Washers, especially planet-lovin' front-loaders, seem to be getting all the glory these days while dryers are pretty much taken for granted. Just compare the number of washer reviews here on Epinions.com with those for dryers.

I suppose it's partly because of the entertainment value of one over the other. A front-load washer, especially one with a windowed loading door, puts on quite a show. There's a practical reason for the window, mainly to check and see if you've put in too much detergent and might need to run the load through another cycle without detergent.

A dryer? Well, the overwhelming majority of domestic clothes dryers have no window in the door. They quietly do their work unseen. Without a window, what are you going to watch? The timer knob as it slowly creeps toward "OFF"? As of the original posting date of this review, even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hadn't decided on energy efficiency standards for dryers, so try as you might, you won't find an EnergyStar-labeled dryer to go with your enviro-friendly washer.

That doesn't mean you have to put up with a mismatched pair in your laundry room. If you're considering the lower-priced of GE's 2 front-loading washers, the WSXH208AWW (see my review at http://www.epinions.com/content_39740542596), rest assured that it won't have to be lonely. GE has wisely created a mate for it in the form of the model DSXH43GAWW gas dryer (the G in the model number indicates this is a gas dryer, not electric as described by the header; the WW indicates the white-on-white color scheme).

Since this dryer is meant to complement an EnergyStar compliant washer, it offers 2 pre-programmed automatic drying cycles (Easy Care and Cottons) as well as conventional timed drying for as long as 70 minutes. There are also 3 temperature settings: Low for delicates and knits, Medium for permanent press and Regular for cottons, plus an air-only setting.

The Cottons cycle is marked Less Dry, Optimum Dry (italics theirs) and More Dry. The Optimum Dry setting is a perfect balance between "damp enough to iron" and "toasted". A mixed load of sheets, towels, cotton briefs and cotton/polyester socks comes out perfectly dry, relatively static-free and without a hint of a scorchy odor. The Easy Care cycle advances the knob to an Extended Cool Down when the clothes are dry and, if you've turned up the volume on the Cycle Signal knob, the dryer will sound the buzzer every 5 minutes until the cycle is over, giving you the opportunity to fold or hang up the load before wrinkles set in.

Speaking of the buzzer, it sounds identical to the end-of-cycle buzzer on the matching WSXH208AWW washer, so how do you know who's calling? Simple. The washer, like most front-loaders, has a Door Locked indicator lamp, so if you hear the buzzer and see the lamp on the washer, you'll know it's the dryer. The buzzers on both the washer and the dryer can be turned completely off, making this pair the choice for those who want to locate the laundry area near living spaces in the house.

If you buy the pair, get ready for a reverse in the usual laundry room bottleneck. GE's front-loading washers, like most, require about an hour for the most-often used cycles. After such a thorough spin cycle, the dryer can then dry the clothes in much less time. Instead of lining up baskets of wet laundry for the dryer, you'll most likely be waiting for the washer to finish a load while the dryer sits idle. Overall, however, the combined wash and dry time is about the same, and maybe even shorter, than for a load washed in a top-loader and dried in a similar dryer.

In addition to the features mentioned in the Pros, the GE DSXH43GAWW gas dryer has a reversible loading door and a nearly full-width opening. The reversible door is very nice if your laundry hookups are "backwards" (dryer on the left, washer on the right) as is common in many tract homes with mirror-image floorplans. Since both the washer and the dryer have front-mounted controls and no console on top, the dryer is supplied with the brackets needed to stack it on top of the washer. The pair are so quiet and attractive, you might even consider turning a bathroom, a corner of your kitchen or a large utility closet into a laundry room.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 437+tax&del