Burning Question: It’s A Wash?
When it comes to your dream laundry scenario, do you prefer sleek front loaders for the countertop space that they provide or the stackable option that they afford? Or would you rather have one of those new larger high-tech top-loading washer and dryers? What about a steam washer? Or a set that comes in bright red or robin’s egg blue?
We’re itching to hear where you stand on the issue. In fact, we whipped up this handy little poll to keep everything tabulated:
[poll id="14"]
We’d love to hear more about why you voted the way you did, so feel free to comment away with more details.
Image courtesy of Hampton Design.
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Top loading and steam wash allll thheee waayyy! I can’t help but sneak into the besy buy appliance section and swoon… one day.. one day soon..
I meant front loading! Yikes..
That laundry room is a.maz.ing! I wish ours looked like that. Instead, I have this: http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ I’ll have to keep this photo for inspiration for when we FINALLY get around to finishing our laundry room. I can’t wait for a new washer and dryer-preferably front loading and in a great color. :-)
I love the look of front loaders and hope to someday have them in my home! When my hubby and I bought our first home 3 years ago, they were just becoming the rage but due to our tight purse strings, we opted for the less pricey, plain top loaders. But now with a baby on the way and a plan to use cloth diapers, I’m wishing we had high energy front loaders!
front loaders. use a quarter of the water, a quarter of the soap, get the clothes super clean and the spin is fast – so that we can hang dry most of our stuff. wouldn’t trade our front loader – originally bought when we started washing cloth diapers by the pailful – for anything.
can I just have the one in the pic above?? holy.moly. LOVE it.
As it stands right now… as long as it washes and dries I’m good, but… if money were no object I’d love to have a beautiful pair of front loaders (elevated on drawer units) so I didn’t have to bend over to remove the items, of course.) The laundry room in your picture is beautiful…so much space and wonderful colors!
I have a tiny little laundry room and everything is white. So being able to purchase a colorful washer & dryer that can actually fit in such a space might make it a little more enjoyable.
I would also enjoy some sort of machine that folds laundry and sorts socks. Maybe someday? :)
I’d love some stacked front loaders and I’m sure my hubby would like that much extra garage space. …maybe when the price goes down a little more.
oh…….to have a laundry room like that!! but i’m trying to figure out why there’s three machines…..
We have front loading, cherry red LG washer and dryer. We got them because of the steam washing capability because I have very severe allergies. The steam washing can kill dust mites when regular washes cannot (unless you use either bleach or very, very hot water). Our set has a a sanitary and an allergy cycle. We’ve enjoyed them since we got them back in 2008.
I have a large top loader but would really love front loaders for the counter space. But at least I buzz right through laundry and with 4 kids that’s what counts!
instead of buying a ridiculously expensive washer and dryer, i’d rather get two sets of the cheap ones, and keep one set in the basement or master closet or something. Same goes for the dishwasher:)
There are new top washers available? I thought that not only are they going out of style, but more importantly, they are very wasteful when compared to front loaders. Huh. Color me confused.
My dream splurge right now is a nice, new laundry room complete with new front loading washer and dryer. My husband has promised to help me clean and organize our current laundry room this weekend (I’m about 8 months pregnant!) and I can’t remember being more excited about anything in awhile. Sad huh?
I am SO happy I chose front loaders. When I was renting, I originally chose them for their Energy Star rating. But when I bought my tiny house last year the stackability turned out to be a life saver!! (Ok, life saver might be a slight exaggeration…but convenient for sure.)
I only have a small space just inside the back door, just wide enough for one machine, no laundry room or even a laundry closet to speak of. I think the previous owners blocked the utility closet with their dryer, but that seemed like a bad idea to me. My stackables look like they were made for that little spot!! And I can still access the water heater or furnace in an emergency.
I hate front loaders because so often I drop a sock or forget to throw something in, and once it starts, I can’t add it!
Anything is fine by me, so long as it has a delicate cycle–too many college experiences with dorm washers and dryers taking their anger out on clothing :)
Ugh, that’s one thing I regret when buying a washer/dryer last year is that we didn’t splurge and get the front loading ones. We got the cheapest ones in the store, but it’s ok cuz they do the job and they are hidden in our house
I really love those front loading washers and dryer sets, too bad we have old hand me downs from my husbands grandma…
Right now we only have the front load washer. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it shakes the whole house when it spins. Our house has a crawl space and the guy who installed it said we would probably have to reenforce (sp?) the floor for it to stop shaking so much. Haven’t done that yet. Not quite sure how to???
