Great Features for the money

We've had this machine for two months now and consider it to be a great choice for my wife and I. We've had only 1 problem with it, the power switch wouldn't stay on at the two week point. I had an extended warranty contract with Lowes and they paid an independent contractor to come out and fix the switch problem in about 15 minutes. The switch for some reason came off its clip to the back face of the control board - no replacement parts necessary. The switch was easy to access, turns out there are two screws on the back which allow the whole top cover to flip forward and come off.

The repairman said that the construction details of the suspension system was superior to other washing machines he's seen. He also checked an online database for this machine (with his wireless laptop no less) and found no outstanding repair alerts for this machine.

This machine washes very well and anything over two tablespoons of HE detergent per wash is excessive. There are two venting holes in the back top of the machine that allow excessive suds to come out if someone uses too much soap - easy to do if they don't read the instructions and if they don't use the HE detergents.

I occasionally leave kleenex in my pockets of jeans and jackets. In our previous top loaders, this would mean lint over everything. On this front loader, the kleenex remains intact and is usually wadded up in some corner between the internal tub blades and the back wall of the tub. Easily removed and no lint. This was a nice surprise.

The features for this machine are pretty unusal for a machine at this price, $699. Capacity at 2.7 cu feet for a 24" wide machine is pretty large. We were able to wash a queen size comforter in it with no problem and space left over. The comparable Maytag compact only has 2.4 cu ft. Also, this machine has an internal heater which superheats the water above what is in your hot water tank for cleaning heavily soiled or white laundry.

Also the Frigidaire we had previously did not have a drain hole for the rubber boot that seals the rotating tub to the door. Without that, it is necessary to dry the rubber boot puddle with a dry cloth or sponge after each day to avoid mold and bad smells in front loader machines. This machine and a few others have a nice drain hole at the bottom of the rubber boot that solves this problem.

Another nice feature is a lint trap that is easily accessed at the front bottom side of the machine which allows a lint trap to be cleaned monthly (i've never found much in it), and also allows water to be drained from the machine if there was ever some mechanical or electrical failure of the machine.

One of the previous reviews quoted some information on the internet about this being an Italian derived machine which was troublesome. Whirlpool does have manufacturing interests in Europe but they have apparently put some serious money into developing this machine for the American market. Considering the comments of the independent repairman we had and our experience with using it, this machine is a solid performer that has features not available in this price range by many other name brands. Also our independent repairman was able to download all the schematics and information he needed to fix this machine, a sign that this is no short term investment for Whirlpool.