Recommend me a washing machine?

[Tararararara]

Boring thread alert!

Ours has just leaked all over the kitchen floor. Appears to be a combo of pump and motor electrical faults. It's 4years old and to be honest a bit shit anyway so rather than fix it we're going to see if we can get a new on on a black Friday deal.

So what do I look for? What are your must haves? Do you love yours? Do you have one I should avoid?

Help me please!

----

We can see this thread is quite old now so some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you’ve landed here looking for recommendations, we’ve recently updated our best washing machine page with lots of great options loved by Mumsnet users. We hope you find it useful.
MNHQ

[Tararararara]

Sorry, should be in chat!

[converseandjeans]

Miele should last ages. Not many 'functions' to be honest but I don't think many get used anyway.

[DramaAlpaca]

Miele machines are great but on the expensive side.

I've got a Siemens which is 15 years old and (touch wood) still going strong. I'd get one again.

I always go for a basic version of a decent brand (Miele, Siemens, Bosch for example). You get a good quality machine with minimal extra features that you don't really need so there's less that can go wrong.

[FrogFairy]

I suggest looking into the wash times of any models you fancy.

I was shocked on a recent washing machine thread to hear that a lot of modern machines take hours to do a load. Also that some quick washes are only for a very small load.

This is how they get the high efficiency rating. You might be ok with this or you might prefer to pick one that is able to wash a full load in an hour or so.

[pompey38]

Bosch for me, is so quiet you don’t even think is on

[FingersCrossedForAllOfUs]

I agree with a Miele, we’ve had ours for years and it’s still going strong, they are expensive but built to last and well worth it when you spread the cost over the years.
The type of functions I value the most are a delay timer and quick wash which are standard on most machines anyway.

[BlackeyedSusan]

bosch: have been good and reasoonably reliable.

I would look for :
short wash (15 minutes)
basic programmes that only take about an hour
wool wash
being able to use a cold wash (not just 30)
separate spin. as fast as possible.

[SynchroSwimmer]

LG, takes heavy loads and extra fast spin speed.

For any research I tend to look at what brands and models John Lewis stock and check out the reviews there.

[MrsClatterbuck]

My AEG is now 11 years old. My last AEG lasted 10 years. I love the timer on it which was useful when working. I set it so the wash was ready to hang out when I got up and before I left for work. Also I like to have a hand wash cycle for the few items that need it. I have a 1400 rpm spin which is great for towels. When my machine does go I would like to get a Miele or Siemens or maybe a Bosch. I was once told by a retailer that Miele us popular with nursing homes as they are very reliable and can last 20 years.

[MrsClatterbuck]

I also have a button which when pressed after certain washes have been selected reduces the time of the wash. For instance the 60° cotton wash takes 2 hours press the button once and it reduces to 1 hour 40 mins press again and the time reduces now to 1 hour.

[Woeismethischristmas]

I miss my old bosch. Have a candy now and just after a year the motherboard went and then ten months later went again. Warranty for one year so have had to pay for thier very expensive extended care package. I would of gotten another bosch had I known it'd be cheaper in the long run.

[Bikingbear]

Mines is an 9yo AEG, no issues.
My DM also has an AEG a couple of months older than mine, no issues either.
Hers replaced a 17yo AEG hence we I bought AEG too.

[DaddysGirlForLife]

AEG! expensive but worth it.

[FinallyFluid]

We moved house twenty years ago, the washing machine voted with it's feet, followed swiftly by the tumble drier, we had some money left over from the move, we invested in Miele, we are in this house twenty years and neither of them have given us a days trouble.

They were both at the time in the region of £1,000 each, which has worked out at £50 a year.

[Holothane]

Zanusi yes expensive but 10 years old I insure it it’s been worth every penny.

[RoseMartha]

Bosch. I have a new one recently but my old one was 16 years old.

[Zog14]

I have a 9 year old beko. It was cheap to buy and going strong, no problems at all. I went on to buy a beko tumble dryer, 5 years no problems. Can be half the price of more expensive brands.

[Blossomhill4]

I had a Zanusi lasted around 10 years. I now have a Samsung but I’ve not had it long enough to say if it will last.

[Saracen]

Samsung offers a five year warranty on many of their machines. This was a deciding factor for us, given the ever-shortening lifespan of washing machines, which are engineered to be hard to repair (sealed drums specifically). We figured that

1. it was less risk for us and
   
2. Samsung must have a lot of faith in their machines' reliability.
   
   It turned out to perform extremely well also. It's now coming up for five years old.

[Saracen]

Whatever you buy, don't get it from Currys! They've really struggled to deliver customer service this year. Here is a news article from May, but problems are ongoing: www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/05/currys-pc-world-customers-struggle-to-get-in-touch-over-unfulfil/

The stream of complaints in the comments on their Facebook page demonstrates they still haven't sorted themselves out.

After buying a defective washing machine from Currys for our tenants and having no success with their customer services, we gave up on the retailer and are recovering our money from the credit card company instead.

[FangsForTheMemory]

I’ve just bought a Bosch. My last one was a Bosch, it was ten years old and going strong when I moved house so I bought another.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Another vote for AEG. We got one a few months ago and I'm very pleased with it.

It weighs the washing and reduces the time if less than a full load, so while the 'headline' time for a standard 40C wash is 3 hours, it often takes less than half of that even when it seems quite full.

AO.com are advertising a code for £50 off machines that cost more than £500 so you might be able to upgrade to a bigger capacity or higher spec for little or no extra.

[saleorbouy]

I "inherited " a Miele machine from my Grandmother when i was living in a shared house with 5 friends while at university. When we installed it we found a ticket on the back for 1979 putting the machine at 18 years old. It successfully continued for another 4 years before giving up. (22years) As far as i know only door seals were replaced during its life. Thats a remarkable feat for a domestic machine, im not certain the build quality is the same now but Miele are excellent, I did have a bosch machine that lasted well too.
The less complicated the better in my opinion.

[sandgrown]

For the last 2 years I have had a Samsung Ecobubble. I chose it because it had a short cycle available and good spin speeds. I like it .

[Timeflyin]

Avoid, in my experience Candy grand o vita. Had my old hoover candy for years it was great had this one for just at over a year and I've had nothing but problems with it