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My 2 cents:

First of all there are only a few appliance manufacturers left. Maytag, Whirlpool, Amana, Kitchen Aid are all the same company. Dishwashers and refridgerators used ot be all made in Iowa in the same factory. They just put differnet names on them. LG and Samsung are made in Korea. Bosch are made in Germany. GE are mostly made in Mexico in think. Fisher-Packel are made in New Zeeland. Meile are made in Europe somewhere. Electrolux were made in Germany, but they just bought somebody recently.

Back to washing machines. I would not recommend a front loader. They do not remove all of the water during the spin cycle. This leads to mildew/mold growth inside the machine.
I understand that many people end up leaving the door open slightly so the water will evaporate.

Unless you are worried about water use or the amount going into your septic system, I would buy a top load old fashion style machine. My last two machines were Fisher Paykel for this reason. They are top load with a direct drive motor directly under the tub(no belt). Therefore, their spin cycle speed is much higher. When you take the clothes out of the dryer, they are damp, not wet. This reduces dryer time($). When it goes into the spin cycle it sounds like a jet engine spinning. It also uses less water. This was important to me because I have a leach field.

However, I said my last two. The first one, which cost about $600 only lasted 5 years. My buddy, the appliance dealer, said that it would be too expensive to fix it, that the part was over $250. He basically sold me the exact same one at cost. He is the one who told me all the above information about the appliance business. I only buy appliances from him. I would recommend buying from a local dealer, instead of Sears or one of the big box dealers.
He also stated that Bosch make very good appliances, but they are more difficult to work on.

Also, with Kenmore you never know what brand you are really getting unless you look inside to see where it is made. I had a French door fridge that said Amana on the outside of the door. It said Maytag on the inside. A friend had the exact same machine, she paid about $400 more because it said Kitchen Aid on the outside.