After weeks of waiting, the day had finally arrived. It was delivery day for my new Whirlpool Duet Washer and Dryer as part of the Whirlpool test-drive team, and I was as giddy as a child on Christmas morning. Apparently my excitement was contagious because even my daughter was excited about “Mommy’s new dryer.”
As I eagerly awaited the installation of my new toys, my husband assisted the delivery men with the tightest fit possible. Seriously, for a home built in 2005, I have no idea what the architect was thinking when designing our laundry room. When I say a tight fit, I mean a quarter-inch clearance between closing the garage door and the dyer. A quarter inch, I am not exaggerating — check it out.
So while I was gleeful, my husband was nervous that the new set would be even a touch larger than the old and wouldn’t fit. But all the worrying was for nothing, the new set fit in perfectly with perhaps even a smidge more room than the last. Yeay!
At last, it was laundry time.
To some, laundry is just another dreaded household chore, but not to me. I actually like doing laundry. There I said it, I like laundry – a lot actually. (It seems to be a family thing, my mom and sister also really like laundry too.) Hence my intense excitement over new tools in which to do my laundry. That and I choose a pretty silver washer-dryer set to replace my plain while ones. Aren’t they pretty 🙂
I am no stranger to front-loading washing machines. In fact, our old washer and dryer were an older model Whirlpool Duet that served us well for six plus years, and will soon serve another family, hopefully, for many more years. But I learned a few lessons, the hard way, with my first set of front-loading set that I plan to avoid this time around to make my laundry even fresher and cleaner.
The first load into my fancy new machines was our brand new towels. Wanting to test out the “FanFresh” cycle on the washer, I planned to let the towels sit in the washer after the cycle was complete for a big just to watch the “fresh cycle” do its magic. (The FanFresh cycle is a special cycle you can add to laundry cycles if you won’t be able to retrieve your laundry right away. It occasionally tumbles the laundry and blasts it with air to help prevent your laundry from getting stale. Since this was one of my big issues with my old washer dryer, I am super excited about this feature).
However, as I stood there peering in the little window at my towels at the end of the cycle I began to get worried… I ran to my husband to tell him I thought there was a problem with the washer. The towels appeared to be dry… Even though we stood there watching the cycle start, I was certain the cycled didn’t really wash with water. I swear, the towels looked dry. So we gave up on the fresh cycle, and opened the door.
To my happy surprise, the towels were, in fact, damp – but only damp. They had been washed and smelled wonderful. The spin cycle is just SO effective that they were not soaking wet, which is how I was used to pulling them out of my older washer. I was seriously AMAZED!
So into the dryer they went. When the dryer went off, it was time to be amazed again. The towels were bone dry. I cannot ever remember fetching towels from my old dryer and not having to put them back in to add time to the dryer, yet after one cycle they were dry. It was such a beautiful thing!
Nearly a month after installation, I am still amazed to find completely dry loads without having to add more time. Only twice in the last month have I added time to a cycle, and those were both on larger loads set on “low heat.” The new Whirlpool Duets are so much more effective at both the spin cycle in the wash and the drying capabilities it is remarkable. It is so nice to look at the time left on the drying cycle and know that it will actually be dry when the buzzer goes off!
I could go on and on about all of the fancy features I am discovering about my new laundry super machines, but for today I will close with happy dry towels. Stay tuned for more stories to come from my laundry room.
Disclosure – I wrote this review while participating in a test-drive campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Whirlpool and received a complimentary Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer to facilitate my review.
I hope this is better then my Maytag. After 14 months a bearing goes out and the repairman tells me it’s a $500 repair and of course it’s out of warranty. I call and talk with customer service and I am told their is “absolutely nothing they can do”. After it’s to late, I do some research and find out I am not alone and everyone gets the same great service as I did. I have been a Maytag customer for years and thought my “Commercial Grade” washing machine would last for a long time. Was I ever wrong.
Ouch! That’s terrible! I had wonderful experience with my last Whirlpool’s – one service call when we first got them for a part that wasn’t right, but then nothing in 6 years! Fingers crossed for the same great experience! (I did recently have a $300 repair on my fridge though, and it is broken again!!! BLAH!)
Hubby and I are looking for a washer and dryer as we have 2 dinosaurs. our dryer doesn’t dry all the way and we always have to give it more time, our washer leaks if you set it to ‘large load’. All of the rest of our appliances are Whirlpool (except for the dishwasher) so hopefully we can get the washer and dryer to match 🙂