roguequilter

i've been in 'dinosaur' mode most of my adult life! my truck is now 16 yrs old & i'll run it into the ground & my next truck will be used one --didn't want-heated seats, power windows, power seats etcetcetc ...and still don't! but they aren't making them that way anymore unless special order and cost that go thru the roof. my 30 yo washer died the quiet death last year and i went to a used appliance store that had worked on my old washer & dryer ..kept them running. bought the only washer singleton (w/o dryer) they had and it was also the only one they had w/o a computer. he said my new-to-me was 3 yrs old and would outlast anything else in the store or any new machines that are being sold anywhere ..he said they have "built in obselescence" in all currently made machines".
.....how depressing!!! but i won't have to worry for at least another 20 years ..maybe i'll just use a tub & washboard

FoxyLady

I just plain love Maytag appliances. Had a set that lasted me almost 30 years (gave it away when we moved) and was still going strong. Bought a Neptune set in our new house. Had a problem with the washer computer board, but resolved that and it worked well. We moved again and I bought a new Maytag Maxima set. Absolutely love it. Bought a used Neptune set for our winter home and it is going strong also. There was a period of time when Maytag appliances were not built as well or reliable as usual, but I think the manufacturers got the message and started building quality appliances again. I have loved the two Neptune sets and the Maxima sets -- all front loaders. As you can probably guess, I am sold on Maytag.

Onebyone

I turn off the cold water valve half way through the rinse cycle fill when I want to rinse in warm. The hot water hose takes over. Warm water rinses so much better then cold.

cathyvv

Hah! I agree with you 100% on digital appliances and the troubles they can cause. Our dryer was a problem, DH fixed it, but I told him that I was never going to use it. The heat coils were fusing to the metal cabinet of the dryer, and it got very hot. The appliance repair place said that was NORMAL for that style of dryer, not a defect. So we bought a new dryer, basic knobs, etc. and, amazingly, almost twice the drying capacity.

When buying it, my DH said exactly what yours did. Turns out he was not interested in replacing the washer so we'd have a matched set in the laundry room. Me, either.

mac

I was one of those stupid people that bought a Maytag giant dryer. It was supposed to dry your clothes like sweaters and knitted items on a rack and on the bottom was a regular dryer. It turned out that the dryer on the bottom was fine, the dryer on the top was the biggest mistake I could have possibly made and an expensive one at that. The salesman sold me on the dryer because I could hang most of my clothes and dry on a cooler setting and not shrink my clothes. I believed them until, the repairman had to come out 3 times and then laughed at me when I told him that the top dryer was suppose to dry clothes. Maytag had a lot of problems with that dryer and it didn't last long in the marketplace.

At the same time I bought an HD washer, that was a big mistake too. Another costly mistake, to boot. It didn't clean clothes that well, but it also didn't stretch clothes either. However, the door had to stay open or it would start smelling like mildew. I had a leak and called out a plumber one day and he said that the leak wasn't coming from the wall but the washing machine and that I needed to get a new one. So I went out and bought the cheapest top loading washing machine that I could fine, no bells, no whistles. It cleans better than the digital one and much faster to boot. The unfortunate part was that when they delivered my washing machine and was going to set it up, it turned out that the machine wasn't broken and that the leak was coming from the pipe in the wall afterall. Too late, I had already bought the washing machine and I couldn't take it back. The plumber came out and fixed the pipe and he still charged me for his job even though because of him I bought a new washing machine on his advice that it was leaking from the washing machine and not the wall. He had convinced me that because my digital washing machine was one of the first ones out and it was already 8 years old that it was going to be more expensive to fix it than buy another one. Dumb me. But at least I no long smell mildew in my machine and my clothes do come out cleaner. You just live and learn.

Jingle

I am the odd one out here. I love getting new appliances including washers and dryers. I only buy matching because laundry room is a walk through to get to back patio. Lucky they are always better than the old ones. If they last 5 years or so I am happy. Of course, they always last longer than that.

Stitchnripper

I had an old kenmore set that the buyer of our house wanted. The people we bought from left their relatively new whirlpool front loaders. I hated them. They both had problems. We had a home warranty that fixed the dryer but the washer was too expensive a fix for them. I got the GE top loader washer with an agitator. I guess it is digital. It is HE but has a feature where you can hit the fill button as many times as you want to fill it completely. It also has a small, medium, large load selector or you can use precise fill and it will figure it out. And the drum is huge. I do less loads with it. The main wash cycle is so much quicker than the front loader. I LOVE this set. Clothes come out clean and no smells inside. The matching gas dryer is great too. I am very happy with it. I hope it lasts a long time.

Skhf

My washing machine is close to 30 years old! I bought it when I was single, so it is not large but adequate. Added two other people to the household and when my son was really small I wanted a larger machine but hate to spend money on non-pretties! Now I am thinking he will move out in 3-4 years so I hope it lasts! My mom was forced to buy a new machine and I hear daily about how much she hates it. Unfortunately, manufacturers do not seem to listen to customer complaints.

JENNR8R

A coworker told me what her appliance repairman recommended when I needed new appliances. The Speed Queen Heavy Duty Commercial washer and dryer are made by a company that supplies laundromats. They are very simple and easy to repair if needed. I won't ever be able to control it from a phone app while away from the house, but I'd rather have a top-loading machine with a choice of water levels anyway.

This brand is not sold at the big-box stores. I had to search for an appliance sales/repair shop that carried it. I found one about five miles away. The advantage of buying from this store is that I know who to call if I ever need it repaired. I'm so grateful that I found out about it before buying a new-fangled machine.

coopah

This is the way to go. My nephew is a computer geek, but very sophisticated about buying big ticket items. He went for the Speed Queen you mentioned. It's very sturdy and the way I'd go if I could/needed a new machine.