Magic Chef MCSTCW16W3 1.6 cu. ft. Topload Compact Washer, White

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Product Specifications

Electronic Controls with LED Display
Stainless Steel Inner Tub with Steel Cabinet
6 Programs and 6 Water Level Selections
Air Dry and Tub Clean Feature.Lid with Viewing Window
Portable, compact design for flexible convenience

Product Description

For limited-space areas and small loads, the Magic Chef 1.6 cu. ft. Top Load Washer is a lifesaver. Equipped with a variety of convenience features, it includes a see-through window, electronic controls with LED display, stainless steel inner tub, detergent dispenser and 2 rear water inlets. Boasting the same durable construction of larger models, this washer makes any laundry day a breeze and delivers full-size results with the 3D waterfall and filter to improve washing performance. Perfect for anywhere you need to save space, it makes a great choice for apartments and vacation homes.

Product Reviews

I had a Haier before and this is so much better. I kept my Haier for 1 month and …

This just arrived yesterday. . This holds much more then I thought it would. Also it cleans very well. I had a Haier before and this is so much better.I kept my Haier for 1 month and sent it back. This washer spins the clothes so much better and rinses better then the Haier. This is just a great washer and a great price. DuncanREAD MORE

With a few pointers, you’ll be pro at this and love it.

I’ve had this for about five months now, and I use it for two adults. It fits in my tiny city efficiency bathroom closet, and it’s been very reliable. It does a great job cleaning clothes. I can wash everything in this except large blankets and quilts which need a regular or large capacity washer.The default cycle is 42 minutes long and includes 2 rinses. That cycle will get your clothing very clean, but it’s overkill for most of my laundry needs. I made the mistake of using that for all my loads and found that it was putting a lot of wear on my delicates. That is not the fault of the washer. I just didn’t take the time to learn about the cycles.Now, for most of my laundry, I use the 10-minute cycle that has only one rinse. That’s right. It’s only 10 minutes long. I use about 2 tablespoons (¹⁄₈ cut) of detergent and I could probably use less. Keep in mind that I don’t get very dirty, nor does my family member. However, we have deodorant stains (white thick deodorant stuck on the fabric), sometimes random food stains from cooking, etc. I do pretreat known stains but I don’t both to pretreat underarms unless I notice deodorant stains. I wash everything except towels, sheets, underwear, and white or smelly socks with cold water. The exceptions are washed in hot water.For delicates including anything knit, ladies panties, bras, fluffy and/or expensive socks, thin material, expensive screen printed T-shirts, lace, etc. I turn them inside out and place one or two items each in a zippered mesh laundry bag. I actually include my dress pants and skirts in bags as well but not jeans or other heavy items. I might put a really nice sweatshirt in a large bag.There are two reasons I put things in bags. One is that as with any washer, clothes don’t wear out as fast if they are inside mesh bags in the washer. Second, long sleeves, drawstrings, and pant legs made of lightweight to mid-weight material will get tangled up and almost knotted with other items. The same items in bags don’t’ do that. Therefore, they don’t have the yanking and pulling that the tangling and knotting involves. This is the first washer I’ve had that does that, but that’s surely a side effect of making it smaller and not having the center agitator. I don’t hold it against this washer. Having said that, remember that it’s only certain items that do that. Most of our items are short sleeved or sleeveless, shorts, skirts, and jeans, and so we don’t have that problem even without bags normally.One reason I love this washer is that it’s been very dependable. I’ve had zero leaks or other problems.I did initially fill the drum loosely up to the top of the drum and learned quickly that that was not smart. The machine, while robust, seemed not to like that. That may have been in part because I didn’t properly balance it, but I don’t do that anymore. When I load my clothing in, I put it in loosely and stop at no higher than ³⁄₄ full. You can select small, medium, or large load settings, but I always make sure I don’t use a lower setting than what I have in the machine because clothes need room and they will get cleaner and not get worn out as fast if they are not jammed in there with not enough water.I ordered the square, flat appliance dolly on wheels that many reviewers mention. It works beautifully on my stone tile bathroom floor. The machine is really too heavy to be routinely moved around without the flat dolly, and I think some people could get hurt tilting it and moving it without the dolly.Because I want my machine to stay in the same place inside the bathroom closet, I plan on joining the two provided water intake hoses with a double male connector but haven’t purchased it yet. When you work out the length you need, make sure you remember that the hose will need space behind the washer and extra length to come out and curve and is somewhat stiff. It will also need extra length to curve away from the faucet. I need about 12 feet in all, and so connecting them should work. I don’t ever set the washer and leave, so I’m not too worried about getting a metal reinforced hose. I’d like one, but I’ve not found one that long yet. I’ll consider it later.I drain the washer into my shower. The shower drain cover (with holes) isn’t screwed down like it should be, but that makes it more convenient to just lift that up and stick the hose down into the drain. For added insurance, I put heavy laundry detergent and fabric softener jugs on either side of it where it goes into the shower, but it’s never moved. Sometimes when it’s draining hot water from a load of sheets, I’ll pick up the end and rinse the shower with hot water. So, if I think about it, I’ll clean the shower before I do laundry but not rinse it because it’s hard to get the shower to rinse all areas with the showerhead. Then, while the washer is draining, I just use that water as it’s coming out of the drain hose to rinse off the bathroom cleaner or cleanser and kill germs with the hot water. You can also rinse with cold water.Please note that I haven’t taken the time to figure out all the cycles so I’m not quite sure if there are gentle cycles and extra cleaning cycles. But, the short cycle (flash wash) is 