Ditto everything JCE said. it was a great move for us, my wife is somewhat fanatical about laundry so she does a lot of it. Good news with the front load is it decides how much water to use, not her. It measures water use by wieght. Very little soap is required, even less if you have softened water. My wife still doesn't believe me on that one, so I have her use the extra rinse if shes going to insist on filling the cups to the lines.

I bought the Frigidaire at about 900 cdn, I really don't know if spending more is better. I think returns diminish quickly after the initial step from top to front load. The features the extra money get you are more convenience I think rather that cost saving. My only complaint with ours was the timer unit, replaced under warranty. To do again I would probably go to a model with an electronic timer rather than the traditional mechanical unit.