Anyway, it seems natural to start with Consumer Reports now.
On washers:
I had the front-load vs top-load question. My laundry experiences have mostly been with top-load washers, and the one front-loader in the apartment complex has given me a mistrust of them. (I have to lean on the door during the spin cycle, or it'll dump my laundry on the floor.)
So I'm hoping for a top-load, but I vaguely recall hearing that front-loaders are better in energy-use and capacity.
CR: "But [top-load washers] still use more energy and water than front-loaders."
Grr. Oh, well. Unless further research finds me a loophole, it's front-loaders for now.
Initial models to investigate (links to Amazon):
LG WM062HW
At $900, it's really expensive, but it scored as well as the priciest machines ($1900!), and has exemplary ratings in water and energy-efficiency. One of the cons is a long cycle time, but I don't think that bothers me if it doesn't use any more energy for it. User reviews around the web seem overall positive, with some people complaining about noise and vibration, others saying their machines were defective, and a few comments that you need to manually drain water from it every so often or it builds up mold and mildew.
10% of reviews on CR complained of breaking.
Frigidaire Gallery GLTF2940FS
More reasonable at $650, which is certainly a plus, this one ranks only three points behind the top models. It falls slightly behind the LG in water efficiency (ouch,) capacity, and gentleness, but is still very energy-efficient. Reviews are much more mixed, seeming to indicate that these break more often.
More than a third of CR reviews complained of breaking - a possible deal breaker. (pun intended.)
This was the cheapest front-loader CR looked at, so for budget options I'd have to look at the top-loads.
GE WJRE5500G
These two top-loaders are similarly priced around $400, with the Estate being cheaper. They rank 17 and 23 points, respectively, behind the top-rated front load models, including the LG. Both fall short in the noise category, as well as water and energy efficiency, which may take them completely out of the running.
They got a three out of five in both categories, and CR estimates that each rank in energy efficiency saves $10-$20 a year in energy bills. So over the lifetime of these dryers (10-13 years, CR says) they would cost an extra $200 to $520 versus the two front-loaders above. This means the Frigidaire would almost certainly save us money, but doesn't do much for the LG.
Unfortunately, I don't have any more details than that on the relative efficiencies, and I don't know how much water is saved by the more efficient models.
As a family of two, (well, only two who wear clothes), however, we don't do that much laundry. Since I don't know what CR bases that $10-20 on, my assumption would be a family of four - would a savings of $100-260 be more accurate for our purposes? If so, the extra expense for the front-loading washer (and the possible aggravation) might not be worth it.
Still not researching down to the semiconductors, but I'm not satisfied with the amount of detailed information found as yet.
