I did a lot of research a few months ago because the people who bought our house wanted us to leave the 5 year old Kenmore Elite Washer/Dryer and 2 year old fridge. I bumped the price up 3k and they took it...lol...ok... Anyway I was going to get a front loader because they use less water/energy, you can wash larger loads and the look nice but heres what I found: 1) The pedistals are custom not only across brands but across years. The one you buy today is almost guaranteed to not work on the one the w/d you may be replacing it with down the road. i.e. You will have to get this each time you buy a new w/d. That's an extra $500-600 + tax and they are never on sale. 2) Because they are water tight, the washer will take on a moldy smell unless you buy a special "rinse for it every month or you leave the door cracked between loads. 3) If you start a load and notice that you dropped a sock...sorry...you have to catch that sock on the next load. Once a cycle starts and water is in the tub, it is locked and you can not open it. 4) They are not as reliable as the non-front loaders and it seems like every repair on them is $800 which is the price of a new one. I had a friend that had the latch break (wouldn't open) and even that was $800 but check the average repair cost on them...$800. I ended up getting this set: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+4....763767.p?id=1218169465157&skuId=9763767&st=lg http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+St...25-5-79134-74709-25-2182-156-25-2182-4150-0-1 I got them for $800 each on sale which is cheaper than the front loaders if you include the pedistals and still uses less water, still does huge loads (king comforter), doesn't smell, and if you drop a sock, press the pause and the top unlocks, drop the sock in and press play...plays a nice tune when it's done. The dryer is a steam dryer though we haven't used that feature yet...people say it's nice though. ie wife and I (non-sexist) both love them.
Just a rule of thumb for appliances, prices are very negotiable, and the nicer they are, the more room there is to negotiate. I bought mine low end at Lowe's and got them to take 15% or so off. (I did get a non-matching pair, though.)
Best Buy. Got some decent traditional ones in the $300-400 range (not buying into this whole front loading trend), 12 months no interest, adding it to the same card/account that our electronics are on.
Contact Sara Appliances. They carry every brand, they are authroized retailers and they will beat any big box brand.
Conn's... I had a friend of mine that worked at Conn's... He got me an outdated Frontload LG pair with pedestals for $700... He says customers dont know that they keep older models,still new in the box, at the warehouses for up to a year before they send them back.. The prices usually end in $.oo , which signafies discontinued products or floor models... But if you ask them , they will have new ones available at the warehouse at that discontinued price.... Same goes for TV's...Got a 52 inch Sony LCD , 3 years ago, for $800 I believe...Newer models of the same TV were going for 2000$ at the time.....REAL TALK...just gotta ask and hope you get a cool employee...They work on commission so they might not be willing to look for you...
I bought virtually the same set in White last year. I took Sears Friends & Family ad, that had them for $549 each, to HH Gregg and got 10% off Sears' advertised price. Plus, HH Gregg gave me a rebate for the cost of delivery and installation. And the guys who did the install were extremely nice. I would recommend HH Gregg. I had always used Lowes before, but definitely preferred HH Gregg.
