(As an aside: I don't throw rocks at your house.)
I've used a front-loader now for years and the only thing I really miss from my top-loader is that I could just leave the lid open for it to dry out. The door of the front-loader is perennially in the way if you leave it wide open, so we have to prop it open to prevent mildew.
Leaving the lid wide open was a pretty great way of living life. I'd shed my clothes to take a shower and just toss them directly into the washing machine. When it came time to start a load it was a simple matter to put some soap in and push start.
I don't think I'd ever pick a top loader still, but front loading machines do seem to fail in more annoying ways.
Front loaders use less water and with that less energy (which mostly goes into heating water), are less likely to tear clothes, have higher spin cycle speeds (1400 to 1600 rpm vs. 600-800 for top loaders) and can be (and often are) stacked.
Why would anyone want a top loader? What is the advantage other than the supposedly greater ease of loading which is negated by putting the front loader on a pedestal? I see no advantages, only disadvantages. It is not as if we never had the choice between these types as I remember them from the laundromat some 55 years ago. They were phased out, most likely for the reasons stated above.
I will note that the locking mechanism on my LG is quite strong. I tried to get past the safety lock (for high-temp washes) but couldn't get in. And in the case of catastrophic failure, you'll have much less water (and weight) to deal with vs the top load.
Front loaders can go into kitchens which is usually where washing machine is located. They can be ‘built into’ cupboards etc.
Mines in my garage and I have a separate drier which sits on top of the washing machine..
So it’s probably largely space and location concerns.
No
with less wear and tear on your clothes
Yes, but then they're still dirtier.
using less water
Yes
In other words, they're so gentle they barely clean lightly-soiled clothes, and that's why they also use much less water; forget about heavy soiling or thicker textiles. For true cleaning, you need a top-loader that submerges them in detergent water and actually forces it through the materials with an agitator.
With top-loaders, you don’t even have to pause, the lid is always open; and the water stays inside, obviously.
Whirlpool makes them by combining washer assemblies from Clyde, Ohio and dryer assemblers from Marion, Ohio.
(It's not necessarily the most convenient way to do things, but it is also not a fiction.)
[1]: https://www.whirlpool.com/laundry/laundry-sets/stacked-laund... [scroll down]
This will be more of a factor to any degree that US appliances tend to be larger than their European counter-parts (and my WAG is that's the case). In part because in the US, front loaders are a more premium product.
[edit: side note -- issues with fitment are a substantial problem for retailers, returns are expensive].
I’ve adapted over the last decade l-and-a-half and learned to keep the door open, but the unease is everpresent that a cat might decide to nap in the washing machine on a particular day…
I will note that when I forget and leave clothes after a wash for more than a day, they do get a slight mildew smell. The same thing happens with the top loader at my in-laws. Another wash gets rid of it in both cases.
"More than a day?" It's about 3 hours for me. If I leave it more than a day, I need to run a load with bleach to get rid of the smell. Maybe I just have a terrible front-loader.
But my understanding is that top-loaders are always inefficient: they have to use a lot more water, because the clothes have to be submerged, and thus they also have to use a lot more energy to heat it.
and thus they also have to use a lot more energy to heat it.
Most if not all top-loaders don't heat the water.
> Most if not all top-loaders don't heat the water.
That's a bit pedantic, since on warm and hot cycles the water-heater will use energy to heat the water.
If you wash with cold cycle, efficiency is just a matter of water volume…and most detergents work well in cold water.
[1] There are multiple YouTube videos of these machines being completely disassembled very quickly, as well as repairs.