My family and I stopped by Sears and Home Depot after Church this morning to take another look at front loader clothes washing machines. Our current top loader won’t rinse well and both my wife and I consider the front loader method superior to the top load for a variety of reasons which some may find debatable. That’s not the point of this post, however.

All the front loader clothes washer offerings from Whirlpool (Duet), LG, Kenmore, etc. have a companion dryer to match the style. Of course my wife is all over that and desires both a new washer and dryer so they will “match.” I just want to replace the broken appliance and get the washer.

My wife and I disagree about this, but we don’t disagree on the startling discovery about the matching dryers. When you compare feature for feature between the matching dryers and the stand alone dryers you will see they are pretty much the same thing.

• They both front load
• The both have high, medium and low heat settings
• They both have the “touch clothes” moisture sensor as opposed to the older air outlet humidity sensor

The huge difference is the price. Stand alone dryers cost about $300 to $700. The dryers that match the front load washers cost about $800 – $1600.

In other words, the premium you pay to have a matched set of a washer and dryer is about 120% on the cost of the dryer… over twice as much.

That is a lot of money to pay for “looks” of appliances that, quite likely, are hidden away in a back room. The only operational difference I could find between the two kinds of dryers is the “matched” units have the see through front door to compliment the see through front load washer.

So buyer beware. For the typical mid-level dryer you are going to pay $600 or more for no extra benefits if you just have to have the matching set of washer and dryer. That is $600 for home decor.

If you want to spend this on looks that’s great, but now you know the full story.