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've never had space for a separate tumbler so have always had a washer dryer. I tend to buy fairly cheap and accept I'll only get a fairly limited lifespan out of it - I think 4/5 years is fairly standard. However I only dry towels and bedding so it's only used to dry once or twice a week.

Our new one is an indesit and was around £300. No complaints about it at all.

Nope, I wouldn't bother with them.

I used a washer dryer once years ago when I was renting a place and it would only do the drying cycle bit with cold air. Must have had a broken heating element or whatever it uses. Absolutely useless. Plus, I couldn't open the door or abort the program after the wash for some reason, so I just had to let it carry on until it had finished.

I have an AEG and love it. It dries a full load almost dry (I still air stuff for an hour or so before folding it away).

I like ours. As a dryer it's not as good as a separate one, but the washing machine is great, and it' shandy to be able to tumble dry 3 yo clothes, undies, fluff up towels,etc.

We had a washer dryer and two things that spring to mind right now:

1. The hot point one we up had used additional water to dry the clothes, they did explain to me why when I called to query why a dryer was increasing my water usage,. That made it uneconomical for us as it was quite a lot of water per cycle. The dryer part broke twice with warranty (was 'fixed') twice. It then broke again just after warrant expired and hot point said work was not guaranteed as it was a slightly different fault that time and refused to repair air replace.

They work and are convenient, but I dislike the plastic/burning rubber smell on the washing (I've noticed this on all of them so it's not just my machine!)

I first tried to buy a Hotpoint washer dryer from John Lewis a few weeks ago but was told not to buy it because they catch fire rather a lot. If I really wanted one I would be better off buying a Bosch. After a lot of research I returned to JL to buy a Bosch. The sales assistant didn't want to sell it to me and called in reinforcements to back him up. The AEG is slightly better than a Bosch as it uses air instead of water to cool the drum during drying (who knew?) but they didn't want to sell me one of those either.
My kitchen is being started on Monday and I'm going to have to break it to the fitters that things are not quite as we agreed. I can't afford to lose a base cupboard but I'm at a loss as to what to do. Should I put the tumble dryer in the shed? Help.

We don't have our tumble dryer in the kitchen. Idea

Y we wouldn't have our washing machine in there either. But lack of space/plumbing means we have to. Our condenser dryer is in our spare room. If we need to move it we have a spare place elsewhere but not super convenient but better than the almost twice as much money in water and replacement machine.

No they are useless!!!

Mine literally drys nothing. Single sheet in for an hour and a half and still damp, that was an experiment I stopped trying to get it dry after that! It's a zanussi

Don't do it - I had one - loved the idea - stick your dirty washing in and come back a couple of hours later to dry washing...
Reality a lot different ...you either have to do small loads or when washer has finished take half the load out (and anything that can't be tumbled) and leave it somewhere while rest dries - you may as well put it on an airer/radiators then leave it creasing up in a basket...
My drier bit was useless...stuff on the radiator would be dry before stuff in the drier.....and when the drier bit finally failed I survived for a year or so without it -with a DC in real nappies - before getting a separate drier ...finally the bearings went on the washer bit (and I could finally get rid )!
I got mine 14 yrs ago , it was a Hotpoint Aquarius, kept it going for about 6 yrs - but it needed countless repairs - cost a fortune even though some I did - including a bodged a repair of a big plastic thing attached to the back of the drum- the plastic snapped off around a fixing - meant it made a loud banging noise when spinning and was damaging the belt - it was part of the drier bit, which had long since packed in - but you couldn't just take it off and a new one was £100+ - it would have been a write off a couple of years earlier without the bodge... another argument for separate appliances!
I put our condenser drier temporarily in our bedroom when having a kitchen fit - and years later it is still there - I love it ...warms the rooms, big surface (bed) for sorting laundry, stuff can go straight in drawers - I know people struggle with this idea ... and it is a tiny bit of an odd place for one

I love mine, its a big capacity (8kg wash and 6kg dry) hotpoint.

Just don't get a Hotpoint. Luckily I paid extra for an extended warranty as I ended up getting three replacement machines and then the last one needed to be repaired more than once. Will never get a washer drier again, too much to go wrong! One engineer told me that Hotpoint quality is rubbish nowadays, Bosch are good though apparently.

Useless. We have a very expensive AEG one and never use the dryer function. It takes forever to dry anything. Waste of money. If you have space, get separately.

my shitty machine was a bosch topmammy...

I would say don't get a combined washer drier unless you really don't have room for a separate drier anywhere, in which case it's better than having no drier at all.

If you must have one, get a Miele. Get it from John Lewis who do the best insurance, there are often offers on - you can get up to 10 years free insurance. They are very expensive, but in the time I've had mine, my sister has had about four Zanussis.

My Miele washer drier is nearly 20 years old, I got it when I lived in my first flat which had an absolutely tiny kitchen. The washer is brilliant, and the drier is good - but the huge disadvantage is that it takes so long to do a load of washing as you can only dry half a load at a time and the drying cycle is long. Now I have more space in my kitchen and a family's worth of washing I would much rather have separate ones. If this washer drier ever dies (I have a horrible feeling it will outlive me, though) that's what I'll do.

I know its not the same thing but my best buy has been a spin dryer. It takes loads more water out of your washing than the spin cycle on a washing machine. Some stuff comes out nearly dry so it takes only a fraction of the time to dry in your tumble.

Second don't get Hotpoint! ...were good then merged with Indesit about 2000, now completely owed by them and they are more or less the same machines - look at spare parts - often they are the same for both (and another cheap make - Creda?) - you are literally paying more for the badge!

sonly I got a spin dryer too! (£25 second hand) Think its great if you are tumble drying...
My Bosch washing machine will only do a 1400rpm spin on 2hr+ program. Even spin only is max 1200rpm. No good for things like swimming towels.
I did a test load and got 3/4 pt of water out from the spin dryer - and the same from the tumble condenser- figure that must have almost halved the time in the tumble (but not sure my logic stacks up - and then cba to do any more measuring!) - but things do definitely come out much drier...and quicker to dry...
I luvs mine !

only if you have no space and nowhere to dry stuff. I broke mine (20 yrs ago) by taking dry stuff out before the cool-down cycle had finished. Read up on all those little snags before you get one