Picking Out A New Top Loading Washer & Dryer

In what can only be described as a one-two punch of home-ownership havoc, our washer officially died right on the heels of the big plumbing debacle that we detailed for you folks yesterday. Yup, remember when we mentioned that we hoped it would be a plain and inexpensive fix here? Well, the appliance gods must have been softly giggling as we typed that.

The repair guy took one look at the corroded interior of our old machine (rusted bolts, a broken belt, etc) and said “I could attempt to band-aid this for $200, but I do not think it would run for quite long – honestly, I would not put another dollar into this machine.” And that was coming from the man who would be taking said money… so… not a good sign. But we certainly appreciated his honesty.

And that is how we suddenly found ourselves digging back into our “emergency fund” simply days after writing a plumbing check to go laundry appliance shopping. We briefly considered trying to get something secondhand (from the ReStore, Craigslist, etc) but we chose that to spend once on something for the long haul would be more settling than getting another “in the meantime” fix and hoping it held out. So after checking out a few online appliance outlets, as well as some mainstream big box stores to see what was on the market, we hit the streets to check things out in person.

We had in fact been looking forward to the eventual laundry appliance hunt, because we knew someday we’d get to upgrade these folks (the repairman guessed our washer was over twenty years old, so that is a fairly good run!) but it was certainly nothing we expected to be embarking on so close to our little plumbing snafu.

When we moved in, we’d daydream about getting what I affectionately call “mac daddy appliances” someday (both in the kitchen and the laundry area) all of which would be fairly and sparkly and have all of the features we’d ever hoped (like projecting laser shows on the ceiling and making us waffles). Okay, perhaps those last two are a stretch, but this sudden rush to get a working washer while our laundry piled up was not the scenario we originally pictured ourselves shopping under (“what do you mean I cannot wait for a Presidents Day sale???”).

Luckily John’s parents welcomed us into their laundry room to do a couple of loads to tide us over while we researched and price-compared (and you better believe I asked John to do those loads so that if something broke he would be the one answering for it). Thankfully, we were able to catch up to our swiftly-growing piles, and nothing broke on our watch.

We have sort of a new appliance mantra in this house, which is essentially that this time around we do not want to simply chase a deal. We want to do more research, be open to spending a bit more than before, and truly think about the features we will enjoy and use, because we plan to be here for decades.

We got one of the best deals of our life on our last washer/dryer purchase because we selected the most heavily discounted models on the showroom floor (they were the same brand as our first set, which we liked, so it seemed like a no-brainer). But while we do not regret the savings (nearly 50% off!), or the quality of them (they worked strong for us), we did sacrifice some features in those heavily-discounted models that we ended up missing over time – like a digital display that showed the amount of time left in the cycle, for example. A little thing, yes, but something in retrospect that we would’ve paid extra for – especially since we had it in our first home’s washer & dryer, so we knew what we were missing.

After a ton of discussion and research, we narrowed our search criteria to the following:

• A Top-Loading washer. We liked our last two front-loaders a lot, but with our existing set-up we have both enjoyed not bending over as much. And we did not like having to keep up with mildew maintenance on our two previous front-loaders (we’d take time to wipe it down, leave the door open to air it out, and occasionally run Affresh tablets through it) which we understand is a persistent problem in front loaders. Plus, top-loaders now come in high efficiency versions which minimize front-loaders’ previous advantages of load size, spin speed, and water usage.
• Whirlpool or Maytag. Both brands are made by the same folks who made our last two washers & dryers, which worked truly well for us (Whirlpool Corp). We also heard from plenty of you that brands like GE and LG can be pricey to repair (and boy did we have repair costs on the brain!) while many of you agreed that Whirlpool/Maytag did you right (like on this comment thread for example). Plus, we liked our last two Whirlpool Duets and the top loading washer in this house that we are replacing is a Maytag (that thing lasted 20+ years, so it certainly was reassuring).
• The ability to silence the buzzer. Again, it is a little detail, but our current dryer does not let us disable the crazy loud and annoying buzzer that shouts at us three times as a cycle comes to an end. So we could not run it during Clara’s nap for fear that it would jolt her awake since it is simply down the hall from her door.
• A digital display. Mainly for the cycle time countdown mentioned above. What can I say, we are divas for the are-we-there-yet how-much-longer details.
• A dryer with steam. We simply heard good things about that throughout our research and it sounded like a feature we might in fact enjoy and use.

Our search first lead us to this model (here is the washer & the dryer) because it is a Whirlpool and in fact quite similar to what we used at John’s parents house (they’ve had theirs around a year and have truly enjoyed them so far). They each earned a 4.5 star review on Home Depot’s website too, so that was reassuring.

We narrowed our shopping zone down to Home Depot and Lowe’s, since we have had success there in our previous appliance hunts (prices from other vendors like Best Buy, HH Gregg, and sites like Whirlpool Outlet did not get as low as theirs for the same models) and both of our previous laundry sets were from Lowe’s.

The sale prices shown above and below are from both stores who each had them marked down 10% below MSRP and were running a 10%-off-all appliances promotion, which could be stacked. They also both were offering free delivery and haul away, and would honor 5% off if we used our store credit card (the Lowe’s card does it automatically, and if you ask Home Depot to do it at the register they should be able to manually apply that in the interest of “price matching” their competition).

Initially we were torn between the Whirlpool above and this extremely similar model from Maytag (here is the washer & the dryer).

After hunting for some reason or review that would sway us towards one or the other (they both were quite highly rated, had similar capacities, similar Energy Star ratings, and identical price tags), this third option appeared to us at Home Depot (here is the washer & the dryer). It was simply a slight step-down from the ones above (the washer capacity is .3 cubic feet less – oh the sacrifice!) and the front is designed differently (no gray trim, and no window into the dryer). But the price tag promised to save us over $130 between the pair and their online review boasted a nearly 5 star rating – which was better than the other two we had been weighing!

Home Depot carried it in stock (the display price of $724 was before the 10% off promotion was applied) but Lowe’s did not. They offered to special order it for us, but they’d only be able to apply one of the 10% discounts. We showed them the printout that Home Depot had given us that showed $651 as the final price (before the additional 5% credit card discount was applied at checkout) and they said they’d price match it. But ultimately we gave our sale to Home Depot, since they were the ones to show us this option first, as well as having it in stock (truth be told, we liked that salesperson better there too, so we hoped him to get the credit).

In case all of those words make your brain hurt and you like images and arrows, here is a cost breakdown (mostly because John takes strong pleasure in making them).

We are glad that we were not forced to pay full price due to being under the gun and needing to replace them rightthissecond instead of waiting for a special holiday sale, but it also felt good to take the time and make a detailed list of what we truly hoped this time (and check out a bunch of reviews) instead of jumping on the “this one’s the cheapest” bandwagon. Honestly, even if these were less discounted, the features and reviews likely would have tipped the scales in their favor.

They are set for delivery a little later today (WAHOOOOOO!) so we should have an update for you next week once they are here and we have taken them for a spin.

We also have some plans for the floor under them in the laundry nook (there are in fact small scraps of old carpet hiding under the ones we have now). So simply cross your fingers that we do not peel back those carpet scraps under the old washer and dryer to find a giant hole/large leak/live animal/other debacle lurking. Do not they say these things happen in threes? Le yipes.

Psst- None of the links in this post are affiliate links. Also, your hair looks fairly and I like your smile.