Loving Laundry

Is it worth mentioning that I’ve never had to buy an appliance, ever? Not at all for my old house (the ones it came with were standard but plenty fine) and never for any dwelling before that. And here I am, writing excitedly about the three we bought in a single pit stop to our local big box store.

I already told you about the dishwasher (we’re enjoying being able to freely access all of our kitchen drawers, yessir), but the washer and dryer were on their way out too, something we knew when we bought the house.

Because it was no surprise to us that we would want to upgrade the late 60’s-early 70’s models living in the basement, I had done a fair share of research on brands and products before we even moved. We weren’t setting out to find anything fancy–maybe color would have been an important factor if our washer and dryer were in a closet on the first floor–but almost everything sold these days is fancier than anything either of us grew up with or ever owned. Washer and dryer technology is mad trippy, and overwhelming too.

We had no preference with front-loading vs. top-loading washing machines; obviously if we had any intention of stacking them, we would have gone with the front loaders, but with all of the efficiency perks of a front loader, none of them had the capacity of the top loaders I saw and liked, and the efficiency ranges seemed to be comparable (especially when paired with a gas water heater, which we have).

Aesthetically, I liked the Samsung models. Pricing and promotions at every store were always a little different, and the features were too. Like many manufacturers, their line spanned low-to-high end, with 5, 8, 15 laundry settings (good grief). When I started looking into reviews, I found that the models in the brand all performed really well and had received good ratings. (In addition to checking consumer reviews on the manufacturer’s and major distributor’s websites, I leaned heavily on Consumer Reports and compared specific models through its iPhone app.)

I hinted at capacity being a big selling factor for us, and that’s what impressed and ultimately sold me on Samsung’s mid-range models. The washing machine basins were enormous and unobstructed by the center spoke (you know, the thing that makes most top-loading washers look more like a bundt cake pan than an open pit, and stretches out your tank top strap like nothing else when you don’t notice it’s looped around it when loading the machine). The photo I snapped in the store during one of my visits hardly does its width and depth justice, just remember to go compare the models next time you’re around appliances.

Most washing machine models have a capacity of 3.5 cubic feet, but the two Samsung models that I narrowed down to boasted a space between 4.2-5.0 cubic feet. When you’re looking down the barrel of the 5 cubic feet gun washer, especially one without the bundt stem popping through the middle, man, you know immediately that you’re going to have no struggles washing those king size blankies, in fact, you might wash them more often. Lucky family.

There was a big price difference between the 4.2 and 5.0 washer models at the time I was placing our order, and we decided that we would rather indulge in iced coffees all summer than splurge on a really expensive washer, so we made a “sacrifice” and scaled back to the 4.2, which is still plenty damn big, about 25% bigger than any washer I’ve had the luxury of using in my life. Laundry’s exciting stuff, right? Right. If I didn’t know I was an adult already, there’s the proof.

Delivery from the store we ordered from was f-r-e-e, as was the haul away. The delivery men worked fast, and noted how old our old set was (based on how they were very heavy to carry up from the basement).

Like with the dishwasher, we opted to hook up the appliances ourselves. While the dishwasher was considered a more complicated installation, the washer and dryer were reasonably simple, mostly because they are standing out in the open and we can wiggle them around easily to access the plugs we need.

The crew even offered to hook them up for us even though we hadn’t paid for it, until they saw the hack job vent that had linked to the old washer, an issue they couldn’t be held accountable for… Backstory: During our home inspection, there had been no vent to the outside of the house whatsoever, the dryer actually vented into a bucket of water which is apparently something old-fashioned, at least I had never heard of it before. We had asked for a little (wee bit) of money in our negotiations to put towards getting it done right (and we would have fronted more money to update the windows with glass block and vented directly out of the one that is almost immediately above the dryer instead of through the siding on the back of our house). The sellers decided they didn’t want to discount their price, and instead hired a handyman to do it and paid more money (har har, we saw the receipts). The handyman did a shitty job, not only by linking two pieces of pipe together (a no-no, vented air can still escape where they join) but also by cutting short the horizontal pipe that leads from the outside of the house to the inside, before it bends downward, meaning that we had to buy extra pieces of piping to extend it out a little further. Also, parts of it looked like it had been run over with a truck.

We ended up having to fix the venting ourselves anyways (+/-$20 down the drain) and now can refer the name of a handyman that we would not recommend in the Rochester area, though I’m not going to post his name publicly, maybe just report him to the BBB. I’m uber-miffed about several of his repairs, if you can’t tell.

Anyways, the new Samsung machines have been great; I’ve only used them a few times now, so I can’t give a review with more detail than that, but would recommend them for value and capacity. Plus, super quiet.