Oh…and that laundry room is bigger than my kitchen for sure! And possible my kitchen AND living room COMBINED!! :)
Is it weird that, while beautiful, this seems like ridiculous excess to me?
While it’s nice that front loaders save water, I’ve been told that very feature means really dirty clothes don’t get the dirt rinced properly away. I can attest…my DH is a logger whose work clothes are coated in all manner of dirt, pitch (with pine needles in the pockets, charming), and even with heavy wash and extra rince cycles, they don’t get nearly as clean in our current front load washer as they did in our old top loader. I’ll be switching back to a top loader when it makes financial sense.
I LOVE my front loading Samsung washer and dryer on pedestals. They make doing laundry a breeze. Did I mention they are a gorgeous red color? LOVE the red.
I needed to vote more than once – I have a front loading, RED, steam washer and dryer and am in LOVE. Not only does it look pretty, but bye bye ironing!! Gotta love that.
I’d love something in a fun bright color, but really I’d be happy with anything that was efficient and better balanced than our apartment shaking monster.
Eventually I would also like to have a clothes line in the backyard. (I hope that’s where you guys are going with this poll.) In a perfect world it would also be ideal outdoor drying conditions every time I wanted to use it. :)
Your blog has really slowed down on talking about design and projects.
I feel like you’re more focused on polls and giveaways. I miss the projects, mood boards, house tours, etc.
Hey Sally,
We’ve been posting Burning Questions with polls every Friday since 2009 and we’ve been doing weekly giveaways for the past two years so nothing has changed on that front! We blog in “real time” about the projects and DIY undertakings that we tackle (which currently includes a big office makeover that we’re sharing as we go each week). We also share reader submitted makeovers as well as tips about everything from how we clean to how we try to stay green here at Casa Peterik. And we recently house crashed more homes than we ever have before (three in one month!). We unfortunately can’t take on seven DIY projects a week while writing two posts a day, answering comment questions, and taking care of a newborn – as much as we’d like to! So hopefully that explains why all of our posts can’t be project or mood board focused!
xo,
s
I want a front loader in Robin’s Egg Blue with the steam capability. And the one that does a load from wash to dry in half an hour. And the one that folds the laundry and puts it away in its proper place. I’m counting on the brilliant washing machine scientists to make that last feature available before I have saved up enough money to make the plunge and buy a set.
I love bright colored Washers and Dryers…but that is not why I commented…I really want to know why, in this photo there are THREE units? Is there some new “must have” addition to the washer/dryer team??
Does anyone have tips for Michelle?
Ashley- We have no idea why there are so many machines in there. Maybe to do multiple loads at once?
xo,
s
I have a LG Steam front loader and never use the steam cyle I am scared that I will set in the stains. Anybody have any tips???
We have a top loading washer and top loading dryer from Fisher & Paykel. They are amazing. High-efficieny all the way in the form of a top loader.
Oh and did I mention the amazing price tag? Only about 600 bucks each!
Am I the only one who isn’t as impressed with front loading washers. Takes FOREVER to wash, at least the one my parents have does. Stays on “one minute left” for 15! And the smell … they can have mold issues.
My laundry room is barely wide enough to fit the washer and dryer, and therefore I literally have to squeeze in the door to get in it! Stackable washer and dryers might be nice, but I’m kind of vertically challenged, so that might not work very well! I think front loaders would be nice because they would leave me some counter space on the top that I could use for folding clothes, etc… but I’ve heard some bad things about them. Plus, I can barely get clothes into my front loading dryer as it is, so therefore I think I’d just rather have a bigger laundry room! :-)
I don’t know that I have a preference, but oh man, do I want a HUGE laundry room like that!
As adorable as the front-loaders are, I just can’t justify the extra cost. Even if they are high efficiency, it just isn’t worth it for me.
Also, we plan on cloth diapering and traditional top-loaders are better for laundering cloth diapers. They actually NEED the extra water to clean properly. We have some friend with a HE washer and they regret the purchase now that they have a little one in cloth diapers.
I dream of front loaders. Specifically, front loaders in the craziest color I can find. (Red! Orange! Aqua!)
