Thanks so much for this info. I have never heard of this brand but it is available in my area at several locations. I will check this out. I especially like the ability to set the water level for pretreating batting. Dryer sounds really interesting too.

UPDATE: Went to Lowe's to check out the w/d and none were in stock. Lowe's can order them but demo models will be in stores in about a month. The price range he quoted was considerably less than deluxe front loading models available now. We'll see.

Most people think one buys a washer/dryer for clothes..

I have Fisher & Paykel a TOP loading washer & TOP loading dryer...I love it!! No more bending or stooping over...just open both lids and transfer from top to top!! I have felted wool in the washer, but I haven't dyed anything. But the drums in both the W&D are stainless steel...shouldn't be a problem you can set the height of the water level. The top speed of the final rinse spin is 1000rpm, so the clothes are almost dry. One neet thing is the dryer will stop tumbling after 4 minutes and reverse tumble for 40 seconds. This helps the clothes(or fabric) not twist up. My towels come out very fluffy. I have prewashed single cuts of 3.5 yards of fabric without hardly a twist in it when it came out of the dryer! We got our pair @ Lowe's. I knew it was a good company since our hospital had it's machines from Fisher & Paykel and they never had problems with their machines, and they got a daily work-out! Here is a link to the website, great company from New Zealand & OZ!!! Happy customer for over 2 years!!

http://www.fisherpaykel.com/product/laundry/

Since the weather is starting to warm up, I have been organizing my dye tools and collecting some fabric. Currently, I have a top loading regular (older) washer to do my rinsing as usual. BUT, it has been doing more groaning as of late and any washer/dryer shopping has me going back to the old regular machines in order to pretreat batting or do fabric dyeing.

I have come the MY conclusion that I will probably not go the front loading washer route, but there are some newer top loading water saving washers that are available. The salesman told me the maximum water used fills the tub about 1/3 full and the machine does the rest.

Does anyone have experience with these washers for either purposes?

Thanks.

kim