are washer/dryers any good?

[zookeeper]

I'm thinking of getting a washer dryer instead of a washing machine and tumble dryer to save space in my new kitchen. Are they any good?

I have an AEG one and it's great. I think they've improved a lot in the last 10 years or so. Two tips:

1. Buy the most expensive one you can afford. You get what you pay for!

1. If your idea of a full load of washing involves ramming stuff in until there's no room in the drum, don't expect it to get it all dry in one go - you'll need to do two lots of drying. But if you don't overfill when you put a wash on, it all comes out perfectly dry.

I wouldn't be without mine!

Oh, and I've had it three years now and it's never given me any problems.

Years ago I bought one when I lived in a small flat with a tiny kitchen. It was a Bosch.

Space saving, yes, but it was useless for all the reasons everyone else has listed and I would never buy another one. I actually just ended up using it as a washing machine and drying the clothes on a clothes horse.

I now have the two machines separately in a utility, and would never have it any other way again.

I had a shit Indesit that left everything damp even if it was 'drying' for hours. Now I have an AEG that was bloody expensive but is amazing. The drying function is as a normal dryer, you can leave the whole load in, the wash functions are great and include a handwash cycle and a 20 minute quick cycle. Love it.

Nope, unless you really don't have much laundry.
I often have a couple (or more!) of loads to do one after the other so being able to put the wet clothes in a separate dryer and put the washer on again strait away is great.
A combination washer/dryer would take up so much time!

Not ime. I've had two and they've take 5-6 hours to dry anything. I bought a secondhand mini dryer ten years ago for £30 and it's been great!

I love mine, but I rarely tumble dry because I've got space for clothes horses. Once a week or so, I have a clothes emergency, and then it is so useful to be able to dry a few bits and pieces of school uniform (usually).

zookeeper,

I bought a Miele washer drier several years back purely due to lack of space. Its been well worth the outlay and this machine is belt and braces in construction.

As BananaPie has already stated, if you do buy one of these buy the best one you can afford. Also not overfilling them is a must.

The main problem I have found with such machines is that they do get clogged up with fluff over time. The machine I owned prior to the Miele went wrong due to this problem and needed a visit from an engineer to sort it.

I would also suggest you look at Which's guide to washer driers as this could also be helpful to you.

I love my washer/drier. I have an AEG Lavamat Turbo and it's brilliant. It actually replaced an earlier AEG washer/drier which died of old age some 8 years ago. However, I don't use the drier all the time (dry outside when possible). In bad weather, I tend to dry large items overnight on a clothes horse (have a utility room) and just finish them off in the drier. I do dry all underwear in it though. Mine will dry a week's worth of undies for me, DH and adult DD in an hour no problem.

The drier is in fact better than the separate tumble drier I had years ago. The only drawback is that you can't dry when you are using the washer.

My advice would be (have friends who have had bad experiences) if you buy a washer/drier buy the best quality one you can afford. Some of the cheap ones seem to go wrong a lot and do not wash or dry very efficiently.

ours is good. It is a Zanussi, we've had it 2 years with no problems so far, but I am prepared for it not to last as long as a washing machine. It has a bigger wash capacity than for drying, but if you take that into account and don't ram it full when you want stuff to dry then it works fine. I agree with others, 2 separate machines are better, but if you only have space for one I think this is much better than having loads of washing hanging round the house drying. Especially bedding.
The cycles are quite long but I tend to run it at night or when I'm out so it doesn't bother me.

We've had them for over 10 years now. First was an AEG and it lasted fairly well, with a new condenser fitted after DS2 was born. It started to go a bit haywire after a few years, so we replaced it with a newer model of AEG. That was a complete POS, as was the one we replaced it with, under warranty, less than a year later. We now have a Siemens, probably as expensive as the Bosch mentioned upthread, as they're more or less the same. It washes very well. Yes drying is slow, but you get used to working around that. We managed to clog the pump with a giant hairball, before Christmas and the guy who came out said that out of all the models of washer-dryer he deals with, this is the one he'd have.

