Great addition for any household
Written: Dec 04 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Size, capacity, works great
Cons: More expensive than separate washer/dryer sets
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| Kittyokc's Full Review: Kenmore 98702 Top Load Stacked Washer / Dryer |
I just love my new Kenmore 27 inch Electric Laundry Center 98702! Why do I love it? Well, let's just say this is the first washer/dryer combination I've had, we've been using an old portable washing machine that we bought back in 1988 up until now and then either hanging the clothes out to dry in the Spring and Summer, or using our apartment complexes dryers in the Winter and Fall, the latter was a pain, especially when half of the dryers here didn't work properly.
We had our Kenmore Laundry Center delivered from Sears and set up by them, but it is fairly simple to set up yourself. How do I know it's simple? Well, let's just say the hot and cold water hoses that they attached were bad, within about an hour I noticed water coming out from under the center. We called the Home Central number that was on the paper and they said they had a lot of calls in our area and they wouldn't be able to get out here until Friday and this was on Saturday. My husband asked if he could bring the bad hoses in and get replacements, no problem and no charge. After we got the hoses home, we proceeded to hook everything back up. The hot and cold water hookups on the back of the washing machine are clearly marked so there can be no confusion, we quickly hooked them up, reattached the vent hose for the dryer, easy to attach also, turned the water back on and we were all set!
Being a stackable center, this fits nicely in the small area they have set aside for a stackable in our apartment, the only kind you can have since the area is too small for a full sized washer and dryer separately. Measurements for this particular unit is 27 inches wide, about 27 to 28 inches deep (with dryer door closed) and about 6 feet tall.
The Kenmore Laundry Center is set up quite nicely, with a top load washer on the bottom and a front load dryer on top. All the controls are on a panel right under the dryer and above the washer, they are at a comfortable level where you don't need to stoop down to use them if you are tall and they are not too high if I ever want to let my 12 year old attempt to do laundry. All the controls are clearly marked, the two dials on the left are for the dryer and the three dials on the right are for the washer.
Washer features
There are three dials for the washing machine: Water Temperature, Water Level and Cycle.
Water Temperature: You have three selections to choose from, they are Hot/Cold, Cold/Cold and Warm/Cold. The first one is water temperature for washing and the second is the water temperature for rinsing. As you can see, the rinsing temperature is Cold on all of the settings, they say this is to save you energy and reduce wrinkling. I'm not sure about the wrinkling part, but I can see the advantage of using cold water to rinse to save energy cost.
Water Level: There are three water levels to choose from, they are Small Load, Medium Load and Large Load, these are pretty much self explanatory, depending on the amount of laundry you are doing at the time, you just choose the appropriate level.
Cycle: The cycles listed here are...Regular, Permanent Press, Delicates, Soak and Prewash.
Regular: This gives you up to 15 minutes of normal wash time, provides a spray rinse during the first spin, then a full rinse and then final spin. If you don't want the full 15 minutes of wash time, you have the choice of setting the dial at 12, 8 or 4 minutes also.
Permanent Press: This gives you up to 12 minutes of normal wash time, a spray rinse during the first spin, then a full rinse and then a fast spin for cottons and blends with a no-iron finish. Again, if you don't want the full 12 minutes, you can set the dial and 8 or 4 minutes.
Delicates: This gives you 6 minutes of gentle agitation, a spray rinse during the first spin, a full rinse and then a slow spin.
Soak: This cycle is for heavily soiled or stained clothes. It gives you 2 minutes of agitation and then 12 minutes of soaking time. The load then advances to the Prewash portion of the cycle. You use the same amount of detergent as you would for a normal wash cycle and then follow-up with a complete wash cycle.
Prewash: Use this cycle by itself when soaking isn't needed. Prewash helps remove protein-based stains like milk, grass and blood, it also helps loosen ground in dirt for heavily soiled items. During this cycle, the washer will agitate for 2 minutes, drain, spin and then shut off. You use the normal amount of detergent as you would for a normal wash and then follow-up with a normal wash cycle. This really does help with grass stains, my 7 year old likes to put it to the test since he thinks his knees of his jeans need to be green!
I mostly use the Regular and Prewash cycles and they work great. It always seems to get my clothes nice and clean. The washing basin is large enough that I can wash my queen size comforter in there with no problem and it can wash 6 to 7 pairs of jeans nicely and still get them clean. There is also what they call a lid lock, which is a safety feature, it prevents the lid from being opened for a full minute after the final spin cycle has ended, basically so young children can't open it up and get hurt by putting their hands in there while it's spinning, it's a neat little feature.
Dryer features
There are two dials for the dryer, Cycle and Start.
Cycle: There are three selections to choose from here...Timed Dry/High Heat, Automatic Permanent Press/Medium Heat and Timed Dry/Low Heat.
Timed Dry/High Heat: This cycle gives you up to 100 minutes of drying time at high heat. If you don't want the full 100 minutes, you have the choice of selecting 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30 or 20 minutes. The last 10 minutes of the cycle is a cool down cycle, they continue to tumble, but the heat is off so that the dryer and the clothes won't be too hot to touch and to help prevent wrinkling. I have never had to use this cycle for more than 50 minutes and that was with 7 pairs of jeans, it works real well.
Automatic Permanent Press/Medium Heat: This one is for your Permanent Press items and it's done on medium heat. You have your choice of More Dry and Less Dry, these settings are based on how much drying time your clothes actually need, most of the time I use the More Dry setting. The last 10 minutes of this cycle is also a cool down, where the clothes continue to tumble, but the heat is off.
Timed Dry/Low Heat: This one gives you up to 60 minutes of drying time at low heat for your delicates and knit items followed by a 20 minute Air Fluff, no heat. Again, if you don't want the whole 60 minutes, you can set the dial at 50, 40 or 30 minutes.
The dryer will buzz when the cycles are finished so that you can take your clothes out right away to prevent wrinkling.
All in all, I think this Kenmore Laundry Center is great! I have had no problems with it washing and drying my clothes properly and have never had to use the full amount of time allotted for drying. Both have the capacity of a full-size washer or dryer, so you don't have to do only small loads if you don't want to, which I don't. They claim it will cost an average of $64 a year on your electricity bill, which really isn't bad for an electric dryer.
I would recommend the Kenmore Laundry Center to anyone looking for a new washer and dryer, especially for people who have limited space in their house or if they live in an apartment and it's not too expensive at about $800. You definitely won't go wrong getting this laundry center. I actually don't mind doing laundry now!
Recommended:
Yes
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Kittyokc
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Member: Kathy
Location: Oklahoma
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