My condo came with a Samsung washer and dryer, circa 2017. The washer has been having issues with vibration in the spin cycle bad enough to significantly move the entire thing (something I hear is common with this company). Handyman said that it’d be cheaper to replace than repair (an indictment of modern capitalism, as far as I’m concerned, for something just 8 years old, but that doesn’t get my clothes any cleaner).
So I’m appliance shopping for the first time. Any recommendations for brands? Sources? The dryer is working fine as far as I can tell; what’s a good price point when I should consider replacing both regardless?
Be sure to measure the available space;
Consider which way the door swings and if it’s possible to switch the side with the hinges;
Plan on how to remove the existing one;
Plan how to install the new one; and
Note if there’s anything weird about the required connection(s).
Very good points that I want to amplify on. A lot of the major local options (Lowes, Home Depot, Best Buy) can and do offer good deals on such appliances… but. They often charge substantially for the installation (including parts) and removal of the old units. To the point where a cheap replacement can have over a 50% increase once you factor that in. More expensive models are more likely to get bennies such as old device removal or “free” installation, but check very carefully on the terms of such, as they’re often capped, or include labor but not parts, etc.
Myself, the last device I replaced was my dishwasher. I ended up getting it through Costo (was already a member), and ended up getting a $700 Whirlpool model. Mostly because it was a LOT better device than the $400ish models I was otherwise looking at, and once I factored in the free installation, free removal, and extended warranty past the manufacturer’s it was within $50 of the cheapo I had been looking at.
I am normally hesitant at looking at (generally expensive!) extended warranty, but far too many recent appliances seem to have a 80+% chance of failure within 6 months of them expiring. In the last 5 years, that’s happened to one tv and two consecutive microwaves. Your experience may well vary, but with microchip integration in so many modern appliances, they’ve become a lot less repairable by merely mechanical means.
I found a regional dealer that’s well-regarded – not the cheapest, but they include things like installation, removing the old appliance, etc. Their advice was a nice supplement to what I saw in Consumer Reports. And since my dryer vents to the room rather than to a duct, the options were limited – but these guys were well-informed as to what would work in my situation.
Keep it as simple as possible. The more bells and whistles, the more that can go wrong. Those digital panels do burn out, and in today’s world the availability of repair parts can be iffy, especially when the company comes out with a “new” model and makes the old model parts obsolete (as happened to mine).
For appliance purchases I always check Consumer Reports reviews. You need a subscription to see detailed reviews, but you can get a one-month subscription for $3.25. Totally worth it if you’re going to spend several hundred bucks IMHO.
I would recommend against a front loading washer, they do not last. If you are the type of person who might try to work on these machines, they have actual concrete blocks inside to balance the spin cycle, contrete blocks technology.
Samsung makes great cell phones, do not buy a Samsing washer and dryer. Expertice in one feild does not carry over to another. They are shit.
What usually happens is that the door starts to sag and then the contact switch doesn’t mate up with the trigger on the door. Total PITA when that happens.
Not weird on the appliance per se. Just check to see if the connection in the home has some kind of jury-rigged DIY issues. Like non-standard electrical or plumbing set-ups.
Assuming standard connectors, which seems likely if you have a 2017 model right now, putting in the new one should be fairly simple. Removing the old one in a condo might be more of an issue. Where I live, I’d just roll it out to the curb and start a timer to see how long before it gets picked up by a dude in a pickup but that’s not an option in your case.
Once I had an old washer and dryer in my garage. I wheeled one down to the curb and almost missed the guy loading it in before I got back down with the other unit. True story!
Whirlpool and Maytag are time-honored reliable brands. We just replaced a Whirlpool washer we’ve had for 14 years. We bought from a local appliance store that we purchased the current washer and dryer from. They’ve been in business for decades. As has been mentioned, a local independent appliance store may be priced higher, but the delivery, installation and removal of old washer comes with it. Lowe’s charges out the wazoo for that. In the end, the cost was a wash (no pun intended) but the local store has installers with decades of experience who work for them and know exactly what they’re doing. And we know we can call them should there be a problem.
As for cost, our new washer was about $750, but you can spend twice that easily. It all depends on your needs and your budget. My wife’s comment was “I don’t need a washer I can control with my phone.” The less electronics that can go bad, the better. Replacing the obsolete circuit board on the old washer would have been prohibitively expensive, which is why we opted to replace the washer.
