I just went through this. I spoke to a couple people that repair appliances (friends of friends). The verdict seems to be that front load washers look cool, but they WILL EVENTUALLY LEAK. The door seals eventually go bad, they are more prone to bearing failures, and more likely to have issues with mold. I was going to go with a front load washer, but my mind was changed by people that fix them for a living. I wound up with a Samsung top loader. No regrets.