Once you’ve had children, your life changes in many ways you never thought possible. Yes, there are sleepless nights in the early days but deep down you know that they eventually pass. Washing though? Never seems to stop. From washing tiny baby clothes soiled by poo-namis, messy toddler clothes covered in food to uniform with pen stains, one thing us parents seem to do more of as our children are growing is washing.

When I found out I had been chosen by Mumsnet to review the AEG Washing Machine (Model L89499FL) I was over the moon. We’d had our old washing machine for 10 years so we were well overdue an upgrade. I love having new gadgets to play with so I was excited to see how the AEG would perform.

Washing machines have obviously moved on a lot over the last 10 years and one of the first things I noticed about the AEG was its sleek and stylish design.

Features

The machine has 14 wash programmes to choose from and they range from Cottons, Synthetics, Easy Iron, Delicates, Wool, Duvet and Anti-Allergy. There is also an Extra Silent programme as well as two steam programmes.

The AEG has a large 9kg drum (our previous machine was 6kg) so it’s perfect for families with children as you can pop more in your machine and lessen the number of loads. It also means you are able to wash bedding all in one go, as well as duvets too which is a real bonus.

The LCD display has a brushed steel finish meaning the program settings are a lot less likely to rub off over time. The detergent dispenser is a good size and has four separate compartments. One for detergent, of which you can flip the blue flap depending on whether you are using powder or liquid detergent. One for softener, stain remover and finally one for the prewash phase and soak programme.

The machine is super efficient and features some great technology. This clever machine has Optisense which weighs your washing as you put it in and then uses sensors to adapt time of the wash cycle, water and energy consumption. It’s worth noting here that the machine has an A+++ energy rating and is 50% more energy efficient than the specified limit for Europe’s best energy efficiency rating. Great for those who worry about their energy bills and want to do their part in being a little greener. It also has Ökomix Technology where it premixes your powder before it’s sprayed evenly into the drum meaning no more powder marks on your clothes and is also Woolmark accredited meaning there is no need to handwash anything anymore (a life changer!) and the machine will wash your delicates with great care.

There are so many useful functions I honestly could not wait to try some of them out.

Using the machine

I found the machine really easy to use and it’s really quiet too. I could barely hear it mid-cycle and even on the spin cycle, it’s super quiet. At first, I was a little dubious about the 1400 RPM spin speed as our old machine was 1600 RPM. However, I could instantly feel the difference in the clothes – they absorbed a lot less water which meant they dried a lot quicker too. We don’t have a tumble dryer so this is a real godsend – especially with the cold weather coming up where we will be resorting to hanging our washing indoors.

With two boys in the house, we regularly get some weird and wonderful stains on their clothes. In fact, E came out from his first day back at school with pen mark all over his brand new polo shirt! I instantly had to pop stain remover onto the stains to try and get them out. Although we’ve yet to use it, I can see the stain remover compartment and prewash function being used quite a bit for situations like this (boys will be boys and all that!).

The steam functions are really useful too. As mentioned earlier, we don’t have a tumble dryer but the Refresh function, which lasts around 15 minutes can freshen up clothes and removes odours which is really convenient for clothes that have only been worn once. I tested this setting on our bath towels and they came out super soft which I just loved! It’s the one thing about not having a tumble dryer that I miss. I also tested the Anticrease setting on the boy’s sweatshirts and they came out perfect – no ironing was needed which was amazing! I can’t wait to test these out on Mr H’s work shirts because I really hate ironing!

Final thoughts

Overall, I really love this machine. It’s packed with features that I think families like mine would find really useful. Anything that helps me run the household a little easier is always going to be a winner in my eyes.

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*I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity.

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