10 minutes and the long one is 42 minutes. The 10-minute works well for most things for us, and the 42-minute cycle really gets things clean but will wear out your clothes faster because it’s vigorous and had 2 rinse cycles. To be fair, the only things I noticed wearing out faster were T-shirts. I got my mesh bags in a set of several including some large ones. One set of several was enough because the washer itself is smaller than a regular washer. This also helps keep his socks and her socks separated. I put my bras individually in the mesh bags and they stay in pretty good shape that way because they don’t’ get pulled against other items. I suppose it’s probably harder on them than hand wash, but they get cleaner and it’s much easier.I should note that my washer came in good shape. It was too heavy for me to lift and move, but my tall adult son was able to do it. Two people should easily be able to handle it and get it up on a dolly.My plan is to get the longer washer hose or connect the two I have with a double male connector and keep it in one place so that it’s not in the way when it’s in use. Next to it, I have a dehumidifier that blows up on damp clothing that is hanging on a rod I put in my bathroom. I close my bathroom and let the dehumidifier suck the remaining water out of the clothes. If a fan, heater fan, or dehumidifier fan is blowing direction on the clothes (at least 2 feet away though for safety) and the clothing is separated by a couple of inches in between each item, they will get dry a lot faster. When it’s cold outside, I just keep the door to the bathroom open so the heat from the dehumidifier will come into the apartment proper. When it’s warm outside, I close the bathroom the contain the heat and let it help dry the clothing faster. Then, when things are dry, I turn on the exhuast fan to get the heat out of the bathroom so it doesn’t go into the apartment. Most of my clothing is very light and dries very fast. My son has some clothing, such as jeans, that take longer to dry. I will often take those outside to dry to save electricity and put a sheet that is ready to be washed over them so they got gather pollen. Then, after they are dry, I will fold the sheet inward after shaking it out and wash it. I don’t like to overuse the dehumidifier, but we need to use it anyway in this place, and so it’s my dryer when I don’t have access to the landlord’s dryer. It only takes minutes for most of my things to dry and a little longer for my son’s things to dry. I like to do 5 10-minute loads one after another and have them all hanging up in there all over the bathroom so they can dry more efficiently since they will all be heated up at the same time. My dehumidifier doesn’t get hot, but I’m still very careful about how close the clothing can be to it and will not put it directly under anything that could fall down, like socks hung on a hanger. I also have the rod secured even though it’s a tension rod so nothing falls on the dehumidifier which has to use heat to get the water out of the air.I can’t complain about anything with this washer, but it would be nice to have a clearly marked gentle cycle and a choice of hose and and drain hose lengths when you buy it. It would also be nice if long things didn’t get tangled, but I don’t think that’s an option for this size/price of washer. Since mesh bags take care of that and it doesn’t happen with most clothing anyway, it’s not actually a problem for me.I would like to point out that the cheap, small bathroom vanity I have was usable for this, but the old overused faucet started leaking under the sink after a few loads in the washer. That’s not the washer’s fault as there was a previous leak under the sink with that old faucet, but the extra water pressure when the faucet is turned on but the washer is not filling will find any leaks and exacerbate them. I replaced my faucet with a nice gooseneck bathroom faucet that has a screw off endpiece. I just screw off that piece and put on the adapter provided with the washer. At first, I didn’t think it was going to work because I didn’t know the end piece would screw off, but I got my adult son with his greater strength to loosen it and now it’s very easy to do when I want to do the laundry. Before, when I had the cheaper, older faucet, I had to unscrew the ring that held the little screen/aerator on and screw on the adapter. It was a pain because it was hard to see and the parts were small and easy to drop and lose. So, I left the adapter on, leaving me with a forceful jet of water (not a money-saving, soft aerated stream of water). Water would splash when we washed our hands, etc. So, leaving the adapter on is not a great option. I much prefer having the faucet that allows the end to be screwed off so the adapter can be screwed on easily when laundry needs to be done. I got that gooseneck bathroom faucet at a large box/hardware home supply store. Because I use a screen strainer on my bathroom faucet to avoid clogs, I didn’t use the stopper that was included in the box.I gave this item five stars even though I would like a clearly defined gentle cycle and a few more instructions about things I had to figure out myself like using mesh bags and getting a faucet that as a screw off end as well as using a dolly, I still love the machine and am grateful because I hate laundromats and my landlady was being difficult about my using the laundry room once a family member moved in. This gives me independence and convenience.I’d like to point out for renters that if you use the 10-minute cycle, you’re only using ²⁄₃ the water as you would with the longer cycle. Plus, if you have a gas water heater, the monthly energy cost for this is 75 cents a month or a dollar if everything is electric. So, by mostly using cold water and using the short cycle when it’s enough an making sure you use a smaller load size if you don’t have much in the washer, you can minimize your utilities with this Energy Star washer.Having literally considered, briefly, getting one of those machines that are half-mechanized and half manual, the counter top kinds where you have to transfer the washed clothes to a spinner and so on, I’m so grateful I got this instead.Word to the wise. I saw the price of this go from $150 to $200 in a short amount of time. We got it for about $200 because we needed it. Then, around the holidays, it went up to around $400! So, the price varies. You may want to shop around and consider when it’s best priced. There are apps that help you with that process. I didn’t actually buy this on Amazon, but I wanted people to know that it was a good machine. It’s so freeing.READ MORE

