Kenmore washer/dryers- opinions vs. Whirlpool/LG/Samsung?

[amz155]

We recently conditionaly sold our house. Although we wanted to take our 3 year old washer/dryer set to our new home, the buyers wanted them and we didn't want to lose the sale over such a small thing.

So while researching the other appliances that we needed for our kitchen , I never really paid attention to the info on washer/dryers, figuring that we wouldn't need to buy them. Now we have to find the energy to shop around for these (and a dishwasher we couldn't decide on, but that's another story).

The other night we popped back into Sears to get their opinions on stuff and I was a bit surprised that the saleslady matched us up with two different Kenmore sets (one Elite and one not). She said that since we wanted a set for $2000 or under and didn't want any bells and whistles (steam, automatic dispensing system) the Kenmore were their best deal instead of some of the fancier Whirlpool, LG or Samsung sets. I do realize that Kenmore is their own brand, but they didn't even mention Kenmore when we were shopping for our other stuff.

Since Kenmore doesn't seem to get mentioned as often as other brands, I'm curious to see what people's opinions were.

One option was a Kenmore Elite HE set (front loaders, direct drive, 4 cu ft washer drum) and one option was a Kenmore set (front loaders, belt drive. 3.7 cu ft drum on washer). There was only a $10 difference between the two sets. I didn't get the model numbers because we were just in doing preliminary research but I believe that they were both priced around $1600 for each set, not including the pedestals which are $199 per piece.

Good brand?
How would the Whirlpool Duet/Duet Sport sets compare?
Reasonable price for the pedestals?

Thanks.

EDIT: I should also mention that it will just be two people using the machines so super huge capacity is not required. Also the machines will be in our main floor laundry room. FInally, I passed by Quan's today and they had a Whirlpol Duet Sport set (8300 series) for $1298, pedestals are $150/each. I've been skimming through some old posts and have gathered that the Whirlpool Duets are seemingly better than the Duet Sports. Also hapy to have read good things about the Kenmore Elites.

[CaptSmethwick]

We bought our Kenmore Elite HE3t set a number of years back and have been quite happy with it - more capacity than two people need but there's little downside to it given how economically the units use power and water.

IIRC, Whirlpool Duet and Kenmore Elite are mechanically identical and differ only in cosmetics, features, and price.

FYI, in a recent CR review of laundry pairs, they found that the Elites were mid-pack overall but had good things to say about them - while the Duet sport was also ranked mid-pack, CR found the noise levels as "just good" (vs. "very good" for the Elites). Among front loaders, CR also really liked some significantly cheaper GE models.

[amz155]

We went to sears again last night. Different saleslady (the one we originaly bought our other appliances from) also pointed out the Kenmore and the Kenmore Elite He3 set. She preferred the Kenmore set over the Elite bc of its direct drive, stabilization technology, and because of it being at the lowest price of the year for the pair.

We do have a chance of getting Whirlpool stuff from someone who gets them at ane employee price of 40% off. So now we just have to figure out which Whirpool set is the same as the Kenmore set we are favouring and see what kind of price we can get.

[zzricezz]

Sears will always push their Kenmore brand. It is their private label and they make way more in margin than anything else they sell. Not saying Kenmore is not good but just something to keep in mind why they always push it.

[amz155]

Sears will always push their Kenmore brand. It is their private label and they make way more in margin than anything else they sell. Not saying Kenmore is not good but just something to keep in mind why they always push it.

Yeah we figure that. When we went in to buy fridge, stove and OTR, they didn't mention Kenmore at all. Same thing with dishwasher when we asked about it when we went to go look at washer/dryer.

So far, the front runners are the Kenmore set and the 9400 series Whirlpool Duet.

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B0029...deid=396415011 EARN CASH BACK

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B0029...earsBrand=core EARN CASH BACK


OR

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B001J...deid=396506011 EARN CASH BACK

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B001K...earsBrand=core EARN CASH BACK

Any other opinions?

[xtremedrunk]

We just bought the Kenmore washer you are looking at. Was shopping around for an LG or Samsung but saw the ad for the Kenmore (which BTW is a pretty good deal).

Its definitely made by Samsung, everything is nearly identical. Only thing that might be important to you is that Sears decided to exclude the sanitize cycle and thus water heater from the unit. If you have allergy concerns that might be a deal breaker. Also the door is slightly different. The Kenmore has a small lip or handle on the outside edge of the door vs grabbing "inside" of the door edge to open. I felt the door was a little easier to open on the Kenmore than the Samsung due to this.

I've read good things about the Whirlpools too so can't go wrong there. The price for the Kenmore is great, especially since the equivalent Samsung goes for hundreds more. Unfortunately can't tell you how well it performs as delivery is for next week.

[amz155]

We just bought the Kenmore washer you are looking at. Was shopping around for an LG or Samsung but saw the ad for the Kenmore (which BTW is a pretty good deal).

Its definitely made by Samsung, everything is nearly identical. Only thing that might be important to you is that Sears decided to exclude the sanitize cycle and thus water heater from the unit. If you have allergy concerns that might be a deal breaker. Also the door is slightly different. The Kenmore has a small lip or handle on the outside edge of the door vs grabbing "inside" of the door edge to open. I felt the door was a little easier to open on the Kenmore than the Samsung due to this.

I've read good things about the Whirlpools too so can't go wrong there. The price for the Kenmore is great, especially since the equivalent Samsung goes for hundreds more. Unfortunately can't tell you how well it performs as delivery is for next week.

