The washer is very quiet, even when you’re standing next to it. It takes in a little water at a time, spinning clockwise and counter-clockwise for a couple minutes, stops, then takes in more water, and starts spinning again.

The washer’s opening is deceptively small: you wouldn’t think you can shove so much clothes in the washer, but you can and it still works great.

We’ve only used the special soap it calls for: HE (High Efficiency) soap. It’s price isn’t much different from the regular kind, plus it requires very little. For a large load you use about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of soap.

The rinse cycle spins very quickly; you have to ensure the washer is level or you’ll get a lot of rocking, which will increase the noise level as well. Even with the machine leveled, it still rocks a little.

The dryer works much better than our old one, too. It detects the moisture level, turning off when the clothes are done.

The only problem I had was when I first turned the water on to the washer after installing the hoses: you could hear the water rushing into the washer and it wasn’t stopping; after 20 seconds I saw the water starting to fill the tub, even though I didn’t have the washer on. I started to worry: was the washer broke? Would the washer stop the water from flowing in? I turned the water off and turned on a rinse cycle, which got rid of the water, but when I turned the water on again, it did the same thing: the washer didn’t stop the flow of water coming into its tub. I feared the water would overflow the tub and leak from the washer.

It worked in the end, though: I put it on a complete self-wash cycle, which eventually shut the water off on its own.

We’re happy with it so far.

Found a winner in a Fisher and Paykel Ecosmart washer, but the clincher was the Aerosmart top-loading dryer that someone had returned to the store - maybe because it was too weird? The marked-down price made too good to pass up.

Got a bottom-of-the-line General Electric. Not much to look at, plain white, minimal dials and buttons. But also not as expensive as the whiz-bang, high dollar bells-and-whistle models.

We went front-loader because we live in a pretty low area with relatively poor drainage. The low water usage is a big factor for us.

I’ve been happy with the washer. I’m not real picky about my clothes - if it’s been through a wash, I declare it clean. If your white socks still have dirt stains on them, then you shouldn’t have been walking in the yard in your socks to begin with. :) I use th HE soap, but used up the regular detergent I had on hand first. I can’t say I’ve noticed a difference. But I also don’t sit there watching the clothes go round and see the suds level.

My only complaint is I really need to get the pedestal base. My bones will eventually be too creaky to bend over to lift the wet clothes out. They always show the washers on the base, but use really tiny writting to tell you that’s an additional $200.

I think the regular soap gums up some sensor thingy….

But I’ve been looking at the front-loading sets and have really been leaning in that direction. So, I’m eager to hear of your experiences with this…