the laundry

This week our dryer broke whilst I was in the process of doing the laundry. I called our landlord and he came to check it out and fiddle with the breaker box but to no avail. Something was amiss and couldn't be fixed for at least another 24 hours until the repairman could come. It was surprising how quickly our little house transformed itself into what looked like an old time Brooklyn rooftop with a few strands of twine stretched through our living room and everything from boxers to button-downs clipped up and happily flapping as I bustled about. As I hung up all our clothes (which is much more time consuming than just throwing them into a big metal drum) I daydreamed about what sort of laundry machines I want one day rather than the 1980's dinosaurs in our basement. My conclusions after the jump!

Presenting my top three dream washers and/or dryers! Turns out these companies can do you one better than just a nice smartphone:

1. Samsung 3.9 cu. ft. VRT, Steam and PowerFoam Front Load Washer $1,399 

What do all those fancy abbreviations mean? Basically that it vibrates less so you hear it less and it has two sweet washing functions: the first is that it will steam clean your clothes. Apparently this is very effective for stains. The only thing I've ever steam cleaned is my carpet, and that seems to go ok, so I'll buy that story, but it's the second feature that really gets me excited: foam! This washer will make your detergent into foam so that it penetrates larger loads better. And it looks pretty sweet if you take a gander at the detail shot I've included. Another great thing is it has what's called a Pure Cycle. You can push a button and this thing will clean itself at a high temp without you having to buy special cleaners.

2. LG 7.3 cu.ft. Ultra-Large Capacity Dryer with TrueSteam and 3.7 cu.ft. Large Capacity Front Load Washer with TrueSteam™ Technology  $1159 ea.

This washer also has the steaming feature to get out stains, but what's really great is the dryer has some steam action, too! Only the dryer steam is there so your clothes will come out much less wrinkly. Yes, please? Also, these are super huge capacity if you're into that sort of thing.

3.Electrolux FRONT LOAD WASHER and dryer WITH WAVE-TOUCH® CONTROLS FEATURING PERFECT STEAM™  $1799 ea.  

The best thing about this machine is the color for me. The only thing really different from the others is the Wave Touch technology it boasts, which basically means the keypad is easy to navigate and has a ton of settings, including delayed start and "My Favorite" settings you can customize and save. Like the LG, it has a 15 minute wash cycle and dry cycle, which is incredibly attractive to me considering my propensity to procrastinate. Also, this one pushes it a bit more than the others, but they all claim to be energy efficient and eco friendly.