Thanks for the info. The sanitize option doesn't really interest us as we'd probably never use it. For us, we don't really need any of the fancier options. In the end it will probably come down to Sears' price vs. the employee pricing we may be able to get on the Whirlpool Duet set. We'll have to wait till next week to find out which is fine bc the deal on the Kenmore set is on until Oct 4.

[xtremedrunk]

I should mention actually since you're interested in the set, the coupons section of this site has a 100 dollars off $1000 purchase at sears.ca (try them all some might not work)! I had to settle on the 50 off coupon cause I only bought the washer but, if anything, that covers delivery ($60) or taxes on top of the sale price. You can also use in store pick up if you want to pick up the set yourself and save on delivery. Problem is the coupons expire today and who knows if there will be a new set of coupons to replace them.

Since you aren't familiar with the Kenmore brand in general, I found this today:
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/0...an-frigidaire/

[amz155]

I should mention actually since you're interested in the set, the coupons section of this site has a 100 dollars off $1000 purchase at sears.ca (try them all some might not work)! I had to settle on the 50 off coupon cause I only bought the washer but, if anything, that covers delivery ($60) or taxes on top of the sale price. You can also use in store pick up if you want to pick up the set yourself and save on delivery. Problem is the coupons expire today and who knows if there will be a new set of coupons to replace them.

Since you aren't familiar with the Kenmore brand in general, I found this today:
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/0...an-frigidaire/

Thanks for the info re the coupon. We definately aren't ready to buy today but I'll take a look at the coupons and see if they'll honour them anyway. The 2x Sears points also ends today but the saleslady said she'd talk to her manager about honouring that promotion. I'm fairly confident it will work bc when we bought our other three appliances, we asked for 2x sears points and got immediate gift cards for the value of the points.

[Carbooja]

Be careful of the 9400 series, the control board can go after a year and a half, just Google whirlpool F71 Code.

[amz155]

Be careful of the 9400 series, the control board can go after a year and a half, just Google whirlpool F71 Code.

Thanks for the heads up. Though I'm sure if I took the time to look up every model we looked at, I'd find fault with each and every one. Overall the Duet HT sets seems to be well ranked in CR. I'm sure there are some lemons out there, but that goes for every make/model.

[amz155]

We got the Whirlpool employee pricing on the Duet HT set today.

The washer WFW9400VE is $686.40 and the dryer YWED9400VE is $524. Contrast this with Sears' prices of $949 and $524 respectively, and it sounds like we found a great deal. And the pedestals are $119/per piece vs. Sears' $199 each.

Employee pricing aside, I seemed to feel more comfortable with the Kenmore set in the store, which was going for $1598 for the set.

Is it worth it to pay more for the Kenmore set because I got a better feeling about them? The Kenmores were the ones we saw and liked first and then we got the offer for the employee pricing on the Whirlpool.

I'm also wondering how we'd deal with Whirlpool directly if we bought through our employee contact if we ever had a problem with the machines. And I wonder if we can get extended warranties directly through Whirlpool for the machines?

What would you do; go for the better deal to save money or pay more to get the set we liked first? Quality-wise, from what I've been reading it seems that the Kenmore set we are looking into is about on par with the Duet HT set.

[sungfra]

We got the Whirlpool employee pricing on the Duet HT set today.

The washer WFW9400VE is $686.40 and the dryer YWED9400VE is $524. Contrast this with Sears' prices of $949 and $524 respectively, and it sounds like we found a great deal. And the pedestals are $119/per piece vs. Sears' $199 each.

Employee pricing aside, I seemed to feel more comfortable with the Kenmore set in the store, which was going for $1598 for the set.

Is it worth it to pay more for the Kenmore set because I got a better feeling about them? The Kenmores were the ones we saw and liked first and then we got the offer for the employee pricing on the Whirlpool.

I'm also wondering how we'd deal with Whirlpool directly if we bought through our employee contact if we ever had a problem with the machines. And I wonder if we can get extended warranties directly through Whirlpool for the machines?

What would you do; go for the better deal to save money or pay more to get the set we liked first? Quality-wise, from what I've been reading it seems that the Kenmore set we are looking into is about on par with the Duet HT set.

I heard from a Sears repairmen that Whirlpool is pretty good brand for washer / dryer. Parts are readily available and the repairmen know them better.

[saw_mui]

i personally would go with the whirlpool duet....

how did you get the whirlpool employee pricing??????

Kenmore doesn't make their own stuff...a lot of other manufacturers like whirlpool make it for them, if you know the model number you can check here:

http://www.appliance411.com/parts/sears.shtml

[amz155]

i personally would go with the whirlpool duet....

how did you get the whirlpool employee pricing??????

Kenmore doesn't make their own stuff...a lot of other manufacturers like whirlpool make it for them, if you know the model number you can check here:

http://www.appliance411.com/parts/sears.shtml

Our real estate agent, who is also a friend, has the Whirlpool connection. If it was something I could share with other RFDers, I would.

I believe the models we are looking at are made by Samsung, as per the sales agent at Sears.

The Whirpool set is a good deal. Only thing I'd be worried about is post-sales customer service (i.e. lets say the thing arrives dented or the delivery guys make a mess of the walls getting it in) and option of buying an extended warranty (not sure we can if we go direct through Whirlpool.