Recently I told you about my experience with Lowe’s Appliance Selector Tool, but what I didn’t tell you much about was the appliance it led me too – the Whirlpool Duet Front-Loader Washer and Dryer with steam.

Is it legal to marry an appliance?

This washer/dryer set had more features than I knew what to do with when it arrived, but over the last month, I’ve come to appreciate the variety of options it offers. It doesn’t just wash and dry clothes. It steam-cleans my son’s stinky soccer uniform, soaks my husband’s white shirts, de-allergenates (?) my baby’s sheets and delicately hand-washes my “Hand wash only” wool sweater.

So without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to my new favorite duo.

Meet The Washer.

Big. I have three young boys which means we go through a lot of grass-stained, food-spilled, dirt-caked clothes in a week. This washer has a 4.3 cu. ft. drum which means I can wash a week’s worth of all three of my boys’ clothes IN ONE LOAD. Unfortunately, I still have to fold them all.

Serious choice of cycles. Normal, Bulky, Allergen, Heavy Duty, Whites, Jeans, Quick, Delicate, Hand wash, Rinse/Drain/Spin – whatever you’re washing, there’s a cycle to meet your washing needs. This week I used Normal (my clothes), Bulky (our down comforter), Whites (husband’s dress shirts), Hand wash (wool sweaters) and Allergen (boys’ clothes after stomach flu was going around school).

Personalize your wash. Beyond the cycles, you can adjust the water temperature (5 choices), spin speed (5 choices) and degree of dirtiness (3 levels). Plus you can add on a presoak, OXI dispense, extra rinse, deep clean with steam or EcoBoost. My favorites are the presoak option (an option I thought was lost with a front-loader), EcoBoost and Steam Clean.

No rush. Want to start a load of laundry before you hit the hay or head out for the day? No worries about your damp laundry sitting for hours with Whirlpool’s FanFresh button which periodically tumbles the load and circulates air through the washer which keeps the clothes fresh and ready for the dryer when you are ready.

Energy-efficient. The washer is ENERGY STAR® qualified, but beyond that it meets Tier III requirements from the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, the highest level of water and energy savings.

Meet The Dryer.

Fast! This was the first thing I noticed about the dryer. My last dryer took twice as long as my washer to finish a load. This Whirlpool dries an entire load in about 30 minutes – and that’s on the Medium Heat/Less Dry setting. Impressive!

Personalize your drying. Six cycles to choose from (Delicate, Casual, Normal, Bulky, Jeans, Heavy Duty, Towels) plus two timed settings – Enhanced Touch-up and Quick Refresh which use steam to relax wrinkles and refresh clothes.

My favorite feature. I iron my husband’s dress shirts every other week, but frankly I don’t enjoy it. However I’m also fairly thrifty which means I’d rather iron than pay for dry-cleaning. Fortunately, the Whirpool dryer has a two features to make my life easier – a Wrinkle Shield add-on which periodically tumbles and steams the clothes to prevent wrinkling for up to 120 minutes after the load finishes and the Enhanced Touch-Up cycle which quickly tumbles and steams clothes to de-wrinkle them thereby making my ironing job a bit easier.

LED Drum Light. I have to admit I thought this was a silly feature at first. Until I had to find my yoga pants in the back of the dryer for a 6 AM class at my fitness club. Or my son’s soccer socks right before we have to run out the door. Since the 4.3 cu. ft. drum is so large, it’s nice to have a light to see what the heck is back there.

If you’re in the market for a new washer or dryer, give Whirlpool a visit or check out Lowe’s Appliance Selector Tool to help you find the perfect appliance for your lifestyle, space and budget.

Mommies With Style was not paid for this review. Lowes provided a product sample for this review. The reviews expressed here are my own.

Kate Bayless is a writer, editor and will be ironing tonight. Her work has appeared in Parents, American Baby, Fit Pregnancy, iVillage and other publications. Visit her at www.katebayless.com or @katebayless.