When my sister rang and asked me to help her choose a new washing machine, I was not at all excited. Somehow choosing a washing machine did not feel sexy or exciting but after talking to her for a few minutes, I realised that she was getting very confused and she really needed help to make the right decisions.
Before we went near a shop, we sat down to make notes of what she needed and what she could afford. Whilst she had a reasonable budget, she did not want to spend more than necessary but she did want to ensure that she bought the best washing machine for that budget and one that was energy efficient so that she would be keeping her utility bills down.
The first thing we did was measure up the space in the kitchen. She had previously had a top loader machine but she was seriously considering changing to a front loader in order to make more use of the space by extending her worktop or even putting a dryer on top of the new washer.
She had a standard width space so a larger machine was not practical. It wasn't even necessary - there is only her and her husband there now and she does not need any extra capacity. We briefly discussed a compact machine but the space saved would not be particularly useful and when the family visited she was worried that she would be washing too many loads. We did find that the water and energy use per kilogram of washing are often lower for the very big machines but this is only true if you fill them up to capacity. They use a lot of water and if you don't fill them, a lot of it would be wasted.
When I realised that she would like an electric dryer, I asked if she had ever thought about a washing machine dryer combo. Whilst she had thought of a stackable washer and dryer, she had not thought of one unit which was both washer and dryer. A unit like this would be cheaper than buying a washing machine and a separate dryer although we quickly realized that if something was to go wrong with one of the units, then the other probably would not work either.
We looked up a few and discovered that many of them would take a full size wash but not the same size load for drying. Whilst we were thinking along these lines, we realized that the laundry would take longer with this type of machine. With two machines, the first wash load could be drying whilst the second one was washing. We therefore decided that this was not what she wanted.
We then decided to think about a stackable combination. This option was very viable although it would limit her choice of washing machine and this was the most important piece of equipment. It would certainly be space saving and if one or the other item developed a fault, it would not affect the other. This was definitely something to consider when we got to the shops. We also looked at some of the most popular makes - Maytag, Frigidaire, Bosch, Hotpoiint but decided not to make any decisions about manufacturer until we knew more about the features we thought necessary.
Once we had reduced our choices we were also going to think about the cost and availability of spares and repairs - forward planning was the way to go if we were to find the best washing machine for her.
Barbara writes about CHOOSING A GREAT WASHING MACHINE
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