The European-style front-loaders are definitely invading. If you go appliance shopping now, you'll mostly see front-loaders with a few classical top-loaders off in a corner.

Ten years ago, I bought a perfectly good Maytag top-loader. Last month, it went belly-up, bad smoky smells, etc. We replaced it with a super-fancy (and insanely overengineered) Miele. The difference is staggering. It's lots quieter. It gets clothes cleaner. It uses much less water. It spins so fast that it can happily tear things to shreds if you're not careful.

When I was first dorking with it, I put some old throw-pillows in to see what would happen. Well, three of them basically covered the sides of the barrel while the fourth was poking somewhat inward. The tidal forces on that poor pillow tore the thing to shreds, spewing the polyester padding all over the machine.

Moral of the story: European-style washing machines are fantastic, but you have to actually think carefully about what spin speed you want.

Downsides, relative to the top-loader: a top-loader washing machine makes for a perfect beer storage cooler for a party. Just load it with ice and beer. When done, the ice melts and drains away. Can't really do that in a front-loader.

Also, I suppose, there's the mold issue. You have to leave the door open for the thing to dry out completely, otherwise water and rubber seals provide a nice breeding ground for assorted moldy bits.