After two home repairs and over two years of living with risk, we replaced our clothes washer and dryer. They were house warming gifts when we moved here in 1999, and with four active kids, they have seen a lot of use.
I should clarify the risk. The washing machine doesn’t sense the water level anymore, so its risk is flooding, which happened once when I happened to walk by. We’ve been using “mini” and “small” on the switch — the washtub fills to “large.” For the dryer, it just sounds like a banshee when it’s on. Its risk is unknown — fire, shorting, whoknowswhat.
We love having our laundry conveniently located on the first floor. With small children, this was very helpful to me (along with the fenced-in backyard). My in-laws liked the idea so much that they copied us.
But we’ve never been able to use all of the space in the closet because of the way the “furniture” inside is arranged.
Mr. TellBlast has always wanted to “get that closet space back” and use it. I’ve just looked at the space as something to make the best of. Stacking the washer and dryer and venting the dryer to the side are a step toward making the most of the closet space.
So we bought a pair of Samsungs. The positive experience with our stove influenced dh; Facebook and Twitter helped a lot, too. I truly didn’t care for any particular brand. I just wanted to wash and dry our laundry in our own house.
Without a spindle in the wash tub, we can get a LOT more laundry in the washing machine. Everything gets spun very dry, so the dryer is not on very much. The washing machine cleans our wash more than our old one. I didn’t think there would be much difference but there is.
The main issue I have is that these two machines don’t seem to be made to stack. The lower machine’s door and knobs are too low and the higher one’s are too high to be convenient for anyone. The machines were clearly made to set on pedestals, side by side.
I now have questions similar to the new stove questions: Will I become a washer snob? Will I be judged for having blue machines? (Come on, they were in stock and ready for delivery in two days.) Can we hack the machines and make them play musical selections of our own choice?
Yippee!!!