I don’t know anything about washing machines

[Alexahelp]

Moving into a new place in 10 days, and our vendors are taking their washer and dryer with them. Have only ever lived in places with integrated machines that I’ve just accepted - clothes have been washed, I cleaned the machine sometimes, happy days.

What do I actually need if spending less than £500 on a washer? The dryer can wait. Couple, one toddler, one imminent newborn. Definitely don’t care about Wi-Fi enabled things or basically anything offer than reliability and clean clothes….

I have a Meile and it’s very reliable. No issues and its 11 years old

I reckon you need what I always go for - a basic model from a decent brand, with a reasonably fast spin speed. You don't need too many bells and whistles, there's less that can go wrong with a basic model and most people only use a handful of available programmes anyway.

I like Siemens, Bosch or the slightly dearer Miele. All good brands. My bottom of the range Siemens is over 15 years old, never had a problem with it. Its spin speed is 1100 which I thought was on the slow side but it means things don't come out too creased so I can get away without ironing, which is a win/win for me.

Neither do I because my Miele is 16 years old.

I like when you have an option of quick wash, reduced time for smaller loads and separate spin. Quick wash ( 20-30 minutes) is very convenient.
I also like when you can change the spin setting. My current washing machine has only 3 options: 1200, 900, 700 (and of course no spin ). The previous one had smaller steps and I liked it better.I also wouldn’t go for a spin less then 1200.
You can guess that drying is a big issue in our house.
Do you need to consider noise level? Some of them are noisier then others.

Get a quick wash. Mine is 28 mins.
Minimum 1400 spin cycle.
I got a Beko. Cheap. Has been reliable so far. I'm not recommending it but just saying you don't need to go expensive.

I agree with all of the above. I like a delay start which can be finished by the time I get up in the morning have used reduced rate electricity during the night. Also the highest A++ rating you can afford. I recommend a 9kg drum. It's takes a whole set of king bed linen in one go. We had a brilliant Candy that lasted 15 years and now have the Samsung eco bubble ( we dont bother with the Wi-Fi stuff on it) there are several 1hr washes and rinses and temp can be adjusted. Just the 25 second tune it trumpets at the end of each wash is a bit hard to get used to and can't be turned off. There is a silent wash but it doesn't allow much changing around.

I always get Beko and never had a problem. It's usually one of the cheapest.

All the machines I've bought have had a 30-40°C cycle that takes less than an hour, that's the daily use cycle for me, washing goes in while I do breakfast then hung up and left to dry all day. They also all had some kind of longer 40°C and 60°C cycle, 1200 spin speed and a "no spin" option, separate rinse/drain/spin cycle and drain/spin cycle.

Those last non-wash cycles are useful when washing machines are old, if something glitchy has happened and the machine seems "stuck" somehow on one phase or isn't seemingly doing anything. If you know clothes have been in there a while then you know it's washed at least and you can hear if it's been rinsed/spun or not, so switch the machine off with the on/off button to halt the cycle then manually choose drain/spin (and rinse if necessary) to complete it. Also useful for doing an extra spin on coats so they're not dripping wet when they come out of the machine.

I'm sure there's plenty of other settings and features but I have never investigated because I don't use them.

You want one with as few washing options as possible. No one ever uses all the programmes - I just use "hot wash" and "cool wash".