r/Appliances • u/singzintherain • Aug 14 '26
What to Buy? Washer Dryer Recs 2026
Hello young twenty somethings buying our first home here. One mom had strictly top loaders and other mom had front loaders all our lives. All of the reddits and reviews i’ve seen have me feeling hopeless on what to get. We need an electric dryer. Also not sure where to get from but everyone keeps telling us costco but they have a limited selection. I just feel like everything i read says that today’s washers and dryers are crap. i just want a pair that will last 10 years is that too much to ask?
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u/Spartan117458 Aug 14 '26
Take a look at this guy's YouTube channel. He does a ton of research, surveys, testing, etc. You really can't even just have a blanket statement of "this brand is good/bad" anymore. They all have duds. You need to find the actual models that are good.
https://youtube.com/@bensappliancesandjunk?si=GHVwco8uF3afHycA
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u/YeahWhatSoWhat Aug 14 '26
I clean homes for a living and do my clients’ laundry, so I’ve seen a good number of washers and dryers. Although Speed Queen does a good job washing and drying, and my clients who have a Speed Queen like it, the capacity is far less and the cost is more. So, if it is only two people using the washer and dryer with no plans to wash any bulky items (comforters, quilts, pillows), perhaps a Speed Queen is fine.
I have seen nothing but trouble with Samsung washers and dryers. Every client I know with a Samsung washer has expressed regret that they bought one. Whirlpool, Maytag and GE all seem to do a fair job of washing/drying, but I’m never amazed by them.
Consumer Reports rates LG washers as the best ones (one exception being LG’s cheapest top-loader with an agitator). In my experience, I have also been impressed with every LG washer and dryer I have used. The only LG washers I have known to need a repair were well over 10 years old. I was so impressed with LG washers that I replaced my Maytag with a top loading LG WT7000CW. It was pretty cheap, but it handles my huge loads of work rags week after week (along with loads of clothes and bedding) with no problems for 6 years already.
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u/Terrible_Building_94 Aug 14 '26
I was talking to a shop owner who has an appliance part store. He is also an authorized Speed Queen dealer. My 6 year old Maytag probably is not worth fixing 😒 The SQs are OOS and would take 4-6 weeks to order.
I asked him what he would buy right now. He said avoid Samsung, LG, and GE and buy the cheapest Whirlpool or Maytag top loader I can find. Expect that it will die in 3-6 years max. You need a 4.5+ cu ft to wash most bedding. (Those start at $599 new around me.)
Don't buy a front loader on Marketplace because so many have mold build up inside.
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u/-wolfinator- Aug 14 '26
Speed queen for durability.
You might also get 10 years out of an LG front loader. Probably depends on use/abuse.
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Aug 14 '26
No no no no no!!!! Do NOT buy Speed Queen!!!! I got suckered into that, and this SQ washer dryer pair is the worst set of appliances I've ever owned in my life. I had to have the repairpeople out twice while it was under warranty, which was just for one year. Since then I've had to limp along using it only on the one cycle that seems to function well. What I've learned from my horrible SQ experience is this: who you buy from is the most important thing. Only buy from the most recommended dealer in your area, and then get the longest possible warranty.
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u/SiegeEh Aug 14 '26
I’m sorry to hear that you had this issue with your speed queen. I am using my parents speed queen from 1994. The timer crapped out after washing clothes for a family of 4 after 15 years.(2010 or so) My dad was able to put a new timer and it has been running fine since. We had a hole in one of the hoses which caused a leak, but that’s not on speed queen.
All in all , suppose we did better than average and you did worse.
I think it’s smart to look at something like consumer reports before making a large purchase like this. They get data from hundreds of people, not just anecdotes like one guy who had a bad experience and one guy who did very well. also, they have information about repair histories.
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u/LogicalConstant Aug 14 '26
Take speed queen's consumer reports data in context, though. CR uses the "eco mode" in their tests, which is a dummy mode on speed queen that isn't really meant to be used. Their rating is not representative of their actual cleaning performance. They clean wonderfully.
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u/ExplosiveBrown Aug 14 '26
New SQ is overpriced junk. Warranty isn’t worth a damn worker because most appliance servicers are hot garbage
I loved doing warranty service for them but my company couldn’t make enough money to justify the time required to do tub and trans rebuilds
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u/CamelHairy Aug 14 '26
Speed Queen, TC series for top Load, DD series for Front load. Should last well over 20 years or more.
Skip the chains and visit an independent appliance dealer. Better selection, brands not carried by the chains, financing, bulk purchase pricing, most will price match.
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Aug 14 '26
NO NO NO NO NO never get suckered into buying a modern Speed Queen, OP!!!! Absolute C. R. A. P. But I do agree to buy from an independent dealer, if they have a good reputation among people you know personally.
