[punkpup]

I bought my first Front Load Washing Machine back in '89! One of the best investments I ever made. Actually to call a front loader a washing machine is a misnomer; the technical name for a front loader is extractor. Think about it.... in a top loader you're swishing your clothes around in dirty water then it spins and the grungy water gets pumped out and the rinse water gets pumped in and your closed get swished around in slightly less grungy water, etc. Every time the tub in a top loader fills up there's still some small amount of residual water which gets added to the tub. Ever notice a film on the surface of a full tub in a top loader?

It all boils down to gravity, spin speed and centrifugal force. Front loaders can use less water because what we might consider a wash cycle is actually a soak cycle allowing the surfactants in the detergent to release the dirt in the laundry then a spin cycle extracts the the dirty water, so with each successive fill/spin cycle more grunge is removed leaving your laundry much cleaner and with a lot less moisture after the final cycle. Sooooooo, less water = less money, less time to complete the entire cycle = more savings and then shorter drying time because more water has been extracted translates into further savings. NOTE: gas dryers although more expensive dry clothes faster.

One way to save money purchasing appliances is to do the price matching thing, purchase a floor model which might have a blemish or two on it or look for an appliance retailer who has a "Scratch and Dent" section. The extractor I bought was a floor model with not a blemish in sight and I price matched the dryer and saved several hundred $$$. In addition when the brand new dryer got delivered it had a dent on the side of it so the store manager gave me an additional $30 off.

BUYER BEWARE: Some models sold at places like Lowes and Home Depot as well as warehouse stores like BJ's, Sam's and Costco can be next to impossible to "Price Match" because appliances sold by them are made specifically for them and consequently have a model number unique only to that particular retailer as opposed to an "Appliance Store" which sells models found in the manufacturers literature and on their web sites.

I agree about the pedestals being ridiculously priced; I think they should be included in the price of the extractor and dryer but personally I really like the custom cabinet idea much better. Whaddya wanna bet a retailer might be convinced to either significantly reduce the price or maybe even throw them in if they felt the pedestal issue to be a "deal breaker".