Where can I find a decent washing machine in the US

[chocchipcookie]

I had a Miele in the UK which got everything clean. Now I have DH's useless Whirlpool top-loader which basically splashes clothes around. Esp with baby things it is hopeless I have to pre-soak everything now in good old British Bio-tex...

At Sears.

I know I can get a Miele online but it's about $2000! I wondered if there are any good US brands. But I do miss my Miele...

Kenmore - don't buy expensive. I've got a Kenmore top loader cost me $300 and it's brilliant. Don't pre-soak - buy Oxyclean and add a scoop of that to the wash.

My UK machine never got the baby clothes clean. But then it wasn't Miele standards . Find things get far cleaner here.

And second Expat, go to Sears or Sears Grand.

Maytag do all the industrial ones - you find them in laundromats large apartment buildings with shared laundry facilities (like mine) - they seem to work pretty well!

I always found that the european machines were useless and the american top loaders much better. Are you sure that you are using enough washing powder/liquid. Read directions on container to make sure you have added enough. Don't forget that there is much more water so therefore need much more soap than european machine. Also don't forget that machine does not heat water, so you must control temperature by thermostat on hot water heater and ratio of hot to cold (to get warm) from taps on hoses attached to washing machine.

sofia -- lived in US for most of my life and used many many washing machines and have never seen one where you have to control the water temperature externally.

Had not realized how much this is annoying me until I read that other people have clean clothes. The Whirlpool doesn't wash, it just sort of circulates the clothes in warm water. Yep, I will look at the detergent amount and add the Oxyclean. Also, the cycle here is much shorter than the Miele (bless it). If I did save up and get a Miele eventually it is a front loader with a smaller drum, though.

Snoozer, the american top loaders generally do not heat up the water the way the european machines do. They have a hot and cold feed. However, the heat of the water in your hot water heater will vary from one household to another. Which means that when you set your washing machine on warm, you may have quite hot warm water, or quite cold warm water or just right warm water. So to get the final choice, you can reach behind the washer to where the hoses that serve the washer are attached and turn up or down the volume of the hot or cold water until the water filling the washer is the right temperature of warm for you.

Also, chocchip, I find that the shorter cycle and less agitating of the clothes means that my clothes last a lot longer. And also I found that in europe, the colors bled a lot more which was a problem for colored clothing with white bits in them. Also, I don't dry clean, I just do the delicate clothes in a handwash/delicate cycle on my machine. I foudn that in europe the delicate cycle was inadequate to clean the clothes and also way too long and hard on them. Adn with 2 kids and a dh who was a builder, a 1/2 to was and 1/2 hour to dry and the ability to put twice as many clothes in the washer is a godsend. In fact when I lived in the UK, I ended up buying myself an american top loader washer (and dryer).

We had Maytag front loaders in the US. We know rather a lot of people in the detergent industry in the US, and they wouldn't let us buy anything but a front loader.

P&G by any chance? They are always on that Delta flight out of Cincinnati. Hey, next time I fly I could ask them all about detergent to enliven their trip. The front loader does sound like a good option. Also I will try the Oxyclean.