Itens de casa is a great choice if you live in a small home or apartment, if space is limited and hang-drying isn’t practical, or if you’re looking to streamline your laundry routine. Combination machines take up less space than separate washers and dryers and often require no extra setup or ductwork.
Combos are also easy to maintain if you follow simple maintenance tips. For example, you should regularly clean the filter, wipe down the drum gaskets, and remove lint from the dispenser auto-dispense ports. Neglecting these tasks can lead to long drying times, mechanical failures, and shorter lifespans. Read our article on How to Keep Your Washer and Dryer Running Well for more tips.
Top Washer and Dryer Combos for Every Budget
Stackable washer-dryer combos are popular in apartments and condos and are designed to fit together vertically as opposed to side-by-side like a traditional pair. Typically, they have the same capacity and features as the washer in our ratings. (They’re also usually less expensive than a washer and dryer set.) The front-load models in this group pair with gas dryers, which perform similarly to electric models but may cost $50 to $150 less to operate in places where natural gas is cheaper than electricity.
GE’s UltraFast Combo offers a sleek white design and dialed cycles that make it easy to customize cycles. It scores well in our tests for washing performance and water- and energy-efficiency, but its 4.5-cubic-foot capacity is smaller than the maximum size we recommend for a washer. And its ventless heat-pump dryer is a bit noisy, but it provides impressive drying speed and can be used with most types of clothing.