You’d be surprised.
we don’t have a washer-drier anymore (did in the last house) and i’m actually missing the thing. Most of my stuff i hang anyway, but i can no longer do “emergency items” (shirt for work that day for example) in a drier.
That seems to be a pretty common mix, at least as far as the laundromats I’ve been in. Drying takes longer than washing and/or people may split loads to dry differently, so more dryers than washers. The big honking front-loading washers are the commercial-size machines, good for washing comforters and the like. The slightly smaller front-loaders are about double the capacity of the top-loading washers, and usually a little bit less expensive ($1.75 for the double load rather than $2 for two separate loads in a top loader).
The laundry room in my apartment building has one big front-loading washer, two top-loaders, and four stacked front-loading dryers.
So, how common then are the washers designed for water-conservation? When I was in Oz, I stayed occasionally with some folks who had one of these. It was a small washer that you filled from a tap; the washer would go through its cycle, and then you had to fish the laundry out piecemeal and put it in a tiny spin basket on the side. The water wrung out by the spin basket would go back into the wash tub, and the water then would be used again for the next load. (Obviously, it’s good to start with undies and least dirty things first.) Once you were done with your loads of laundry, you drained all the water out by flipping a switch. (I think the water went down a drain set in the floor, but I can’t remember now.) Granted, the home was basically out in the bush, but now I’m curious.
BTW, I also had a stacked washer/dryer unit in a “corporate apartment” I stayed at in Adelaide. That was located in a corner of the bathroom, and had a top loading washer with the dryer on a bracket above it. Very handy, actually, if a bit noisy.
Well, I guess efficency is what you want it to be. And if you only have one load, a combo unit might be better.
As a brit living in the US for the past ten years, I’d like to add an observation here.
In the US, practically nobody (at least in the 'burbs) hangs out laundry to dry. I lived in Arizona, and it’s commonplace for people there to do a load of laundry and stick it in the dryer when it’s 100 degrees outside. In fact a lot of homeowners associations forbid hanging out laundry - the perception is that it’s “ghetto”.
In the UK, (and most countries) hanging your laundry outside to dry is the norm, and considered perfectly respectable.
Homeowners associations? Try cities. I can’t put a line up in my backyard, and neither can anybody else. I get around this because I have (oops, had, taken down last year during renovations) a large trellis over the back patio. I can hang stuff from the trellis on hangers and not get into trouble because it isn’t a clothes line and it is inconspicuous.
In the land of the free you can’t hang washing out to dry :eek:
In my estate* they builders put whirlygig “washing line” thingies into every back garden. They planted them in concrete so if you wanted to remove it you’d have to hack-saw the sucker down. I never knew dryers existed until I moved into a furnished flat which already had a washer/dryer installed (front loader natch).
*Middle class suburb
The only front-loading washers I’ve seen in the United States are the jumbo-sized coin-operated washers in laundromats.
I hate laundromats. I certainly don’t consider it a night out. But what would the orientation of the washers have to do with it?
WAG: With front-loading washers, you have more “entertainment” available, i.e., chances to watch the laundry go round and round and round… 
Oh. … Ah.
Ahh, a twin tub. These are an ancient idea, which remarkably are still for sale. A tiny fragment of the market, it always amazes me they still sell any.
[QUOTE=5centsIn the US, a big selling point is “Main floor laundry room”. Less stairs to walk down/up with your laundry. [/QUOTE]
Actually, the latest trend in houses is a second floor (where the bedrooms are) laundry room.
“Watching the Clothes” – The Pretenders
Get yourself to Sears or any large appliance dealer. They’ve been pushing front loaders in the US in a big way for about 5 years now. We got all sorts of incentives for being one of the first people to buy our model when it first came out.
American washers and dryers are available in the UK - I sold plenty when I worked in appliance sales - but they will most likely always remain a niche product here. It’s not just the size of the machines that matters, you also have to remember it’s a completely different way of doing laundry. Most people don’t like change, and prefer to stick to what they know when it comes to these things. Only those who specifically need or desire something different will make the switch.
The average US top loader washes an 18 pound load in around half an hour, using approximately 150 litres of water. Wash temperature is controlled by regulating the mix of hot and cold water drawn into the machine, and extra “oomph” is provided by adding chlorine bleach to the wash when needed.
My European front loader washes a 13 pound load (rather generous by UK standards, the norm here is 11 pounds) in 2.5 hours for a regular cycle. Water consumption on my particular machine is 49 litres per load, and the machine heats its own water in order to give a choice of temperatures from cold all the way up to 95 degrees celsius. These higher temps enhance whitening ability, and that why Europeans don’t use chlorine bleach for laundry.
Big differences. The American method is great for washing an entire week’s laundry in one morning, but uses more water and gives a limited choice of temperatures. On the other hand, the European way is more frugal with water and allows you to wash your whites at near-boiling temperatures if so desired, but is much less time efficient.
As for which method is best or makes the most sense, that’s up to the individual. But there’s definitely a cultural thing going on here, and no doubt many Americans think the way we Brits do things is nuts, and vice versa.
Here in Albuquerque, everyone has a fenced/walled back yard that’s not visible from the street, so we could theoretically hang our laundry if we so chose, but there is indeed a perception that there’s something not nice about hanging it in view. However, I discovered a while back that if you hang your laundry out when it’s 100 degrees (or hot and windy), you end up with clothes that are stiff as a board and just about as pleasant to wear.
Because of our water shortage, the city offers a $100 rebate on a high-efficiency front-loading washer. They’re also being marketed as gentler on clothes, since they don’t have agitators.
Just wanted to highlight this.
Most people buy new washers when their old one breaks. In that situation, there is no space gain, since they are putting it right back in the same place. And they probably just want a better version of what they have, not some new-fangled contraption.
I used my MIL’s old twin-tub for a while way back. Very efficient, but boy are they hard work! Then again, I remember my mother boiling the wash in an old “copper” and putting it through the mangle. 
Nice “cite” The Scrivener … glad it isn’t only me …
(How can we have a laundry thread without a gratuitous mention of Nick Kamen? )
I live in Hungary, where space is generally even more at a premium than in the UK - it’s not unusual for a family of four to occupy a two-room flat. Here, and I think in some other European countries, the washing machine generally lives in the bathroom, and front-loaders have only recently started to be outnumbered by front-loaders, mainly due to the fact that foreign manufacturers started flooding the market with them a few years back.
One argument I have often heard in favour of top-loaders is that they last longer - the drum’s axle is supported at both ends, which places less of a strain on the bearings.
BTW, I suspect that differences in washing powder are pure marketing. I’ve never seen any washing powder specifically for use in top-loaders or front-loaders. Once it gets into the water it has to do pretty much the same job.