when stacked, the center of the dryer control knob sits at 76", and the top of the dryer is at 79".
Aside from the obvious space savings, here are the things we've really liked about this washer:
1) It runs very quietly with no noticeable vibration.I was worried about this after reading reviews for other front loaders, but it hasn't been a problem at all - even with both the washer & dryer stacked and running at the same time.
2) It gets our clothes at least as clean as our old washer ever did; but it uses a lot less water to do it.(It's supposed to be easier on the clothes too, but I have no way to verify that.)
3) The controls are intuitive and easy to use.
4) We can fit an amazing amount in each load.Our old washer was a high capacity top loader, but this thing can probably clean almost twice as many clothes in each load.It is especially nice when it comes time to clean bedding that didn't even fit in the old washer.
5) I love the load sense feature.This is one of the things you should read the manual to figure out how to use; but it is definitely worth the effort.Basically, it tells you how much detergent you need to add in order to get the clothes clean for that particular load - I use it to tell me when the load is full by just adding clothes until it says I need the full amount of deterget:).It really does eliminate a lot of guess-work.
As usual, there are some things I wish I could change:
1) You can't use powder detergent with liquid bleach in the same load.You need to have either powder or liquid for both.
2) The controls don't remember settings, which can be a bit irritating since we use the same settings 95% of the time.Luckily they are easy to set, but you do need to reprogram it every time you turn it on.
3) The washer door only opens one way (the hinge is on the left), which is great if that's the way you need it to open.In our case, it opened the wrong way so we had to rearrange the room a bit.Fortunately, the long hoses made it possible to rearrange everything without a lot of extra effort or expense.
Another thing I had read about the front loaders was that the door needs to be left open between loads.I thought this would be a pain, but it really hasn't been a big deal at all.The manual doesn't actually recommend doing that; but says to periodically run a tub clean cycle (I think it says to do it every month) to eliminate any odor.I figure I'll leave the door open as well just to be safe.
Overall we are extremely pleased with these.I guess time will tell if they hold up as well as our old top loader did, but so far I'm pretty confident that they will.I highly recommend these if you're looking for a new washer and dryer.
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I just had a Whirlpool front-loader washing machine delivered last week that has yet to wash a load of clothes. It is defective with such wiring and motor problems that the technician sent to fix it said the machine should never have passed inspection. Whirlpool has agreed to pay for the parts to fix the machine, when the parts are no longer backordered. I want to return the machine because I have no guarantee something else won't go wrong as soon as they fix this problem. Whoever heard of buying an expensive brand new washing machine that doesn't work? I hate Whirlpool and will never in my entire life buy another Whirlpool or Maytag product. EVER! I highly recommend you buy another brand of washing machine. I sure wish I had.
