Lay My Hat

Hiya,
Just sorting the kitchen for our first holiday let - any suggestions on make/model of washing machine to install?
Thanks
Stu

Ours are both quite old so you wouldn't be able to get the same models now (Tricity Bendix and Hoover for what it's worth). I recommend the simpler the better - guests will inevitably try to use it without reading any instructions.

It won't need a large drum either, unless you're planning on washing the bed linen & towels in it.

For a rental, get the cheapest/simplest with as little "go wrong" electronics as possible !

My washing machine, a rather basic Bosch, has just celebrated its 21st birthday.

Simple, manual one. Guests will not bother to read instructions for digital ones. Small drum as they will only be washing a few clothes.

Avoid Hotpoint -as unreliable! One at home broke down in under 2 years (was too expensive to repair) and the Hotpoint in my cottage also packed up ....

I looked at Which reports when replacing the Hotpoint I got as part of fixtures and fittings in my cottage and choose a Bosch ...

It has a large drum as housekeeper uses it for laundry...

I needed a washing machine for my holiday let, so went to Currys and told them I wanted a washing machine that had a good load size, a fast spin, and a reasonably fast wash at 60 degrees, so I could do a few items during changeover. They sold me a Beko saying it had a 9kg load, a 1400 rpm spin speed and a 20 min refresh cycle. It was under £300. Sounded great. Got it home and it does indeed have all of that , BUT
- the 20 minute cycle is only for 1.5kg, and only spins at 800rpm so everything comes out dripping. Turning the spin speed button on the front does nothing to change this.
- The fastest wash at 1400 rpm and 9 kgs load is 90 minutes, according to the manual. In practice it’s taking 2 hours.

When you decide which one you want I’d advise going online and and downloading the manual for that machine to check it does indeed do all you want , before you buy it.

Currys now refuse to do anything ( the reviews on their customer service are appalling) so I’m stuck with an incredibly slow machine that doesn’t really do what I want. It will be John Lewis for me in future.

We have a Bosch Washing Machine that we bought 11yrs ago still going, although the plastics have crumbled a bit in our sun room/utility room. (would NOT however recommend our Bosch dishwasher or oven)

For our holiday cottage we bought a Beko, they have quite a good record for price:reliability ratio and we're working on a very tight budget for friends/family only.

Just recently changed ours (as in, two days ago) due to it being the original washing machine that was about twenty years old and quite frankly, crap.

It was the source of a few complaints due to the complexity of it, so it had to go.

I've just bought a Beko for about £450 from Currys which is stonkingly good so far. Currys also fitted and removed the old one, balanced and tested the unit and they were lightning quick. More than happy with their service.

I decided to go middle of the price range as people will be slinging in muddy, dirty gear from walking / cycling, so couldn't risk a cheap machine.

Time will tell, but it looks good so far!

A slight aside as we are in France and we have top load machines in our gites as they take up less floor space - are they still available in UK ?
One thing to remember with top loaders is that due to the drive belt running on a pulley connected to the drum, rather than on the exterior of the drum, the angle that the drive pulley makes on the pulley is more acute and we have had several failures because the belt gets "fixed" in this sharp angle and when started again after a long winter rest can break. The solution either remove the belt ( a few screws) or turn the drum by hand every so often.
(apology to those who fell asleep whilst reading, engineers speak)