Shopping for major appliances, part 1

My condo has pretty old appliances (use lots of energy and are really noisy) and since my washer is threatening to quit on me, I thought I would do some appliance shopping for replacements. Well, day 1 has not been as successful as I thought it would be.

First, I want to replace my top-loading with a front-loading washer (and replace my dryer that is no longer working): it would use less electricity and spin the clothes almost dry, which would reduce the drying time. Well, the first store I visited did not have any 24" wide front-loading washer, 27" was the smallest they had. I can't have anything wider than 24", so I seemed out of options. The, the sales rep told me about washer-dryer combos (that is, the washer and the dryer are one appliance). LG has a model that is 24" wide, it would fit my laundry closet and even leave space on top of the machine for shelves. It's an expensive machine though, almost $1900, before taxes!

I then started heading to another part of town to see what other stores had to offer. Unfortunately, the second store I was to visit was closed and the last store, a bit too far to do in one day (it was already getting late). So, I went back home, did some research on washer-dryer combos and after reading the posts on this site, I'm not sure they are a good idea after all. A full cycle takes a long time (dryer can only dry half the washed load, so you have to dry in two cycles) and the machines seem to have quite a few problems. They are also very complicated to use and apparently, come with a useless manual...

So, I feel that I am back at square one. One of the brands I haven't checked yet is Bosch and they seem to have a front-loading washer that is 24" wide. I heard that they are really expensive though...