What Size Washing Machine Do I Need?
Two questions — your household and the biggest duvet you'll wash — and you get a sourced drum-size recommendation.
Answer two quick questions for a size — enable JavaScript, or read Hotpoint's sizing guidance in the table below.
How the sizing works
A washing machine's kg rating is the maximum mass of dry laundry it is built for (EU Regulation 2019/2023) — not a per-person formula. This quiz takes the larger of two sourced needs: Hotpoint's capacity-by-household guidance, and the drum a duvet needs, because a duvet fills the drum by volume long before it reaches the weight limit.
To check a real load against a size, use the laundry weight calculator; for the full background see How Much Does Laundry Weigh?
By household (Hotpoint)
- One person or a couple 7 kg
- Small family, or bulkier items often 8 kg
- Larger family, frequent laundry 9 kg
- Large family, heavy laundry 10 kg
By duvet (Hotpoint)
- Single duvet 8 kg
- Double duvet from 8 kg
- King-size duvet 9 kg
Hotpoint: single duvet ~8 kg, double 8–9 kg, king 9 kg — sized by the room the duvet needs to move, not its weight.
Bigger is not automatically better
The usual advice is to buy the largest drum you can fit, and it is only half right. A washing machine draws close to the same water and heat whether the drum is half full or full, so a machine you routinely run half-loaded costs more per garment than a smaller one run properly — the arithmetic is on the laundry running-cost calculator. The case for extra capacity is not everyday washing; it is the two or three bulky items a year that otherwise force a trip to the laundrette.
That is why this quiz takes the larger of your household need and your biggest duvet rather than adding them together. Size for the awkward load, then run everyday washes full.
What the kg figure does not tell you
The capacity rating is one number describing a maximum mass of dry laundry. Several things that decide whether a machine suits you are not in it:
- Whether the item fits through the door. Capacity is about mass; a duvet or a winter coat is limited by the door aperture and the room it needs to tumble. This is exactly why the duvet column above is sized by bulk rather than by weight.
- Whether the machine fits the space. Drum capacity and external footprint are not the same thing, and depth is what usually fails. Measure the alcove — including the door swing and the pipework behind the machine — before you settle on a capacity.
- Spin speed and cycle range. These change how wet the laundry leaves the drum, which drives the drying cost that usually exceeds the washing cost. A larger drum with a poorer spin can cost you more overall.
- Your actual loads. The rating is a ceiling for a test load, not a promise about your laundry. Weigh a real basket with the laundry weight calculator before deciding you need a bigger machine — households often find their normal wash is well under the capacity they already have.