And we can't air dry because of condensation and have 2 very messy boys, so the dryer is a must!

I find it helpful to split a full wash load into 3 drying loads, then creasing is minimal and, while it might have taken me literally all day to wash and dry 10kg of laundry, hardly any of it needs an iron.

Ours is alright. Not really high praise that is it?!

Mostly we don't use the dryer bit (when we can't dry outside we use an airer/dehumidifier combo). Have had to replace the thermistors twice in the couple (? can't quite remember) of years we've had it, but they weren't expensive and didn't take long to do. Ours is an Indesit 6125 as well..

We use a washing machine and then put the clothes on a clothes horse next to a dehumidifier. Gets them dry quickly (matter of hours) but you do need more space. Go for a washing machine with a high spin to get as much water out of the clothes as possible before drying.

No.

They break sooner and they dry a lot less efficiently. I'd never do it again. We now have a washer and a dryer stacked above it, and we spent a lot on the washer and far less on the dryer. The expensive Zanussi washer/dryer broke literally a month outside guarantee. Oh, and it took HOURS to wash anything, too.

Never again.

There's a good advice website run by engineers, and they have this to say about washer dryers.

I had a useless Indesit one. The reviews of the Miele one are amazing on the John Lewis website so I am considering the huge outlay....

As a vetran of two mid range washer-dryers that broke just ourside warranty I totally agree with that website PerfectStorm.

Mine's a Bosch logixx (I believe 7kg wash capacity and 5kg dry - with sensors that run th drier only for as long as needed despite cycle length - a load of towels takes about an hour-ish (after 1400 spin)) and I had to buy a washer drier as the kitchen in my flat was waaaaay two small for the two separate appliances and washing over every radiator, every day through the winter is soul destroying!

It's good. Really good. Wasn't cheap (about £650, I think) but I think you kinda 'get what you pay for'. It even has a special no heat anti fluff cycle to stop the aforementioned clogging up of machine.

However, as I understand it, even a really good washer/drier isn't as good as really good separate appliances. If you have the space, go for separates?

Useless! Mine takes 4+hrs to dry less than half a load and in that time you can't do any more washing. It's a Zanussi if that makes a difference.

My Zanussi dries a half load in about 45 mins. I'm pleased with it. We only got it in November, so it's one of the newer models and wasn't bottom of the range.

Go for separates if you have space - having had both IMO they are a pain. My washer is faster and you can have another load in washing while the first load dries.

We have an eye wateringly expensive AEG now and it's great - we don't have room for two separate machines (obv that would be better), and have a terrible damp problem that years if using airers hasn't helped.
It has a massive drum, so we have to be careful not to overfill it, as it needs more room for the drying cycle - if it was a full wash we still need to hang things on the airer for a couple of hours to get the residual damp out.
However, last winter wet wash loads took three days to dry on the airer, whereas now we wash and dry overnight and maybe have the airer out for a few hours max - brilliant!

No, squeeze separate machines in if at all possible.

Ime they do an under par job at washing and drying.

There's no doubt separate washers & dryers are better, but we just don't have the space so I find a washer / dryer invaluable.

We're onto our second - had a zanussi that lasted 12 years, but we did have quite a few repairs done towards the end. We now have a Bosch, which has a better range of washing cycles but does take longer to dry.

We don't dry whole loads. We have an airer that is up permanently on the landing - near a window & a radiator, so there's no problem with damp - & we put some stuff on that to dry & do about half in the machine. Obviously we use the line in decent weather.

We read a lot of reviews before committing to a second washer/ dryer, & it seemed most people who reviewed bosch / miele machines were pretty satisfied. We couldn't afford the latter.

There's only 4 of us but there seems to be a hell of a lot of washing & I wouldn't have room to dry it just on the airer / radiators. I'd love a utility room & big, separate machines, but am quite satisfied with what we've got at the moment!

We have one as no room for separates. It's a Hoover, less than a year old and so far, so good. I do try to line-dry outside as much as possible, though.