Which Washer and Dryer do you like?

[Friendlee]

We are fortunate enough to be in the position of buying a new washer and dryer! Our old ones are zonked. Baby is coming in 3 weeks and we'll be washing cloth diapers soon.

We're probably going to get a high performance front loader. Does anyone have some feedback on specific brands or models?

[Ifluffedthree]

I would do your homework a bit more on a HE front loader -- lots of not so great stories with them.

Keep in mind that Fisher and Pykel makes a HE toploader --- its a great machine by a great company that has been around for about 70 years, and their products are assembled largley in the Ohio plant for USA machines (creating jobs on home soil).
and.................................. it cost about 1/2 the price of a front loader with a full 2 year warrenty.
Just a thought.
Lowe's carries them. Or go to their website and find a location nearest you.

[Juliacat]

Front loaders are not the best choice for cloth diapers, but you can make them work if you need to. I have a Frigidaire front loader and it works fine, but I'm careful to use 100% cotton diapers, and even then the synthetic covers sometimes hold an odor, but nothing a day in the sunshine won't cure.

[Juliacat]

FWIW, we bought our front loader when we first got married, knowing that we would have children someday and that we would cloth diaper them and that front loaders don't do as well as top loaders with cloth diapers. I'm happy we picked it anyway, because frankly, over the life of the washer it will have washed many, many more loads of clothes than diapers, I love how it saves energy and is easier on the clothes as well! And I don't mind choosing diapers only in easy-clean varieties (100% cotton diapers that don't have a ton of layers).

[ChetMC]

Miele

We have a Miele front loader. I've been cloth diapering for five years and I've never had issues with staining, stink, build-up, etc. I'd never heard about stripping diapers or the problems with HE washers and diapers until I started reading the diapering forum here... and I do use some synthetics (FuzziBunz, Knickernappies, some microfibre inserts, etc).

Miele machines are German made and built to last for 25 years (most washers and dryers today are built with a 10 year lifespan). Miele appliances are very quiet. The drier works mostly on airflow not heat, which is better for your clothes. You can program the washer to do anything. It has it's own heater so you can heat the water to the exact temperature you want. Ours goes to over 200 degrees Fahrenheit which will kill nearly anything.

My mom and my MIL have top loaders and I can't believe how much smaller their loads are. Our washer is tiny and it still does loads that are twice the size of what my MIL puts in her top loader.

All that said though, Miele stuff is REALLY expensive. I think we paid $4800 for the washer and drier. Our Miele dishwasher was $2500. Our Miele vacuum was originally $1200, but we scored it on sale. Now, those prices were in Canada, and they include tax, but Miele is expensive. I think it's worth it though.

[SuzyLee]

I would go for the front loader even thoguht they are not as great for CD's. Frankly you will be CD'ing for a couple years, but the washer will hopefully last a decade or more.

Consumer Reports did not rate the HE toploaders well at all. I would look into that more before purchasing one of them.

[hjrowan]

Cheaper LG Tromm - not so hot!

For another HE view: when we bought ours 2 years ago (what is now the cheapest LG Tromm model) we didn't know that we'd be CDing. If I'd known, I'd STILL have gone with an HE machine as it's much more water efficient and growing up in Europe that's what I've been used to BUT I'd have chosen a better model with higher temperature settings and if the Fisher & Paykel model had been available may have gone with that.

As it is I had to abandon synthetics (apart from some PUL covers) and even my PFs hold stink more than I'd like because the machine has a temperature limiter so I can't get the water very hot - crazy! My SIL in the UK uses synthetics in her HE machine with no problems but the water gets hotter.

They can be great machines but I've learnt to my cost that cheaper isn't better!

[polishmom]

We have had the Frigidaire Affinity He frontloader for about 6 months now. It did take a little while to figure out a good wash routine with it, but now it works great. I have always had a mix of cotton and synthetics, and everything comes clean. The model we have does have an internal heater and a sanitary setting, but I have found that the heavy duty wash with hot water works just fine.