It’s the fodder of cartoon strips and Erma Bombeck novels, but hauling laundry from bedrooms and bathrooms to remote laundry rooms and basements is the exhausting bane of leaving your parents’ nest and doing your own washing duties.
The July 2006 Consumer Reports discusses the efficient trend of moving the mountain of laundry closer to Mom (or Dad!) instead of the old way of someone bulldozering the laundry to the laundry room.
The issue covers the critical decisions in planning and purchasing and contains the annual washing machine and dryer report.
A few strong but reasonably quiet performers from our Quick Picks include the Whirlpool LSW9700P top-loader, $380; the Whirlpool Duet GHW9150P front-loader, $1,100; and the GE Profile DPSB620EC, $580, and Kenmore (Sears) Elite 6697, $640, dryers. To minimize vibrations, make sure that your appliances are level. And purchase products from a dealer who will allow you to return or exchange them if they shake and shimmy too much once they’re in place.
Key features to look for are stackability, cycle noise, cycle time, and end-of-cycle signal. Note that top-loaders are always substantially faster than front-loaders.