Stay away from Maytag. I had a Neptune (front load). It was made in China and the pump gave out after a year.
I replaced it with a Whirlpool Duet, made in the Midwestern USA, which is still going strong 7 years later. I love it. When it comes time to replace any of my appliances I will look to Whirlpool first.
I have an LG front loader at home. It's OK but when it goes I will go back to a heavy duty top loader. The washer we have at work ( a veterinary hospital ) is a Kenmore Heavy Duty top loader. It is 10 years old and really takes a beating. We wash several loads of blankets, towels and rubber backed bath matts covered with dog and cat hair and toe nails. This machine is holding up nicely! Good luck with you up coming litter!
I have a front load Samsung VRT Plus which I love. We have 9 people in to wash for and 5 furkids. I've had it several years after having a whirlpool which had issues. I just love this machine.
I had many service calls on my previous Whirlpool Duet, it just wasn't made for 5 loads a day or large family like I have. We also had an issue with our former Whirlpool dishwasher. Previous to this we had all Whirlpool appliances, now we really research and look at consumers reports prior to purchasing appliances. Interesting, each type has a different recommended brand.
I have the Maytag Bravos Top Loader and it WONDERFUL! We even wash our very heavy horse blankets in it. We have had it for a few years now and still love it.
We used to have a Duet front load and it was always shutting itself down for uneven load. And, despite cleaning it, it smelled bad. Couldn't wait to get rid of it.
If you do a search on Washers and Dryers you can still find the thread from a few years ago.
I've had my front-loading Whirlpool Duet washer & dryer for 8 years now and I love them. I only have 6 dogs at home, but the pair can handle dog bed covers (from Costco), sofa throws (from Costco), my queen size quilts and blankets, with no problem.
About the smell in the washing machine...I discovered that there is a build-up of gunk behind the rubber gasket in the opening of the washer. Once I started cleaning behind and around the gasket with a several disinfecting wipes, I discovered the smell went away. Plus, I always wipe the moisture from the door and tub when I'm finished with a day's worth of laundry.
If you get a front loader, leave the door open when not in use. Also the recommend leaving the soap dispenser open. We have a dehumidifier we leave on in the lower level. No problem with odors once we used that.
We have Kenmore Elites. They are 8 years old. We had to replace the front digital panel ion the dryer - under warranty.
If you get a front load, make sure the drain pump filter is made to be accessible by the consumer. When we had our problematic Whirlpool Duets, my hubby was always taking the whole thing apart to access the drain pump filter which would be full of dog hair and so draining very slowly. (The control panel had to also be replaced twice.) On our current Samsung VRT, the drain pump filter is accessible from the outside so the consumer can easily empty it, somehow though on this machine the dog hair never gets to that point, so we've only had to empty it once for some of the teens' bobby pins stuck in it, but it was so easy to get to. The top loads mentioned above sound great for those doing lots of dog and horse blankets.
Yes, we had the same problem with the Duet front load washer as "Here". Not only was the drain pump filter loaded with dog hair but there was a man's sock and a Bic pen in there. I can understand something small like a bobby pin getting out of the drum, but a whole sock and a 6" long rigid ball point pen?!
We did clean the door gasket all the time and leave the door open to air dry. I think the bad smell was coming from the drain pump filter. It really was a big undertaking for my husband to periodically take the machine all apart to get to the filter. When he did, it was loaded with hair, dog rug fuzz, etc. So if you do a lot of very heavy dog loads, just be aware of what might happen.
