Best washer dryer 2024: the ultimate two-in-one for laundry

The best washer dryers clean and care for your clothes, save you a great deal of time and money, and can keep damp at bay. What more could you want, really?!

Choosing the best washer dryer is partly about price but there are some other important considerations too. There's the drum capacity and the drying capacity, which are rarely the same: most models can wash bigger loads than they can dry, because the drying function needs to leave room for hot air to circulate or you end up with damp laundry even after hours of drying.

Spin speed is something that needs to be considered too, because the faster the spin the more water is removed before the drying process begins. Another factor is noise: you don't want a washer/dryer that rattles the plates and sounds like a jet taking off in your open-plan kitchen. We've also taken cycle duration into account, because you don't want to wait all day to wash and dry a little load.

In addition to our guide to the best washer dryers, we've also curated expert guides on how to buy a washer dryer and the classic washer dryer mistakes to avoid so you can get the best from your new machine. Those with more room might like to head straight to our lists for the best tumble dryers and the best washing machines in your kitchen or utility room, a do-everything appliance is the ideal solution.

Without further ado, here are the best washer dryers you can buy, from AEG, Bosch, Hisense and more.

WRITTEN BY

WRITTEN BY

Lizzie Wilmot

Lizzie is T3's Home Staff Writer, also covering style, living and wellness. She works closely with Bethan Girdler-Maslen, T3's Home Editor, ensuring all the latest Home news, trends and recommendations are covered. Outside of T3, Lizzie can be found mooching around Bath, attempting (or at least trying to) a new DIY project or spending time with family and friends.

The top three

Best washer dryers ranking 2024

The best washer dryer overall

For big families often knee-deep in laundry, they will certainly benefit from the generous 9kg drum and 6kg drying capacity of the LGE TurboWash FWY696GBLN1. In fact, there are plenty of impressive features on the washing front.

This LG washer dryer's TurboWash can blast through a 5 kg load in under 40 minutes. It showers your clothes from different angles, so they get a thorough wash in double quick time and bathe your clothes in steam to get rid of germs, pollen and other nasties. It's perfect for baby clothes or if you suffer from allergies and the best part is they'll come out soft and snuggly. Using artificial intelligence, it analyses the weight and softness of the load to work out the best movement during the wash and helps to prevent fabric damage that can ruin your clothes.

Other highlights? You can choose from 3 drying cycles (Dry Only, Reverse Tumble and Anti-Crease) and the large porthole door lets you throw in towels and bedsheets without them fighting back. 

Available in white or grey, the LGE TurboWash FWY696GBLN1 washer dryer does come at a premium price tag, but you do get a lot for your money.

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The best versatile washer dryer

With over 15 different programmes, the Hisense 3 Series WDQA8014EVJM is an incredibly versatile machine that makes it a great option for busy households. 

To start, it has an inverter motor that rotates at just the right speed for the load you're washing. That means it runs quietly, uses less energy and extends the life of your washing machine. If you've got clothes that just need freshening up, you can use the Pure Steam programs, helping to remove odours lingering in your clothes as well as keeping them soft and less creased. When you have tough stains to deal with, the Pure Jet Wash lifts dirt quickly. It dissolves detergent rapidly, so your clothes will come out cleaner.

Users can wash and dry a 1kg load within an hour with the Quick Wash and Dry option and clean smaller loads really quickly with the Quick Wash – it's done in just 15 minutes. You can also add anything you've missed thanks to the Pause & Add feature. 

What's even better is the Hisense 3 Series WDQA8014EVJM is on the more affordable side, coming in at £399. 

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The best affordable washer dryer

If you’re after a more affordable washer dryer, this John Lewis & Partners model is a great buy. The mid-priced model has garnered a range of positive reviews from customers who have praised its superior cleaning and drying performance. It’s no surprises then that AEG is the manufacturer, which means you can expect top-notch quality.

While it may not have the biggest drum capacity, it does come equipped with a solid 8kg drum for washing and 4kg for drying. This is more than sufficient for a couple or family of three or four. It has a decent range of 17 different wash and dry programmes, including woollens, cold wash, a quick 20-minute wash, a steam cycle for mixed wools/synthetics and a faster-than-normal 1,600rpm spin speed.

Overall, this is a great, mid-price washer dryer that gets the job done well. Check our John Lewis discount codes to bag a saving on your purchase.

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The best quality washer dryer

The Series 5 WD80TA046BX is one of Samsung's best-selling washer dryers, and it has a bunch of impressive features that make it a high-quality appliance to own. It is included in Samsung's ecobubble range, all of which mix air, water and detergent to wash your clothes at cooler temperatures, helping you to bring down your energy bills. We're not too sure about this as the Series 5 WD80TA046BX is in energy efficiency class E, but there are a lot of people that say it does make a difference. 

