Front Loading Versus Top Loading Stacked Washer/Dryers + What I Have at Home

Over the weekend I posted a riveting story about laundry detergent as I Vanna White’d our TOP LOADING stacking washer and dryer closet on the bedroom floor upstairs (if you are renovating right now DO THIS). We still haven’t started building the more proper laundry closet downstairs (nor have we purchased the appliances) so this is the only way we clean our clothes these days (but I can wear the same clothes FOR DAYS without cleaning – it’s a real gift). After that story we got a lot of DMs with some questions we thought I’d answer – mostly about my feelings towards this tall little lady.

First off, I think we need to address the top loading versus front loading situation. I didn’t know this was a “thing” till we ran into a mold problem inside our front-loading washer in this laundry room. We were baffled, perplexed, so annoyed and then when we had a plumber come he said this happens ALL THE TIME with front loaders. Now I think that you can avoid this by A. Using way less liquid detergent so it makes it easier to dry out and B. leaving the door open all the time (cool). But essentially for whatever reasons, front loaders don’t drain as well and yes, mold often forms and especially in the rubber part where the door closes. Then it makes your clothes reak of mold and you hope that putting them in the dryer, your dryer balls will kill the smell and they do, or maybe you just get used to the smell – I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ANYMORE.

So why “front load” in the first place? Well, without giving you a report on the history of the washer and when the “change” happened, it’s to save space – so you can fold clothes or add storage on on top of your front loader that you obviously can’t with your top loader. So when we were planning this house was when we were dealing with the mold. Out of fear that this would happen again I went top load with this unit without hesitation. Now there MIGHT be non-molding front loading stackable units, I’m not saying they ALL have drainage issues. But the plumber that we hired assured me that this is TRUE – front loaders are prone to mold, top loaders are not.

This is what we bought and have in the mountain house.

washer/dryer unit

So how do I feel about this little unit? PRETTY good … So far, but it’s only been a year and a half. This weekend was the first time that I’ve felt motivated to get the larger unit/closet going downstairs because as you can imagine there is less capacity in the smaller one so it takes so much longer to do the laundry unless you stay on top of it every day – which we were for most of quarantine but have gotten lazier.

So just this morning I was saying to my MIL – “I wish I had a bigger washer/dryer right now” and then Mallory said everyone was asking about my thoughts on my current one. So I figured I’d bore you with a whole post about it. So far so good for small loads.

I will say this – I’m not a really picky appliance person – like I’m not INTO appliances and I mostly want them to be super simple with as few settings as possible so I don’t mess them up. Sometimes I feel like the old fashioned dial and the “press start” button is all we need and not ones with wifi settings that speak a foreign language and a dryer that talks to your microwave.

So there you go. If you want to see our “plan” for our downstairs laundry closet (still small, but bigger) go here, or check out our laundry room HERE.

OH but seriously (and pardon me if I’ve asked this before) as I’m shopping for the downstairs set – I’d LOVE to know what you have that you love. By the way, this is why I love Good Housekeeping magazine – because they do real reviews after like many many months of using, but I actually think that your recommendations would be crazy valuable to a lot of us. For instance – I can recommend that stacking set, how about you??

The post Front Loading Versus Top Loading Stacked Washer/Dryers + What I Have at Home appeared first on Emily Henderson.