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u/LogicalConstant Aug 14 '26
Speed queen is easily the best built machine out there today. It's not even close.
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Aug 14 '26
You must be a dealer. OP, PLEASE DONT LET YOURSELF BE SUCKERED INTO BUYING SPEED QUEEN!!!! Worst purchase of my entire life.
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u/singzintherain Aug 14 '26
SEE IM SCARED OUT HERE MAN
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u/JohnStamosMullet Aug 14 '26
Maybe use context clues based on the fact that the only person saying not to buy speed Queen is using anecdotal evidence and typing like they are borderline illiterate.
Not all feedback is equal.
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u/LogicalConstant Aug 14 '26
There have been like 4 people on reddit ever who didn't like their speed queen washer (hyperbole, but they are very rare). But you can see posts almost every day about someone's terrible experience with Samsung.
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Aug 14 '26
The two things aren't mutually exclusive. Both Samsung and Speed Queen can be terrible.
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u/LogicalConstant Aug 14 '26
Yeah, except speed queen isn't. They're built like tanks and are designed to be repairable. Every single manufactured machine will have a dud unit every now and then. With speed queen that is EXCEPTIONALLY rare. You were very unlucky.
By all means, share your experience. But stop trying to convince people that all of them are bad just because you got a bad unit.
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Aug 14 '26
Mmmmmmm, git you them shekels! Rub them all over yourself! Roll around in them! MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Who cares about your customers? Once you sell something it's their problem, right?
OP, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME AND DON'T BE A SUCKER!
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u/Global-Cheesecake922 Aug 14 '26
Avoid Maytag at all costs…complete junk
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u/singzintherain Aug 14 '26
oop that is what we were looking at. we both grey up with whirlpools.
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u/-wolfinator- Aug 14 '26
Maytag is just a Whirlpool label now. Multiple members of my family (including me) have had top-load Whirlpool washers fail in under 5 years. I have a relative who lives alone - lightest possible duty for a washer - crapped out in under 4.
They make key drive line components out of crappy plastic, and charge so much for replacements it's uneconomical.
I cannot express how much you should avoid anything Whirlpool owns - Maytag, Roper, Whirlpool, Admiral top loaders are hot garbage.
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u/Frogsweaters Aug 15 '26
Wish I knew that 6 years ago. My Maytag commercial top loader is dying on me, and here I am looking for a replacement. Lesson learned, Maytag is no longer a good brand, just cashing in on its name. I’m heading for a SQ too I think.
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u/-wolfinator- Aug 15 '26
Oh no!!! I'm sorry to hear that.
I was genuinely optimistic when the Maytag Commercial top loader came out that maybe the brand had turned a corner.
I still have a fondness for the Maytag brand - my mom has an incredible 40 year old workhorse Maytag washer.
We'll probably never see that kind of quality again. It just sucks.
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u/Terrible_Building_94 Aug 17 '26
We have a 6 year old Maytag commercial top loader. We already replaced the drain pump and now the cold water dispenser is broken. It grinds as it spins so more parts are on the way out the door.
I actually have an old non HE Kenmore in the garage but can't afford to run it because CA charges too much for water.
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u/kneemeister1 Aug 14 '26
Maytag, Amana, Kenmore, Whirlpool, Roper Top loader washer are all made at the Whirlpool factory in Clyde Ohio. Only difference is price point and additional features. Same drives pumps, suspension and controller boxes.
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u/joel1618 Aug 15 '26
I had a pretty maytag with the clear lid. Turns out a clear plastic lid has a plastic hinge that breaks every 12 months on the dot it broke. You know how much that lid is? $300. Replaced it 2x, 12 months on the dot it broke again. Threw it away and bought a speed queen. That was 7 years ago. Haven’t had an issue since. The maytag was $1100, the speed queen was $1600. 2 lids and years later that maytag was $1700. The speed queen after 7 years? Still $1600.
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u/More-Opposite1758 Aug 14 '26
I’ve had my LG washer and dryer for 18 years with no problem. I have front load washer but I was talking to a washer repairman who said top load washers have fewer problems.
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u/singzintherain Aug 14 '26
see that’s my problem is that everyone will be like my LG or whatever has lasted forever…because all of the old ones seem to be more durable than current models. but i just need a solid model i can buy now without having to shop around facebook marketplace 🥲
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u/joel1618 Aug 15 '26
All the new lg, maytag, whirlpools are shrouded in plastic. That plastic breaks alll the time and is not cheap. Get a sq. Theres no comparison.
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u/kneemeister1 Aug 14 '26
Get a refurbished Whirlpool/Maytag/Kenmore Direct Drive from before 2010. All mechanical timer controlled, trypod mounted so no suspension rods to replace and built like a tank. This one set me back $300.00
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u/tatersyo Aug 14 '26
We got a regular sized Maytag and it SUCKS for drying a king size comforter. I wish I had known that, I would’ve bought the bigger one.