Small but sufficient

It’s a pretty good little washing machine. Very easy to set up and to disconnect. Of course, one time I forgot to put the drain hose in the sink so it drained onto the floor and then the next time i didn’t remove the sink trap so it filled with lint and then the sink over-flowed when the load drained. It has an air dry setting but I tried it out and all it did was spin for 60 minutes and nothing dried. Otherwise I would have given it 5 stars.READ MORE

Great machine, wrap threads in teflon tape and tighten with wrench first!

This is a great washer! It came on time and is perfect for my small apartment. There is shared laundry in my building, but I was tired of leaving my apartment to do laundry and only being able to do it at certain times. Consequently, I did less laundry and only when I absolutely had to. I got permission from the buildings and grounds team to have a portable washer and ordered it the next day. I also bought the little 4-wheeled cart that goes under it, as recommended by other reviewers. The cart is necessary if the machine isn’t going to be stationary because it weighs around 70 pounds. Most importantly—I had to tighten the water hose on the sink and the back with a wrench because it leaked a lot of water when it was just finger-tight. I also wrapped the threads in Teflon tape to keep it from leaking, which worked really well.— This washer is way bigger than I expected. It comes up to my waist while on the cart (I am 5’5”) and holds about half the amount of clothes as a full-size washer. It is quiet and doesn’t shake very much while on the spin cycle. I mostly use the quick wash setting that takes 10 minutes, unless my clothes are really dirty. If you have delicates or clothes that tangle easily, I recommend buying some mesh laundry bags to put them in to make them last longer. I hang my clothes up in my apartment to dry, which makes them last longer. I just plan ahead and wash clothes that I’m going to wear 24 hours in advance. I am the only one who uses it and It works great for me! A few years ago, my ex-boyfriend and I bought the Midea version of this washer, and this one works exactly the same (he has it now). I bought this one this time because of the price, reviews, and availability. It is no better or worse than the Midea, in my opinion.READ MORE

Too arthritic to use basement laundry?? This is the way to go!!

I received this little unit last night at 7p.m. Arrived well packaged, no dings at all. It’s 7 a.m and I’m on load 3 already! I cannot believe the amount of clothes that fits in this machine! The agitation cycle is STRONG! I’m still trying to figure out which washing mode I like the best. Husband and I have super bad knees which prevents alot of basement stair climbing so putting this little guy in our main level bathroom is PERFECT! I have an air drying center set up in our seldom used den. QUIET strong sturdy machine! Extremely easy to use!READ MORE

but I decided to trust all the good reviews. It arrived little less than 1 month …

I have purchased Heir 1.0 cubic portable washing machine and used it about 4 times… but we couldn’t keep it because of its lousy loud noises. Shaking as if it could fall down. So we decided return that one, and purchased this one. I was hesitant to purchase this one because I have nerver heard about its brand name, but I decided to trust all the good reviews. It arrived little less than 1 month later from the purchased date.I have used it for about 3 washes and Very satisfied about this one so far. A lot bigger than Heir 1.0cubic, since it is 1.6cubic. Every wash was relaxing and reliable.READ MORE

Short hose makes a mess

The washer itself is decent and does a nice job of washing and cleaning clothes. But i’m very disappointed with the short drainage hose.

Good compact washer.

Such a quality made compact washer that I purchased a second unit for my other RV.

One Star

Can’t even be used it’s so damaged

Five Stars

We are in love with our washing machine!

it fits well into his small apartment and does a great job.

My son loves it, it fits well into his small apartment and does a great job.

Awesome little number, I loove it

Loving this cute machine! Its quiet and efficient. I’m very satisfied since this apt. is small in NY. I recommend it. The clothes were clean and smelled great.

Did 2 loads and worked great. I did have to remove the top part …

I bought it this past Saturday ( $218) without installation in which I don’t meed. Crazy price increase…I’m thinking holiday season. Aside from that luv it.

Five Stars

Easy to connect, perfect washing machine for apartment

Do I recommend? Yes. Clothes get cleaned and they smell like clean clothes.I am an international graduate student who relied on laundromats for more than 5 years.