I've had no problems with Kenmore Heavy Duty models; in fact the pair I
had that were 11 years old were going strong when I gave them to a
young/needy couple.

HUGE problem with that approach. There is no brand name "Kenmore". Kenmore
LABELLED washer/dryers are made by many different manufacturers. Some are
good, some are not so good. So buying Kenmore is very much risky.

I fell for the lure of high energy efficiency in a
Kenmore He3 pair (plus no payments/interest for a year...which I paid
off beforehand of course). But I'm figuring Whirlpool heavy duty
models would be fine, too.

No argument there