I have been dealing with my whole washer/dryer issues for the past week.
Well actually, if you count the other 2 times my dryer died I guess it's been longer!
I figured I'd share some of my thoughts to 1) vent a little :) and 2) I know I'm not the only one that finds it frustrating shopping for washers/dryers so I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents on this.
Thursday - my dryer died. Again. With company coming that day, a load of towels in the washer and dryer and about 2 clean towels in the house.
It's the fuse again but there's obviously something else going on with the dryer to cause it to go out. So instead of fixing it for a 3rd time, and try to find what else is wrong with it, we I decided to just buy new ones. Because our old washer & dryer are about 12 yrs old.
Yep, it's time.
It wasn't in the budget & I was really hoping they'd hold out til we saved up for it but sometimes it just happens this way. Sorry Dave Ramsey...gotta go way off budget a bit this month!
I opted for a top loader because I have a very small laundry 'room'...it's not really a room, more like a closet in my upstairs hallway.

This 'room' needs a serious overhaul! I love having the washer & dryer up there...especially given the amount of laundry I do in a week. And please excuse all of the grainy photos...no natural light.
And since front loaders have a hard time drying out I don't really have room to keep the door open all the time.
I decided to buy from a local store that's been around for many years. I really like to support smaller businesses when I can. The salesman was very knowledeable and I ended up going with a top loading GE washer & dryer (and if anyone's interested in why I chose that model I can certainly elaborate).

I had to wait until Monday for my new washer & dryer. The guys that showed up to deliver it were....ahem, not the best. They were at my house for an hour and a half. I've moved 4 times in the last 10 yrs. It does not take that long to take a washer & dryer out & bring a new one in and hook it up. Well, it does if you're taking smoke breaks every time you walk outside.
Seriously??!!
I'll be honest, I was getting #@$%$^$ off. Cause I don't have anything better to do ya know!
And to top it all off...the washer didn't work. Yes, an hour and a half and the washer didn't even get fully hooked up. So back out of my house it went.
So I took this opportunity to paint my laundry room. Lookin' on the bright side :)

Like the paint (I used Ancient Olive) but now I want to replace the light fixture in my laundry room. There is no natural light which is why I picked a very light paint color. But the florescent light is making the paint color look a bit minty. I like mint in my desserts, not on my walls :)
Tuesday - they came to deliver a new washer. Better guys...who knew what the heck they were doing. And discovered that the 1st guys didn't hook up the dryer vent properly. Ummm...I'm a chick and even I know it's not that difficult!
Then I started attacking the mountains and mountains of laundry.

That's not even all of it!
And I discovered...I hate this machine. The washer that is. I gave it a good go. I washed about 10-15 loads of laundry, trying every option. I wanted to like it. I was so excited to try one of these new fangled machines that everyone talked about :) I expected to love it. But I still hated it.
And here's why...because there's no agitator in the middle the clothes don't, well, agitate enough. I sat & watched an entire cleaning cycle. More than once. I also watched the clothes sitting on top that were not getting washed at all. When I called the salesman he tried to tell me that the extra pump pouring water on the top of the clothing helps with cleaning. Um, no it doesn't. That just makes the clothes wet! Agitation is what cleans. Remember seeing how women used to use washboards? It was the action of rubbing the clothing on the washboard that washed the clothes.
I know he was just trying to explain things to me...ya know, from the 'seminars' he's been to on this machine. Not trying to insult him. He was a nice guy, and very knowlegeable. But I get a little testy when a man tries to tell me how something is supposed to work considering I have just a tad more experience when it comes to this subject :) I'm guessing he doesn't do nearly the amount of laundry I do, if any at all. And the clothes that were sitting on top were not cleaning until they make their way to the bottom...which takes quite a while in some instances. The clothes that do get agitated get all twisted up. I'd almost be afraid to put delicates in there...the only cycle I didn't try.
Not to mention, in the spin cycle it rattled like crazy & sounded like a helicopter landing upstairs. I wasn't aware a helipad was included in the price of my home when I bought it!
So...not happy with it. When you spend that much money on something I feel you should love it. Scratch that - I demand I love it.
Thursday - another new washer & dryer...this time a GE front load washer & dryer.

First impression - I really like these. SO much better than the other ones. The bending over to put stuff in & take stuff out is a bit of a pain...something you just have to deal with when you have front loading machines.
And it doesn't sound like there's a helicopter landing upstairs when on the spin cycle :)
The true test will be when I wash Addie's diapers in a couple days.
So now we I have to figure out what to do with this laundry room...

I took down that awful wire shelf when I painted. At this point I have to figure out the best storage options for such a small room.
I'm thinking of cabinets on the top with maybe a shelf below them. Several ideas I'm mulling around that I've pinned on my Laundry board on Pinterest.
I also need either a table/counter built above it or pedestal below. I refuse to spend $500 on the manufacturer drawer pedestals, not to mention I don't need drawers, I need space for laundry baskets.
I'm really thinking I want to build I want to have hubby build a pedestal for laundry baskets underneath. That is something I desperately need since there's no room in there for laundry baskets right now. Until now I've kept a laundry basket for towels on top of my dryer.
The only problem...this washer weighs a ton. The thought of pulling these out & then lifting them back in on top of a pedestal doesn't sound appealing :) But I also don't like all the bending over for a front loader so that will probably be what we end up doing.
I will be sure to share an update once it's finished.
Until then... :)