For research, we:

• Interviewed repair technicians from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington, South Carolina, and Michigan. They told us about the most common repairs they make and the root causes of some breakdowns. Some of them recommended brands that they found to be the most reliable, easy to fix, and easy to find parts for.
• Spoke with representatives from LG, Samsung, GE, Whirlpool, and Electrolux—all the major washer brands, basically. Some of these chats were during product demonstrations at trade shows; others were more formal conversations about particular products.
• Talked to representatives from P&G, maker of Tide and other detergents. They shared some info about the mechanics and chemistry of what goes on inside of a washing machine while it works—and why the type of washer affects the cleaning performance.

In North America, we have three types of full-sized washing machines:

• Front-loaders are the best cleaners, the most efficient, and usually the gentlest on clothes. You can also stack a dryer on top of them to save floor space. We think they’re the best type for most people, as long as you take care of them. (It’s easy, but not obvious, so we put together a cheat sheet.) Otherwise they can start to stink like mildew, leave your clothes feeling weird, and break down years before they need to.
• High-efficiency (HE) top-loaders, also known as impeller top-loaders, can be great at cleaning small-to-medium loads and are almost as efficient as front-loaders. Top-loaders in general don’t get smelly, and some people find them to be more comfortable to unload. On the downside, they seem to be the roughest on fabric. Despite their huge capacities, they’re not great for washing large loads.
• Agitator top-loaders can be cheap, but the only ones you should bother with cost just as much as good front-loaders. These higher-end models are built with sturdy metal parts, and the repairs are affordable—they should last for a couple of decades.

We started by a making a spreadsheet with every washing machine that we could find. Since 2015, we’ve tracked 232 models, and about 114 of them are still currently available. Here’s how we sorted through them.

Beyond those basics, we limited our scope to washers with a width of about 27 inches, the standard size in North America. Most people won’t gain anything by stepping up to a gargantuan 29-inch washer, so we ignored those. Some people do need smaller washers or dryers, and we cover them in a separate guide.

Important features

These features set the great washers apart from the ones the are just okay, so we looked for models that excelled at as many as possible.

• Cleaning performance: The best washing machines try to remove all the stains and odors from every garment with as little manual pretreatment as possible. None are perfect, but some are much better than others. Most people wash their clothes on the normal cycle most of the time. According to the tests at Consumer Reports, Reviewed.com, and other outlets, most modern washers do a pretty good job on this setting.
• Short wash times: A typical high-efficiency (HE) washing machine takes about 80 minutes to wash a typical 12-pound load of street clothes. Some models have an accelerated cycle that lets them do the same job in half that time with no drop-off in performance. It works by spraying clothes with a high-pressure detergent-water mix and then combining the rinse and spin cycles. It’s a huge time-saver and a really great feature
• Efficient water and energy use, including hot water and extra drying time due to leftover moisture: Most decent front-loaders qualify for at least CEE Tier II (out of III), a recognition from the Consortium for Energy Efficiencyfor “super efficient” washers. Any good HE top-loader has an Energy Star badge. Agitator top-loaders don’t even pretend to be efficient. Assuming average use and utility prices, one of those front-loaders should save about $30 per year compared to the HE top-loader and $150 per year compared to an old agitator top-loader.
• Gentle fabric handling: All washers wear out your clothes, but some do it slower than others. The roughness tests at Consumer Reports and Reviewed.com measure fraying (damage caused by stretching or pulling). Top-loaders seem to cause more of this type of damage than front-loaders. We don’t know of any gentleness tests that measure pilling (damage caused by rubbing). Anecdotally, high-efficiency washers might cause more of this type of damage.

Less-important features

Some of these features seem important but are so similar from model to model that they aren’t worth fussing about. Others are a matter of personal preference. And a few of them are just bloat.

• Extra cycles and options: We mentioned all the important settings you should look for in a washer, but most modern models come with at least a handful more. None of them are particularly important. Cycles like “whites” or “towels” or “jeans” are just slight variants on the basic normal, heavy, and delicates options. Extra water options don’t improve cleaning performance, according to any data we’ve seen.
• Capacity: Washing machines are all huge now. They’re so deep that some people have trouble reaching to the back or bottom of the machines. You’d be hard-pressed to find a high-efficiency machine that can’t fit a king-size comforter or two weeks’ worth of clothes in a single load. Plenty of models are even bigger. We don’t think they’re a great value for most people, though.