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Fantastic, until it breaks down LG WM3431 Front Load All in One Washer / Dryer I love this machine--love it--with all my heart. We even named it. We've ha...

Great washer for the tightwads out there LG WM 3677HW Front Load All in One Washer / Dryer We bought this washer/dryer combo about 6 months ago and we have been surpr...

Let me say first that, because there are so many wonderfully helpful and in-depth reviews already on the site here, I won’t attempt to reinvent the wheel with mine, but will only share my experiences thus far.

My wife and I have used this machine for three months now, about twice a week. Perhaps this isn’t long enough for things to “go wrong,” but we’re absolutely adoring it.

It’s such a luxury, and we had it installed (by a plumber, just to make sure it was done right) under our kitchen counter in place of one of the cabinets, next to our dishwasher, and it couldn’t be more convenient. We live in a fourth-floor condo (a walk-up–stairs aren’t a problem for us, especially when this means that there’s no one living above us) that we bought recently and refused to have to walk down stairs and down the block to the laundromat. This machine, in fact, made the condo a possibility in our eyes. We loved the apartment, but were going to pass it by due to the lack of W/D–then we discovered and read here about this marvelous machine.

In no particular order, I’ll go into various points and things commented on in other reviews.

Chimes: The chimes that many have griped about are quiet and sweet, not an obnoxious DING, BING, or BUZZ at all. I don’t even think that they’d wake a sleeping child in the same room. If I have music on nearby, I can easily miss hearing them. It chimes to tell you that the cycle is done, but yes, one must wait about two minutes before the door unlocks. This, I believe, is for safety, because there’s a lot of steam that comes out when the door’s opened after a dry cycle; I’m sure the clothes would be almost too hot to touch if the door opened as soon as the cycle finished.

Drying: When the dry cycle begins, the display may read as two hours or more. Rarely, however, does it actually take that long. Because the machine senses throughout the cycle how the contents are drying (based, I’d imagine, on how much condensation/water’s being drained from the drum), I’ve watched the display change from an hour twenty-five to eight minutes over a minute or two. Don’t be dismayed. If the drum isn’t overloaded or stuffed, as others have noted, things will dry very nicely and gently. If they feel a touch damp when first removed after the dry cycle, just shake them out once or twice and the condensation’s gone. Very simple and quick.

Washing: The machine washes very, very well. Perfectly, even. Stains do come out, but I also pretreat with Oxi-Clean if there’s a particularly worrisome stain. The wash cycle is practically dead silent. I’ve used the Sanitary cycle (extra-hot cycle for soiled work clothes) to really get white towels white, and sure enough, they went from somewhat dingy to white again. The number of wash-cycle possibilities can surely handle any type of clothing. It also has options for the “soil level” of clothing, which we find very useful. You can set the soil level from one of five levels: heavy/med heavy/normal/light normal/light.

Noise: The machine is very, very quiet. As I’ve noted, we had it installed professionally. We found this step well worth it for the confidence factor, and the plumbers installed an on/off “Y” switch in one of the cabinets for us so that we can turn off water pressure to the machine’s hoses to better preserve them and prevent leaks due to a the hoses having constant pressure on them. When we’re not using the machine, we move the switch to the “off” position, cutting off any pressurized water to the unit’s hoses. Also, the installers did a great job at balancing it. Our floors are pretty new anyway, but our machine doesn’t shake at all. Only on the extra-high-speed spin does it vibrate a bit, but even then, it’s not dancing around or disruptive; the thing spins incredibly rapidly, so there’s going to be some vibration with wood flooring (as opposed to concrete flooring in some basements). Even the dry cycles are quiet; there’s a bit of gurgling “pump noise” now and then as the pump removes water/condensation from the main (wash) drum to the other drum, but it’s nothing at all compared with what some have experienced or we even expected based upon the reviews we’d read. We needn’t even turn the TV or stereo up when watching/listening, and our couch is quite close to the machine.

Style: For what it’s worth, it looks great facing our living room. Everyone who’s seen it compliments how cool and snazzy it looks–a bit plus considering that we see it often. We opted for the titanium finish to better match our kitchen, but the white finish is shiny and impressive as well. The colorful (lit-up) blue buttons and display do look quite cool.

Price: We knew the cost long before buying it, but insisted on having an all-in-one for our new home. Nothing else would fit without our having to give up closet space or to wheel a machine around the place. Giving up one base cabinet was an easy “compromise” to have it installed “permanently” under the counter in the kitchen next to our dishwasher. It’s not an inexpensive machine, but our electric bills have been just fine since getting it; it also uses so little water and detergent (because it’s an LE unit) that the cost wasn’t an issue for a machine of this quality. It’s a top-of-the-range machine that pays for itself in time, money, efficiency, and the gentleness on fabrics due to its front-loading design.

To this point, we cannot say a thing wrong about it. It’s been brilliant and we finally love doing laundry. The convenience is amazing.

Take care of it (many of the reviews here give very helpful tips) and don’t overstuff it, and it’ll take care of your clothes very nicely. If you’re unwilling to do smaller loads and wait longer for the cycles, then it’s not for you, but we find this a no-brainer and don’t mind it one bit.

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