But, I have a perfectly fine Maytag Atlantis top-loader and matching dryer that we bought when we got married.
Perfectly fine.
They work just fine.
Darn it.
And so, we wait.
I love the Whirlpool Cabrio washer/dryer. They are top loading, but they are not bulky.
we have this washer http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+4.0+Cu.+Ft.+7-Cycle+Washer+-+White/9659929.p?id=1218140274041&skuId=9659929 and the matching dryer and we really enjoy it!!! It’s CRAZY quiet, I usually start the dryer and have guests stand at the door and listen, to which they say “do I hear what?” and I’m like tada!! I open the laundry door to show the dryer is going! lol So I’m a fan of the front loader. Not only b/c it’s super quiet, it also conserves water & it gets our clothes WAY cleaner than our old w/d. that’s my vote! :-)
I own an older style top-loader, but in the previous house we rented we had stacked front-loaders…I see the perks for both. But…I want one of those new agitator-free top loaders…the front loaders are nice, but the seal can get moldy and stinky and with a little one crawling around, I can’t just leave the door hanging open. Also, once you start a front loader, you can’t just throw in that last towel or pair of pj’s you just found. But, I liked non-agitator part of them…I could fit our huge comforter in there! Fantastic! So, I’m thinking top loading agitator free is the dream for me! : )
oh and another thing I enjoy about the front loader is that they stack! ours are stacked b/c of the area in the house they’re in. another adjustment to having an older home that didn’t even know what a washing machine was when it was built!
I bought front loaders when we moved, but my husband (who does most of the laundry) hated them. We returned them for and energy efficient top loading washer (no center post – thingy and it doesn’t fill up all the way w/water) and dryer. I figured if he was going to do the laundry, he could choose (wish he would have expressed his wishes in the first place, but he probably had no idea that front loaders existed).
I have 2 sets of washer and dryers.. Top loaders in my Laundry Room – Main Floor, Stackables in a closet on my 2nd floor. I’d never not have 2 sets again. Great picture of a dream laundry room!
I’m with the person that was wondering why there are three machines in the picture… haha. I would love, love, love a front loader with steam washing capabilities. That sounds amazing.
Also, I think placement of a laundry room is key. I grew up with a basement laundry room area, but now that I have a laundry room that’s on the main floor right off of the kitchen I find that I’m much more inclined to throw a load in while I’m doing other things. I don’t hate doing laundry as much now that it is in a far more convenient location. The location is also very convenient because I go through a lot of kitchen towels and I throw in a load of those more often now as well. Overall, more than the kind of washer and dryer, the location of the laundry facilities is what really matters to me.
Timely post. We’re in the process of renovating our laundry room right now (soooooo close to being done!!!) and since our laundry room is now cute and pretty, it seems like such a shame to have our grody old hand-me-downs.
I’ve heard horror stories of front loaders growing mold? Has anybody had this problem?? I know my MIL has them and she has to keep the doors open all the time so they don’t get musty and dingy. Just curious??
TGIF!
Lindsay
We don’t have any of those issues with ours Lindsay! Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I second the call for stacked front loaders! I want my free space. To that end, all-in-one-units really tickle me:
http://unclutterer.com/2008/08/25/all-in-one-washerdryer/
I don’t so much care if its front or top, just so long as they are the same. I hate having a top loading washer with a front loading dryer. Its a bit annoying.
While I like the way front loaders look, I’m scared about the moldy smell problem. I know they say that they have fixed it in the newer ones, but I’ve still to be convinced.
I have new a top-loading GE Profile washer and love it! It has the Hydrowave system rather than the traditional agitator and it also spins clothes so that they are much closer to dry when the cycle is over. I also love the autofill and the fact that it takes HE detergent.
I’d take any and all of them!! Anything would all beat my cheap washer and dryer.. which isn’t very good at drying. Color is always fun too! But just one question.. Why are there THREE washer/dryer contraptions in that picture? What does the 3rd one do??
Hey J,
We have no idea why there are so many machines in there. Maybe to do multiple loads at once?
xo,
s
We’ve had our white front loader Kenmore set for close to 8 years now and we LOVE it. It’s moved with us across country to our 3rd house now and we’re about to put up bright orange 39 inch cabinets above and create a countertop. I can’t wait!! I love the photo above, so gorgeous!