washing machine, dryer, toploader frontloader have no idea!

[Eenee]

(not sure whether this is the right place- feel free to move it mods if there is a better place)

ok so have recently just been married, and our parents are giving us money to buy a washing machine and dryer. now i have no idea what to get so here are a few questions.

what brand is best?

what brand not to get?

Toploader or front loader?

wanting to get a bigger washing machine ready for when we have kids, what's the best size?

what's the best washing machine to get to use for cloth nappies?

is a combined washer dryer worth it or best to get them seperate? (won't be usung dryer much, more for when we have kids (hopefully soon) and need to get the nappies dry in winter)?

[~clover~]

I have the new Fisher & Paykel water saver one. Its a 7.5 kg top loader & I'm in love!!
Its still my baby 18 months later

[CrazyLady]

What did you use at your parent's place?

Combined washers and dryers are pretty pricey as far as i've seen.

I'm familiar with front loaders and feel they are gentler on my clothes. i do nappies in them, just make sure i pre rinse to fill nappy with water and flush them a bit and do a longer load. haven't had an issue so far.

Saying that my parents had one so i know them

[~clover~]

Oh, thought I should add that I wash nappies in mine too. I also use it for DH's work clothes (he's a shearer). It has different cycles. Heavy duty, & every thing. I usually put nappies on the heavy duty cycle, but put it on slow spin, so it has a half hour soak & extra rinse, but spins gently.
Mine also has a timer for 1 3 & 9 hours.

[Tinks]

I LOVE my Westinghouse dryer!

I have a Samsung washing machine and have never had any issues with it. It's a front loader, I was originally going to get a top loader but saw how much water they used so changed to a front loader.

[~Hestia~]

We have a Maytag which we have had for 3 years & I LOVE it.
It's a top loader which I prefer for being able to throw in extras I forgot about, plus it's easier than having to crouch down to use a front loader.
Size wise it's fantastic - I wash our king size sheets, doona cover & 6 pillow cases in one load easily. It's either 7.5 or 8 kg, can't remember exactly.
I also use cloth nappies & have had no problems so far in that regard.
It hasn't got any bells & whistles but we figure that means less can go wrong with it!!

[Visitor7]

I have the new Fisher & Paykel water saver one. Its a 7.5 kg top loader & I'm in love!!
Its still my baby 18 months later

Me too
My neighbours have recently bought a washer/dryer combo and they hate it. The dryer can't take the same load as the washing machine, it actually can only use half of the load. So if you wash a full load of washing, and want to dry it, then you can only dry half of it at a time. And the song at the end when the wash has finished is the most annoying song I've ever heard!

[Eenee]

thanks everyone, have a washing machine now and it's a 5kg toploader- just not doing the job, plus not big enough. Am thinking about the new direct drive LG frontloader in the 7.5kg. The shop assistants keep telling us we don't want a toploader, and keep directing us away from them.

[~clover~]

Hun, front loaders are totally your choice & I don't like to say this, but its in the back of my mind when the kids are at mum & dad's coz they have one. Not so long ago a little boy lost his life when his sister closed the door & pressed the button to start their front loader.
It scared the crap out of me when I heard about it coz it only took seconds. Like I said, I really don't want this to come across the wrong way, but its something you might want to think about.
I'm sure there are a million other things that would happen before that did, but one of those things YK?

[smiles4u]

Yeh, i bought a new top loader 7kg 4years ago (one before was a top loader too & only 6kg as i was living on own) as a friend of mine put me off front loaders as sometime when the door is opened to take out the finished load of washing some water would drip all over the floor

I went with a Hoover as a few friends Hoovers have lasted them almost 20years !!

I've been through two Simpson washing machines & dryers and i can honestly say they suck ... each lasted only about 6years before needing major expensive$ repair on them

Yet, my sis has a front loader washing machine & just LOVES it & thinks it's the best thing she has ever bought ... the brand is Asko

[Eenee]

bjrose: that is horrible. the newer one's have child lock settings on them so you can just start it. But yeah that's horrible. Plus our laundry has a lock on it so i wouldn't leave it open when unattended. but still. Oh maybe i can get Dh to make a cupboard and put it higher off the ground? wonder whether that will work, anyways haven't fully decided yet. will wait and see once we go have a look at more.

[YoYo]

Em...

Here in Sing we have an LG Frontloader 9kg and it's great. I do have an LG Frontloader 7kg one at home in Perth too. Frontloaders are generally gentler on clothes, and use less water I think. No you can't stop it half way and chuck in anything you forgot, but you learn not to forget! I love mine and I'll always have a front loader. I wash Max's nappies in it on the 'baby care' setting, and for everything else I do 'quick wash' which is a 30 min cycle. I always wash in cold water too, but that's just me!

If you do get a front loader though just remember that once you've got a load out, keep the door open (and the powder tray) to make sure that it doesn't get mouldy. I also turn the power switch off at the wall and the water tap off so no babies of mine could climb in and turn it on (what an awful story!)