Luckily, when I first moved into my first home I didn't have to worry about buying a fridge/freezer or a washing machine as these appliances were already installed when I moved in... phew! The washer dryer that I have is this Indesit IWDC6125.

----- Specifications -----
* 85cm in height, 54cm in depth and 60cm wide.
* 6kg washing capacity
* 5kg drying capacity
* Delay start
* 16 different programs
* Spin speed of 1200 rpm
* 52L water consumption
* Class A for washing performance
* B energy efficiency rating
* 1.12 kwh energy consumption per cycle

Price wise, this washer dryer from Indesit currently costs around £300.

----- Design -----
The design of this washer dryer is pretty much standard of all appliences of this type. The drawer to place the washing detergents is sat in the top right hand side, with all of the different wash cycles detailed on the front. Next to the drawer is on/off button and the dial to change the cycle. Beside this is two other dials, one for temperature and one for drying and above these are the four function dials, and finally next all of the this is the start/pause button and the lights indicating what part of the cycle the machine is currently at.

----- Washing -----
I'm fairly new to doing my own washing, after only moving out of my mums 3 years ago and her doing all of my washing. The number of knobs, buttons and different sorts of cycles was bewildering and I often just stood there looking at my dirty washing in the machine wondering what on earth I was meant to do. 3 years on, I use one cycle and one cycle only! I have dabbled in a different cycle, but it didn't work out so I'm just going to stick with what I know, cycle number 3!

This washer dryer has 13 preset cycles, 4 of which are daily wash cycles, 3 special, 3 sport and 3 dry cycles. Although the last of the dry cycles is actually a wash and dry express cycle. The dial which selects the cycle of your choice also has 3 more options which are partial wash cycles, rinse, spin and drain.

Like I said before, I'm a complete novice at washing and my trusty wash cycle is number 3, coloured cotton. I team this cycle up with the 'eco time' function. This function adjusts the temperate and water and means that you save water and electricity. It's only suitable for light dirty washing though so I don't use it with every load, but still use it for most. Usually a number 3 cycle would take 1 hour 28 minutes, but with eco time selected it will shave 10 minutes from the washing time.

Once the washing has been loaded into the drum, the washing detergent drawer is easy to pull out and fill. Once it's all done, after pressing the start button, the door will lock and a red light will appear, showing us the door is still locked. The washing machine doesn't make much noise for the most part of the cycle, but when it gets to the spin part it soon makes up for the lack of noise by sounding like it's about the blow the house apart. Even with the door closed between my kitchen and living room, if I'm watching TV I have to turn it up to be able to hear it. I have learnt that the best way to get around that awful noise is to start the machine prior to leaving the house! Once the cycle has finished, there is a delay timer on the door lock, 5 minutes after the cycle has ended it will make a clicking noise, the red light will go off and the door will be unlocked.

----- Quick cycle -----
The other cycle I have tried is the express wash and dry, this is suitable to use for only a couple of pieces of dirty washing instead of a full load, it only takes a mere 35 minutes, so it says. Once the cycle has finished the clothes feel hot to the touch but are still wet, deeming this cycle worthless, unless you only need to wash a few bits and stop the cycle before it gets round to drying. If I've only got a couple of bits to wash, I prefer to hand wash them, myself.

----- Delay timer -----
The washer dryer also has a delay timer, this is easily set by pressing the appropriate function button, pressing it once will delay the start time by 3 hours, again by 6 hours and again by 9 hours, if the button is pushed a further time it will cancel itself out. I find this handy if I've got somewhere to go in the morning, I'll set it for 9 hours before I go to bed and in the morning the washing machine will normally be finished, or just finishing, giving me time to hang it out on the line, or over a clothes horse depending on the weather.

----- Drying -----
I've only used the drying side of the washer dryer a handful of times, I just don't see why I should waste electric drying clothes in there when I don't need to. The drying dial has some tricky symbols which I don't really understand beside it so I go by time, I generally set it for 40 minutes, then see what it's like and another 40 minutes and so on. Well I used to! It definitely performed better if I halved the load of washing as it gave the washing more room to tumble around.

----- Overall -----
Although I haven't used this washer dryer to it's full potential, I'd definitely recommend it from the use I've had of it. Cycle number 3 is definitely my favourite, trusted cycle and the eco time option means I'm not using as much water or electricity but still getting the same results of nice, clean, fresh washing. The delay timer is another handy feature of the washer dryer, meaning I can start it, almost whenever I want. If you do dry your washing in a machine quite a lot but haven't got the room for a washing machine and a tumble dryer, I reckon this would be a good purchase for you, although I haven't used the dryer much it still does what it is supposed to do. In the 3 years I've had this washer dryer I've not had a problem yet, so it's definitely good value for money.