For a midrange washer, the GE GFW450SSKWW has a lot of features. This $899 front-loader comes complete with 10 cleaning cycles, a steam function and five settings each per spin, temperature and soil level. It also offers a tumble care setting that periodically tosses your washed clothes around for up to 8 hours to help keep them fresh. As someone who’s prone to forgetting about the stuff in the washer, I love this feature. The GFW450SSKWW even has specific settings to manage grass, wine and other stubborn stains.
Its cleaning performance was only average, but GE’s GFW450SSKWW is still worth consideration — especially if its extra features speak to you.
Lots of choices
The GFW450SSKWW is fine-looking, if not a little boring. You won’t find a sleek integrated touch panel here. GE instead opted for a more traditional button-and-dial design. But if you like the tactile feel of buttons, you’ll likely prefer using this washer than, say, the touchscreen-style Electrolux EFLW417SIW. This washer comes in a white or a dark gray finish (for an additional $100).
Take a look at how the GFW450SSKWW matches up against the Electrolux EFLW417SIW and the Electrolux EFLW317TIW:
Comparing washing machines
| GE GFW450SSKWW | Electrolux EFLW417SIW | Electrolux EFLW317TIW | |
| Price | $899 | $899 | $879 |
| Color finish | White | White | White |
| Capacity | 4.5 cubic feet | 4.3 cubic feet | 4.3 cubic feet |
| # of cycles | 10 | 7 | 5 |
| Energy consumption | 131 kWh/year | 55 kWh/year | 55 kWh/year |
| Dimensions (width, height, depth) | 27 x 39.75 x 33.5 inches | 27 x 38 x 31.5 inches | 27 x 38 x 31.5 inches |
| App | No | No | No |
GE’s GFW450SSKWW has a slightly larger drum capacity than either Electrolux washer — and more cleaning cycles. Even so, its estimated annual energy consumption is higher and the washer itself is larger (something to keep in mind if you’re tight on space).
In addition to having a larger cubic-foot capacity and more cycles, the GFW450SSKWW also offers advanced features you can’t find on Electrolux’s EFLW417SIW or EFLW317TIW models. Specifically, it has a tumble care option and five stain-specific settings.
Tumble care is a button you can enable that will periodically tumble your clothes post-cycle so they don’t get too wrinkly and gross. This setting works for up to eight hours after a cycle ends and is nice to have if you regularly forget to take your just-washed clothes out of the washer. The GFW450SSKWW’s stain-specific settings focus on grass, wine, blood, tomato and dirt. Select the cleaning cycle you want and then select the stain you’re dealing with; GE says this feature is “preprogrammed with the ideal wash and rinse settings” for each stain type.
