Washing machine rec's?

[JenSop]

Hi all.

Our washing machine is dead. Apparantly the belt came off during a wash cycle when I was walking to the post office. Came home to a house filled with smoke and the odor of burnt rubber. Long story short, the fire fighters and police came and everything's okay - except the washer.

This is an added expense we have not planned for, but one can only go so long without a washing machine.

I started looking on line for ideas, but there is such a HUGE range of reviews with some of these machines! I'll think I'm finding a good option, and then there's a ton of bad reviews, etc.

Anyone have a top loading basic washer that they really like and would recommend. Ours was an Amana and ran great for 9 years. So I'm looking up that brand and also Maytag, GE, Kenmore....

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[mamacatnv]

Yikes, scary story, glad your house didn't go with the washer.

We just did the search, I even posted a similar thread about a month or so ago here asking the same question.
In the end, we opted to rebuild our top load with agitator Kenmore.

After a ton of research I learned the following:

Top loads with no agitators
Are awful
Very very few people actually like them. The used appliance store here in town will not even attempt to resell, they throw them away. No one I spoke to had anything good to say about them and I spoke to Sears, Lowes, HD, and the Maytag store as well as folks here on the Dis. We also researched via ConsumerReports.Org and read a ton of Amazon reviews.

Front loaders
Very mixed reviews and a HUGE price range.
Honestly, they were way more than I was willing to spend, their longevity reviews are not good, especially for the cheaper brands and the consumer reviews are mixed as well.

One of my biggest gripes was the cycle time 80-120 minutes. My washer kicks out a load every 35 minutes. The new "HE" is the issue, very very little water and so the cycles are tremendously long

The Maytag guy told us that when looking at a top load with agitator to find one that still allowed the user to select the load size since that will help with regulating the water level if needed.

When it came down to a decision, we had made 2 choices, both were top loads with agitators.

A Maytag top load with agitator at $600
and
A Kenmore topload with Agitator at $425 -

I wish I had kept the model numbers I would have passed them along

I think if we hadn't repaired ours, the Kenmore would have won out.
The current Kenmore we had, had more features etc. so we opted to rebuild it.
I can honestly say I am glad we did.

 

[DisMN]

I was gonna jump in right away and spout off about my opinion on those washers without the agitators but I see the prior poster already covered that. LOL
ALLLLLLLLLLL I've heard about those washers is how poorly they wash clothes, and I live in an area where we need good quality clothes washers!

Good luck on your search!

 

[twinboysmom]

I have a new Kenmore top loader with no agitator. I don't love it but I don't hate it either. It has taken me a which to get used to it and learn the tricks to get my clothing clean. But, I would not buy it again nor would I buy a front loader. I would buy a top loader non he machine with an agitator. I think they clean better and they certainly wash quicker.

 

[mamacatnv]

I have a new Kenmore top loader with no agitator. I don't love it but I don't hate it either. It has taken me a which to get used to it and learn the tricks to get my clothing clean. But, I would not buy it again nor would I buy a front loader. I would buy a top loader non he machine with an agitator. I think they clean better and they certainly wash quicker.

Even the guy at the Maytag store said "well, you have to load them just right"
My response was "I can't get anyone in my house to properly load the dang dishwasher and we have had one for 25 years. I have no hope that loading the washer "just right" would work out for us."

I found the model of the Kenmore we were looking at its the 21202 - top load with agitator - it has the load size selector.
If I were to buy a new one this IMO was the best for the $$ - we found one at the local Sears outlet for about $395 or so
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02621202000P?keyword=washer+21202&sLevel=0&prop17=washer%2021202

 

[DrCavin]

Are you sure yours can't be repaired? A belt is very easy & inexpensive to replace.

 

[tvguy]

My parents have had great success with going into Sears and buying the cheapest Kenmore washers and dryers, doing no repairs on them, and when they start acting up, replace them. They get 12 to 15 years on them. Mom just bought a new pair in August, $375 total for BOTH.