The washer dryer also has a hygiene steam feature which makes sure every last item gets a deep and even clean, obliterating 99% of bacteria and allergens in the process. There's also a built in StayClean drawer which sets off targeted jets of water to rinse away build-up in the drawer so you don’t have to. 

It's a little on the pricey side, but you certainly pay for the quality you receive. 

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The best small washer dryer

If you’re after a great mid-sized washer dryer on a fairly small budget, the ZWD76SB4PW is ideal. Equipped with a capacity of 7kgs and a 4kgs drying capacity, this is sufficient for a small family of three or four. It comes with 14 programmes including your typical cotton, delicates, synthetics and wool cycles. It even has a Quick Refresh mode that will reduce the creases in your favourite clothing, saving you precious ironing time!

The key feature here is the auto adjust mode that will automatically adjust the water to the weight of your load, saving you money on water and energy bills. What’s more, it has the options for Quick Wash (20 minutes), or a 60-minute Wash&Dry function, if you’re in a hurry to get through your laundry basket. 

One thing to note is the control interface looks a bit complicated, with many users mentioning how confusing it was. In any case, it might be worthwhile reading the instructions book carefully (who ever does?). But once you get to grips with the setting, and can overlook the long-ish program times, the end results are impressive.

Best of all, it’s incredibly quiet which is always a bonus, and reasonably priced making it great value for money!

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The best smart washer dryer

The sleek LG FWV917WTSE Freestanding Washer Dryer is the best family-friendly option. It has a 10.5kg drum capacity and 7kg drying, which is adequate for a big family, and comes with some impressive features. Equipped with a clever AI DD that weighs your laundry and automatically detects the softness of your fabric to wash pattern, this means you’ll never have to worry about the right setting.  

It has a TurboWash 360 setting that effectively washes in just 39 minutes, and handy for those favourite items of clothing. Other nifty functions include Wash & Dry (that does everything in 160 minutes), pause and add, delay timer, hand wash and the obligatory child lock.  Those with young children will certainly benefit from the Baby Bare and Allergy Programmes that uses steam tech to thoroughly kill 99.9% of allergens. Ideal for babywear and allergy sufferers. 

Best of all, if you’re a bit of a techie or simply want an easy life, the WIFI-enabled features allows you to do almost everything from your smartphone. Simply download the SmartThinQ app, and you’re ready to wash from the comfort of your sofa! 

All this and it’s incredibly quiet – a plus if you have a mountain of laundry to get through. Granted, it doesn’t come cheap and is on the larger side, but the cleaning results are outstanding.

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The best sleek washer dryer

The Haier HWD80-B14979 Freestanding Washer Dryer is a machine that’s suitable for a wide variety of households, with a programme to suit all occasions. What’s more, the appliance comes with a top end 1,400rpm speed and can wash up to 8kg and dry 5kg. It’s also got the benefit of an A energy rating, which is always going to be a bonus in these energy-saving times we live in.

Another bonus with this washer dryer is its Direct Motion motors, which means that the operational noise of the machine is fairly nominal. The front-loader also bristles with additional features, including Steam & i-Refresh programmes, which can be used for easy iron and anti-allergen clothes treatment. Anything that helps reduce the need for ironing has got to be a good thing, right?

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What to look for in the best washer dryers

All washer dryers list two different capacities, one for the washing sequence and another for the drying cycle. Hence, you can’t just leave a full washing load in the machine and expect it to dry it all successfully at the end of the washing cycle. 

If you do wash a full load, you will have to find somewhere to store one half of the damp pile while the other half’s being dried. That’s no big deal in summer when you have the option of having the sun dry some of your washing but it can be an issue in winter. Hence, if you want to enjoy the fully automated process of washing and drying all done in one go, you’ll need to do smaller loads, and stick to the maximum capacity for the drying program. 

Washer dryers are inherently expensive to buy and repair so, if space allows, you could feasibly buy a separate washing machine and dryer for about the same price as a single do-it-all unit. This would allow you wash and dry laundry at the same time. Remember, too, that if a fault occurs in a washer dryer, that’s the whole machine out of action until it’s fixed. Even more so than washing machines, it’s a good idea to spend more on a washer dryer, as there's so much to potentially go wrong with them.

One especially handy feature of a washer dryer is that since the waste plumbing is already required for the washing side of things, it means you won’t need to periodically empty any water containers after the drying cycle. Even though most washer dryers have integrated water collection tanks, condensed water from the drying sequence can just as easily be pumped out of the same waste outlet as the dirty washing water.

You may find that increased humidity caused by the washing and drying process leaves you at the risk of damp but fear not as we've put together a guide to the best dehumidifiers for a solution…