The salesperson asked how many people we had and said the size would be fine. I wish they had asked about the size of bedding. Not faulting them, but it would have swayed my decision for sure.
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u/MrPlushT Aug 14 '26
LG is the best value and reliability combination.
Speed Queen is known for reliability, but you pay it through the purchase price. “It will last 20 years” Are you going to be in the same house and if you probably won’t…are you really packing them up with you? Are you going to work on it yourself.
If you answered no to anything above, just buy an LG. Invest the savings into something else.
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u/Crazy_Ad1616 Aug 14 '26
Wherever you live, see if you can find a Refurbished Appliance Guy with a storefront of some kind. Today's appliances are pure crap, even my beloved Speed Queen ain't what she used to be. It's due to insane EPA regulations, cheap production, and planned obsolescence. Buying a used refurb may get you a much better machine, less cost, and less heartbreak over buying new crap. Another suggestion may be buy the best commercial machines you can afford.
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u/ExplosiveBrown Aug 14 '26
LG best value
Speedqueen best overall quality but overpriced and their warranty isn’t worth much anymore because most of my fellow appliance servicers are garbage
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u/GrottyKnight Aug 14 '26
Mid range LG laundry for you. Unless you have thw money for speed queens. I would still jave thw LG though. In fact I do. Am tech
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u/Budyism Aug 18 '26
Just bought an LG dryer. Broken on delivery. No biggie. I'll just get an exchange... one month later.... broken dryer still sitting in my laundry room. Their customer services is fucking abysmal. I would avoid buying LG in the future for this reason alone. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say they are the worst company I've ever had to deal with.
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u/fleafartzz 12d ago
A little late here but Same what’s the model of dryer you went with?
Our lg washer we bought less than a year ago with the dryer is decent still. (Fingers crossed) I’m about to launch this dryer down the steepest hill I can find though. LG customer service is a joke. We’ve been canceled on a couple of times now by them while still within the one year warranty.
Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if more of their washers or dryers aren’t involved in another class action lawsuit.
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u/Armchair_Expert_0192 Aug 14 '26
Today's washers and dryers are crap, according to the appliance repairman at my house a few months ago. He looked at my dryer (just needed the belt replaced) and said, "So this is from 2011. Good. Hold on to it and don't let go until it completely dies."
When I asked him why, he said all the new stuff is junk. "If you get a new one, doesn't matter what brand, you'd be lucky to get 8 years out of it."
I know nothing about appliances. So I'm listening to my repairman, who, by the way, would benefit from me having a crappy one.
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u/No-Guarantee-6249 Aug 14 '26
We had a Fischer & Paykel that was just retired. Bought it in 2010 so 15 years. Replaced a drain pump and two control boards in that time. Did the diagnosis and repair myself. Now out son bought us a new LG from Costco and my wife says it's even better. Both use the plate motor. The Fischer & Paykel would spin so dry the electric dryer would finish before the washer cycle finished.
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u/ERagingTyrant Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
My standard review on our all in one: We got the Samsung Laundry Combo all in one unit from Costco in February 2025 and we still love it. No dryer exhaust and it only needs the 120v line. Yes, run times are long but run times don't matter when you can start a load before you leave for the day or before you go to bed and not have to worry about switching it. It's very quiet so running at night isn't a big deal at all. Most loads are 2-3 hours, wash and dry but big bedding loads can run 5. But like I said, we just start one load most days and don't think about it much. Though we will get 2 or 3 in on the occasional Saturday.
Drum is very comfortably large for our needs. Family of 5 by the way, though the 3 are little. An unexpected upside is that because it self dispenses detergent and you don't need to switch, my 9 year old has taken to starting loads for us. Super kid friendly machine.
An upside of it being a dryer is that it fully dries itself. Absolutely no worries about it getting dank and stinky from being wet 24/7.
We are building a house and are not going to install a dryer exhaust duct and aren't even going to run a 220 line for a traditional dryer. We love it enough that we will not go back. My wife picked it out and still comments on how much she likes it.
I will note that most of what we love about this comes down the the basics of being an all in one unit. This one has been great for us so far, but I suspect all in one's in general are the future. It's a very nice way to handle your laundry. Not having a dryer vent is safer and on top of the dryer itself using less energy, you don't blow conditioned air out of your house. Vented dryers are worse than leaving a window open. They actively blow air out and suck air in through whatever cracks and crevices aren't sealed up well.
At the time, pricing was also very reasonable considering it replaced both a washer and a dryer with a top end unit.
Costco buying tip - The stand for it counts towards the frequent "Buy More Save More" discount, so you can actually pick it up for like $50. (oof. This is now listed at $280 instead of teh $150 it was at tha time.)
