my new laundry center — Maytag Epic-Z

The saga started at the beginning of May when my dryer finally died. The thing was old and came with the house when we moved in, as did the newer heavy duty top loading washing machine. While the dryer served me faithfully, it finally overheated and gave up the ghost… and it was not going to do anymore drying for me. Ever. Kaput.

Not having a dryer when you have 4 people’s laundry (two of those people being small children — and you know, they generate a lot of dirty clothes) to do can put a small kink in the laundry workflow: sort, wash… find-clothes-lines-and-clothes-pins-and-then-stand-in-the-backyard-at-6am-to-hang-the-clothes-up -to-dry?!? No thanks. Especially when I refuse to hang anyone’s intimates out there — because no one, especially my neighbours, needs to see my skivvies! Not that my skivvies are that interesting… but really, some things are just best not shared with your neighbours.

On the Memorial Day weekend we found ourselves at Lowes, taking advantage of the sales. What did we want: a new stackable washer/dryer combo and a new upright freezer. Might as go whole hog, right?

Of course NOTHING is ever that easy. We got wrong information from Lowes about how to install the dryer; we were sent the wrong stacking kit; we were scheduled to receive our washer/dryer and freezer twice… at one point during the process after all the appliances had arrived I not only had no functioning dryer, I had no functioning washing machine or freezer.

By this Saturday, 6 weeks after my dryer broke, we were back in business:

Ain’t it all so pretty?!?

Now, for the part where Maytag should give me free laundry detergent for life: this set, the Epic Z washer and dryer is awesome. I am in love. One of the things that “sold” this house for me was the fact that the laundry centre was on the main floor — in a closet off the kitchen. Bad part: the washer that came with the house was very very noisy. But now…. not only is the new Maytag washer super-quiet to the extent where I keep going to check on it as to whether or not it’s actually washing my clothes, I believe it’s getting my clothes CLEANER — while at the same time using less energy, less water, and less detergent. It’s a no brainer. My washer also has a MaxExtract feature, so the clothes are practically dry when they come out… meaning LESS drying time! Save more energy! Save the world! Sorry, getting carried away. The dryer also rocks my world, and I’m not a huge fan of dryers. I can stuff a massive amount of laundry in to it and everything comes out perfectly.

I love the fact that I can stack these machines. I’m 5’8″ tall and can easily reach the top controls on the dryer. And while my toddler can reach the controls on the washer, Maytag has smartly included a “lock controls” feature.

So, now that I’ve achieved my Domestic Goddess Laundry Centre Dream what about ya’ll? Front loaders or top loaders? Upstairs or down? What would your laundry centre dream be? Don’t be shy!!