What washing machine?

I have a smashing one from Samsung. Sings when it's finished and spins things nearly dry, despite being 1400rpm is not the fastest. Has 3 quick wash programmes

I had a Samsung EcoBubble which sang to me too so I think it's the same as miep's This I will definately be replacing when we move back home.

ditto. The music saved my sanity. My previous machine shed bits in the drum during a wash and shredded the clothes in it. One favoured garment I thought had avoided damage - until I tried to wear it. I was close too tears on discovering this, when all of a sudden a waft of music, a fragment from one of my favourite pieces, Schubert's song 'The Trout' drifted up the stairs from the washing machine. I started laughing instead.

DH insists that all major domestic appliances should be either Korean or Japanese. He is an engineer, has travelled out there on business and says the quality of their engineering and the fact that they manufacture in their home country means that they produce really good quality reliable machines.

At a push he will accept German but says the majority of other makes are made down to a price in countries and with staff with no tradition of quality engineering.

Indesit do a very good washer/dryer. My machine is an Indesit and I wouldn't have any other. Very quiet and quite quick.

Thanks all. M0nica thanks for your DH's technical knowledge - that is really interesting and I shall definitely be looking at Samsung now!

I bought an Indesit last year, and I hate it.

I bought a Beko and I hate it.

I bought a Hoover two years ago and I hate the horrible noisy thing.

My previous machine was a Hotpoint, noisy and unreliable - and as I said, shed bits of the drum during a wash and shredded all the clothes in the machine

I always felt that I wouldn't trust a Beko, just because they're too cheap . I've never owned an Indesit, but I did have a couple of Hoovers and they were very noisy The second one was actually an Electra, I think, and I found out too late that it was made by Hoover and used the same noisy system. If I'd known beforehand I wouldn't have bought it!

I have looked at the Samsungs and would love one, but they are very expensive. Not a problem under normal circumstances, but we are hoping to have a new kitchen in the next 12 months or so, and don't feel inclined to spend out that kind of money only for it to be replaced so soon with an integrated one. Definitely will be considering one for the new kitchen.

Well, I didn't buy my Beko because it was cheap, I bought it because it was the one with the simplest dial and had a short-wash option. But just the one short-wash option - the other cycles take hours...and it's noisy!

Your experience with Hotpoint sounds shocking M0nica - did you take it up with them? My DS has always had Hotpoints and has always liked them. My current (dead) machine is a Zanussi and it has been fantastic, as has the Zanussi dishwasher that we bought at the same time, which is still going strong. However, they were built nearly 20 years ago and I don't expect the modern versions to be anything like as good.

My Hotpoint is excellent - large capacity drum (and door!) taking 9 kilo load. The wash cycles are in the two-three hour range.

Very quiet runner (until today when somehow a half-litre plastic beer mug got in there with the load! Scared the life out of me ...)

My washing-machine repair man has advised against buying anything other than the simplest, most basic machine available. Behind the brand names and logos the parts are virtually the same and no machine is built to last ten years. Repairs are becoming impossible to carry out because electronic parts are so expensive and the construction of modern machines make it almost impossible to repair mechanical parts. Built-in obsolescence.
He insists that there is no significant difference between Bosch and Indesit apart from the number of programmes.
My Indesit washer/dryer is now over ten years old so I'm working on borrowed time! In due course it will be replaced by another Indesit!
(Short wash option is 30 minutes.)

mcem I believe your repair man is right. Last year, the day before my DS was going on holiday with his family, his washing machine broke down. He asked me if I could get my repair man out to have a look at it (he knew I used a very reliable fellow, have done for years). On inspection he found that the motherboard had gone, a part that costs next to nothing to produce, but they cannot be bought for under (I think he said) about £125. With labour costs, it simply wasn't worth doing. He's convinced it is a deliberate ploy on the part of the manufacturers to discourage people from having the machines repaired, and to buy new instead. He knows self-employed repair men like him will soon be out of business - he's nearing retirement and just hopes he can hang on long enough.

Here are the Which reliability ratings:

Miele 90%
John Lewis 89%
LG 85%
Bosch 78%
Siemens 76%
AEG 74%
Indesit 73%
Zanussi 73%
Hoover 65%
Whirlpool 61%
Hotpoint 59%

I considered Miele but the price was way beyond my budget. I notice Samsung is not on the list. Did Which say why it was excluded?

We have bought a Bosch washing machine recently. I wanted a pretty basic washer because in my opinion the more gadgets the more there is to go wrong (past experience). I love this machine. It's so simple to use and to remember what the dials and figures are for. I don't need to put my glasses on to remind me. It washes brilliantly and rinses well. The clothes after the spin are only damp. Excellent! Reasonably priced too!

my washer just went three days ago, so I'm looking at buying another too. I was looking at a Zanussi at John Lewis which was basic and reasonably priced. I need to get in gear and get it ordered soon. The length of the washing cycles is ridiculous. 3 hours?? Why??

Still using the Bosch that we inhereted from MIL 12 years ago. She must have had it at least 8 years.

Before buying any appliance from a traditional shop, I would check out AO On Line. They often are cheaper and have delivered, free, to us in under 24 hrs. They will take the old appliance away, at no extra cost.

x

I agree J52. AO On Line are excellent both for price and speedy service. They take the packaging and old appliance away too.

When I bought a new Zanussi washer two years ago, I was surprised at the length of the cycles. Then I remembered that all (almost all?) washing machines are now cold-fill only whereas my previous machines could all take hot water as well. This presumably adds to the time taken as the machine has to heat the water up to the required temperature.

I use quick wash and wash in low temps all the time, except for white, which I expect to have a longer cycle. Oh how I miss the washer and dryer I had years ago which was "set dial, push button."

I would think that Samsung were probably left out because there weren't enough punters to make a reliable sample size Monica. IIRC you could have bought two or three of my machines for the price of a Miele, so unless it lasts that much longer it's not going to pay for itself. That seems to be a problem with Which, they tend to prioritise performance at any price over value for money.