Dear Whirlpool Duet Washer,

My expectations were high and I was worried that I would find your color boring, but no you surprised me with your beautiful shine and luster. Your shiny silver exterior has won me over after all. Even with that fun surprise, what really won me over was your first load and I put you to the test.

Our family went camping before you arrived and I didn’t get all of the laundry washed as I had hoped. When you were installed I looked inside you and thought, there is no way you’re going to be big enough inside to wash our sleeping bags.

Your circumference is just a few inches smaller than your predecessor. As I was pitting you against all odds, shoving the sleeping bag into you, I figured I was setting you up. You surprised me. You even delighted me. I was even giddy as I found out how many setting you had, and as I started using past the first load, I found out you had even more secret settings (special pre-programmed cycles like the kids cycle) that I’ll have to blog about later.

For this first load, I selected bulky on the nob and then I picked cold/cold for the temperature and let you use all the rest of your preset settings as they were.

I sat there like a kid in the candy store as I watched you squirt water and soap into your drum. I didn’t want to stand there for the entire hour so I went down stairs to await your grumbles and shakes. I was sure I overloaded you. You didn’t grumble at me, I was surprised, shocked even that you didn’t complain. You did however make more noise on start up and in spin dry mode. Perhaps that was one feature you just couldn’t live up to. Your predecessor was EXTRA quiet, compared to no sound at all you sound like a rocket taking off. (yes I’m exaggerating a little bit here but you just make more noise than our family is used to.) In time, you’ll be accepted for your noise because all your other outstanding features outweigh your let’s call it exuberance to clean. You did get the sleeping bag clean without complaining at me after all.

Dear Whirlpool Duet Dryer,

As my letter to our Whirlpool Duet Washing machine was quite long, I’ll keep your letter short and sweet. You were also tested with the large sleeping bag. Your insides are a bit more roomy as a dryer should be, so I threw the sleeping bag inside your drum and asked you to dry it. You almost completely dried it in one go. Can you see the shock on my face? No, I suppose you can’t, but I was very delighted to find that if I wanted, I could have just taken the sleeping back out and laid it flat to continue drying. The part that was still wet was you know in the center of the sleeping bag that had rolled itself up inside you as you were doing your job. You outdid your predecessor in one go. So only time will tell if you can keep up the good work.

PS. My husband loves you.

PPS. My husband loves you so much he left me a Facebook message on my wall about loving you.

PPS. I love you because you’re so much fun to play with that my husband has started doing laundry again.

I wrote this review while participating in a test-drive campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Whirlpool and received a complimentary Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer to facilitate my review