Welcome addition to our home

I've owned my Affinity 7000FS (white) for about 2 months. Very satisfied with this washer. My previous was a 30-year-old top loader (use 'em til they die!). Wash day is much quicker and easier now. I LOVE how fresh the clothes smell after a wash, and how nearly dry they are afterwards -- almost don't need drying. And so much more capacity!

But word of advice if you haven't had a high-efficiency before -- don't put in rubber-backed items (like bath mats) on spin! Even medium spin (which I used) was too much. I think I'd used the washer 3 times and ended up backing up the drain. Clearing the clog wasn't easy (more than my handy husband could tackle), or cheap ($100).

Haven't had any of the problems some others have mentioned -- rocking, noise, excessive soap. Leveling is important with something that spins at such high velocity, but a competent installer should be able to do it without a problem.

Have not had the smell and mold problem others have mentioned. But the manufacturer recommends after use to keep the door open to allow it to dry. The door of a front loader obviously has to be water tight so isn't going to dry if it's closed. We just leave it a little ajar -- doesn't take long, and then you can close it. Read the User Guide folks; there's a reason it's provided!

Have had some items and gunk in the plastic around the door -- no more gross than the gunk that built up with my previous washer, though.

I got the pedestal drawer because my husband is 6'4" (and yes he helps with laundry), and also because I figured the larger size of these washers would reduce storage room. I'm glad I did get the pedestal drawers, as ridiculously expensive as they are.

My one complaint is about how hard it is to keep clean/wet clothes from falling onto the floor when you're transferring them to the dryer. No matter how careful you try to be, something always falls. This is a "side effect of the front loaders," though, not specific to this model.

Because of the more space the new appliances take up, and the dropping-clean-clothes-on-floor problem, I purchased a clothes sorter (collapsible, 3 bin), which has been very successful. The sorter takes up less room than the piles of clothes on the floor used to. And it's easier to move out of the way than the piles of clothes were. It's shorter than the washer door (on the pedestal), so I put it right under the washer when transferring clothes (it has a cover that can be brought up over the dirty clothes in the bins), and it prevents anything from falling on the floor. With the top brought over, its also helpful for folding. There are quite a few clothes sorter options, but I wanted 3 bins and collapsible -- found what I was looking for online at "stacks and stacks dot com."