For a long time your choice for washing machines has been either front or top loader? With brands like Kenmore and LG washer introducing steam washers, you can now dry clean your laundry at home. Perhaps the local dry cleaners should be worried?
I've rounded up the good points and bad points of the 3 main types of LG washer available on the market.
There are lots of benefits to a front loader when comparing it to a top loading machine. They typically use less water and electricity, and their design makes them better for people who have limited space. But if you find it difficult to kneel or bend this is probably not for you as you will find loading and unloading a front loader tricky if it is floor mounted.
Even though front loaders are a smaller machine than a top loader they surprisingly hold much the same amount of laundry, around fifteen pounds. Depending on how much washing you do in your household will determine the size of LG washer and its capacity that you select. If it's just for yourself then a smaller machine with a load limit of ten pounds is sufficient but if you have a large family then obviously you'll need to be looking at larger models.
An independent study revealed that a LG washer, in a midsized model used on average 15 gallons of water for each load compared to a top loading machine that used 29 gallons. That's almost half the water used for the same size load in a front loader. This is because while a top-loading machine requires enough water to cover all the clothes in its drum, a front-loading washer needs only a third of that amount because, as its drum is set horizontally in the machine, as the drum turns, it uses gravity to drop the clothes back into the water.
Because there is no agitator in front loading washers this means there is more space for dirty laundry which as a result means you can do bigger loads each time, therefore you should in fact be doing fewer loads. Having no agitator in front loaders is also far kinder to your clothes.
Front load washers also use, on average, less electricity than top loaders. Independent tests show us that a top loader will use twice the amount of electricity that the same size capacity front loading washer will use. Front loaders have a much faster spin cycle and this removes a lot more water which will also save on energy if you must use a dryer.
Top loading machines are generally a lot less dear to buy than the equivalent sized front loading machine. Though front loaders are more expensive you will reclaim your investment over the long-term as you will straight away be making huge savings on your electricity and utilities bill.
If you need your laundry loads down in a hurry then a top loading LG washer is the better option. Due to the agitator washing the clothes faster and more in a more efficient manner. Another drawback of the front loader is that you can't just flip the lid during a wash to add that dropped sock as you can with a top loader, once the front loader has started its cycle, the door is locked until it finishes.
Even though the steam washers are front loading you can in fact open the door on some models part way through a wash as there is a pause button as there's no water to escape out of the washer in steam mode. I got the chance to test a load of laundry in an LG Washer and the steam mode did do a much better job of getting marks out of dirty clothes than on just the regular wash mode, you do have to check though that the items you are laundering can withstand the steam temperature. It's worth noting too that the steam setting uses a lot less water than standard wash settings. Steam washers are a more expensive option but they are still relatively new and hopefully the price will come down more in line to the prices of the more traditional washing machines.
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