And measure your space top-to-bottom, side-to-side and front-to-back to make sure your new washer will fit. Our laundry room is very small. A couple more inches would make a difference.
If you don’t want to do it yourself (and I didn’t) I don’t blame you. I just wanted you to factor those costs into the total cost. As others have said, a local company may charge you more (perhaps even far more) for an equivalent device, but you come out in the end equal once you factor in costs. And to be especially careful of Lowes, Best Buy, and Home Depot installation, as I’ve seen purchased or “Free” installation specials that didn’t include the parts, or didn’t include the device removal. It’s the appliance version of cheap airline deals.
Selection items I remember:
Front/top loading
Agitator/no agitator (the spinny thing in the middle - I was told that the no agitator ones work well but you shouldn’t put clothes in the middle anyway so you weren’t gaining much space. No idea how real that is.)
High efficiency vs normal (mostly about water usage)
I picked top loading (people suggested leaving the door open on a front loader to reduce odor, but that’s not an option in my configuration). Agitator. High Efficiency.
The last time I needed this, I found that I could get it for free online via my local library system.
Worth a check!
As for front-load washers, they seem to be quite popular, but my anecdotal experience has been just as you say. The top-loaders I’ve had have lasted decades (and may still be going for all I know – I left them behind when I moved) but my expensive LG front-loader developed a main bearing problem at just around five years.
After investigating the cost of repairs, I dumped it and got a Maytag high-efficiency top loader (uses HE detergent). Maytag isn’t the company it used to be in this age of consolidation, but I’m very happy with it and it’s going strong after quite a bit longer than the stupid LG front-loader ever lasted.
I chose to get a model with a traditional agitator after reading some accounts about the non-agitator models just not really cleaning that well. I watched YouTube videos of the non-agitator machines in action and … well, the clothes just weren’t agitating! Or at least, they were agitating very very slowly. YMMV.
Tip: My preferred detergent in the top loader is Tide Ultra Oxi HE (High Efficiency).
Good advice. I have an upstairs laundry room with cupboards across the back wall. I was careful to pick a top loader with a door that could fully open without bumping into the cupboards. Some models might not have worked.
As noted above, determine your space requirements and usage needs, settle on a budget, then go from there.
If you go with a front-loader, consider getting a pedestal for it to sit on. It makes reaching into the drum and fetching an errant sock or whatever much, much easier. Plus the drawer, a feature of most washing machine pedestals, is quite handy.
We had an LG front loader that lasted about 11 years (2011 to 2022). We loved it. It had a huge wash drum and cleaned even the dirtiest clothes better than anything we’ve had before or since. It survived a decade of hard use washing the clothes of two dirty boys and easily handled several across-town moves. When it died we replaced it with a cheap Haier front loader. Biggest POS appliance I’ve ever owned. It was loud, even when empty it was off-balance, it cleaned worse than probably no cleaning at all, it stunk all the time, and finally died after 6 months. We replaced it with a Whirlpool traditional top-loader with an agitator. This one is light-years better than the Haier but still not really a fan because water efficiency standards apply to top-loaders as well so the drum only fills about half way when running a large wash cycle. Thus, to get clothes clean we need to run what’s essentially a half load which means double the number of loads needed on wash day. It simply sucks. Now, two years after we purchased it, it’s starting to rust around the edges of the lid and make loud crunching / banging noises when the water valves turn on and off.
When this one dies – sooner rather than later, I’m sure – we are replacing it with a Speed Queen front loader. They consistently get the highest reviews from both CR and user surveys and are built to last decades. They are expensive as hell but I’m tired of buying disposable junk that will die after a year or two.
One thing / another thing I hate about the top-loader: I can’t wash blankets and comforters, something that was easy in the front-loader. They simply don’t fit. My MIL has the agitator-less top loader and while it has more room she doesn’t like it much, she says it doesn’t get clothes very clean. So, we’re going back to a front loader when the time comes.
As a counterpoint, I got my Kenmore* front-load washer 16 years ago, and it’s sill going. And it was a bargain basement Black Friday deal. (But I will concede that as a guy who lives alone, it’s done fewer loads than the average washer).
*Sears/Kenmore never actually manufactured their own appliances, but there’s a way to figure out who did based on the model number. I figured it out once, and it was one of the Korean companies, but I no longer remember if it was LG or Samsung.
