Buy American and avoid that Far Eastern junk. It is cheaper and far better made. I talk to service people, and when you interview them you find out how bad Far Eastern appliances are. Top of the list to avoid are Samsung, LG and now GEC now the Chinese own the GE appliance division.
One of my sons bought a Samsung washer and dryer and both have failed right out of warranty. Could not be fixed, but best buy gave them him a heavily discounted deal on replacements, but I would not trust them. Speed Queen are the new Maytag of old, and that is the one to go for. There is no doubt about it. Buy American every time if you can. Your purchases are a very good reason to do just that.
Well first of all, we don't all live in the USA - and many of the brands you are talking about simply don't exist here (Australia).
GE was top of the market in fridges, and imported various other appliances for years - had a great reputation - they simply don't exist here any more. (there have been a couple of abortive attempts to re-start importing GE.... which have failed)
So our market is now primarily Asian and European.
My experience, and that of people in my family, revolves around Miele, Asko and LG - and so far, I really have nothing negative to say about any of these.... The Miele has been run for 20 years, and still runs - it is a washer dryer combo, sadly the dryer side has filled with lint, and doesn't dry any more... perhaps, if / when I have the time and inclination, I will take it appart and clean the condenser, to remove all the lint - because nothing is broken!... all the washing functions work like new.
My mothers Asko, which I purchased for her in circa 2003, is still running without any problems.
My LG washing machine was purchased when our son was still in Nappies, so it had very heavy nappy use for a number of years, and then heavy family with kids use... 9 years down the road, it is still doing well, and no sign of any issues with it.
If looking for a washing machine, you will typically also be looking for a matching dryer....
The old Miele (as mentioned above) ended up choking its condenser with lint - and there is no easy way on that combo machine, of cleaning the condenser... - it is however a 20+ year old design, so not very relevant to current models, other than saying - make sure there is a way of cleaning the condenser!
Our current LG has a self cleaning condenser which appears to work well in combination with the new double lint filter. - it is only 2 years old. Our previous almost identical LG, started making bearing noise after 7 years.... it was still running perfectly - but these earlier models had a single lint filter, and the lint then got into the guts and ended up damaging the bearings (yep even though it has a self cleaning condenser) - LG did provide us with the later "double filter" which could be retro fitted - but the damage to the bearings was already done.
This is not a question of Asian vs European vs USA... but it is worth while checking the feedback on specific models of interest, and also predecessors in a model range, which used the same design - often the guts of washing machines stay the same for decades, even when the externals vary as they update and market new models ....
For Dryers, definitely look at heat pump - much, much more energy efficient, and if used correctly, also gentler on the clothes.... but much like front load vs top load - that gentleness comes at a cost of time - longer washing times for front load vs top load and longer drying times for heat pump dryers.