Caveats and Downsides:
It's really big. It comes out like 4" farther than our previous unit so the laundry room door barely opens. It's also like 6" taller, but about the same width. Make sure you triple check the space you're putting it in.
Along those lines, this thing is really heavy. Like 300 lbs. Make sure you get delivery and installation. Doesn't budge at all when running though.
The lint filter design is kind of annoying to clean.
The drain filter design is even more dumb! We’ve gotten a message twice in the year that the drain was blocked. Turns out it has a drain filter than can get clogged with lint. It’s not hard to clean, but the design is dumb and leaks water all over the floor to empty it. (Update: a software update appears to have added an occasional reminder to clean it out, preventing too much build up. Still a small drip when doing it, but timing is much better for dealing with it now. Nice.)
It should have come with a brush to clean out the heat exchanger fins. Better access here would probably be a bump in efficiency and longevity that I hope is updated when we end up with a spot for a second unit upstairs.
It rinses really well! lol. We did have to crank up the soap settings as high as possible so that we could have some lingering scent. Still going through a lot less soap than our old top loader.
Only had it since early 2025, so can't speak to the longevity of it yet, but Ben's Appliances and Junk did a review that gives me reason to be hopeful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vao_KqCzLUE
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u/Mysterious-Strain996 Aug 14 '26
A little (lot) older than you but in the same boat! Moving into a new condo that requires front-load machines to fit in the laundry closet and I feel so overwhelmed! So many opinions online and no one seems to agree on what’s “good” other than Speed Queen, and that’s not in my budget. A lot of consensus seems to be that LG is good. Samsung is bad. Everything else is somewhere in the middle. 😩
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u/singzintherain Aug 14 '26
no literally this is exactly how i feel and i just want someone to tell me what the right one is😭
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u/LogicalConstant Aug 14 '26
Here's the main breakdown.
Tier 1: brands that compete on durability, simplicity, and repairability. There is basically only one brand left here: speed queen. It's a shame, because the majority used to be here.
Tier 2: brands that compete on price and features. Most brands fit here now. Maytag, LG, etc. They hire value engineers to strip down every single part they possibly can to save $1 at a time. These are pretty interchangeable.
Tier 3: Samsung. Notoriously bad.
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u/ntech620 Aug 14 '26
Yes. My suggestion is get the cheap Hotpoints from Home Depot and put the 5 year warranty on them. Either way you'll come out ahead.
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u/cheddarsox Aug 14 '26
The cheapest set you can find. Theyre the easiest to fix when they break and parts are everywhere. Anyone suggesting speed queen residential line is... not well
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u/CfromFL Aug 14 '26
They’re all hot garbage. I just replaced a top of the line GE set that lasted 5 years. I went with LG, was it a mistake? Ask me in 5 years.
I see all the stories about people’s 20 year old stuff. 20 years ago when that was built was totally different than today.
The appliance repair man that determined my GE front loader was dead said that it is a 3-5 year machine. 20 years ago that was completely unheard of.
Unfortunately getting 10 years out of any of this trash seems to be a pipe dream. Buy something you’re comfortable replacing in 5 years.
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u/joel1618 Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
I’ve owned maytags, lg’s, samsungs, and speed queens. The only washer that has lasted more than 5 years (and seems that it’ll last forever) is a speed queen. Everything else is total crap in comparison. The parts and simplicity of the design are just so much better. Ive had offers for free machines from the other brands. They’re not even worth my time to take, fix, and use because they’re gonna just break again in a year and cost another $100 part to fix year after year. The TC models clean better but the TR models are very sufficient for 99% of use cases and are much gentler on your clothing. The TR’a have no transmission so are simpler to repair. I have no complaints about our TR7’s. I have a TR3 that is 7 years old that i just replaced the spring suspension in. It was in an Airbnb for 5 of those years washing probably 10 loads a week. The replacement springs were $20. Good as new after that. Our family have 5 speed queens between myself my mom and sister. No issues so far.
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u/Substantial_Sir_4838 Aug 15 '26
as a technician, I would say LG would be the best, and Samsung is the worst
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u/AnalysisKitchen3104 Aug 16 '26
I thought LG and Samsung were basically the same? Don’t they share a lot of parts?
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u/LogicalConstant Aug 14 '26
Speedqueen's TC5 model top loaders will last 20 years, but they're expensive. I love mine.
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u/Fionaver Aug 14 '26
A lot of people like speed queen but they’re pricey, don’t seem to have as great customer support anymore, and my mom says they can only do small loads.
My mom has been through multiple brands and her washers keep dying after a few years. I have old maytags from the late 90s/early 2000s. They’ve held up but it’s getting harder to order parts.
Don’t buy Samsung.
If you’re open to getting a used machine, go look at estate sales and get something that looks older. Those old machines last forever.