The LG FHB1208Z2M is the middle machine in LG's FHB12 series and the one most families end up wanting. An 8 kg drum is the size at which a household stops sorting the week's washing into two loads — a full run of cottons, or a duvet cover with the sheets and pillowcases, goes in together and comes out in one cycle.

Worth knowing before you buy: the rated 8 kg applies to the Cotton and Cotton+ programmes. The specialist cycles are deliberately smaller — Allergy Care and Mixed Fabric take up to 4 kg, Quick 30 and Activewear up to 2 kg, and Delicates up to 1.5 kg. Overloading a delicate cycle is the usual reason a wash disappoints. The cabinet is 600 mm wide, 850 mm tall and 550 mm deep, and you need to allow 1030 mm of clearance in front for the door to open fully.

The motor is LG's Inverter Direct Drive, which couples the drum straight to the motor rather than spinning it through a belt. Fewer moving parts means less noise, less vibration and one less thing to fail. That direct coupling is also what makes 6 Motion Direct Drive possible: the drum can tumble, step, roll, swing, scrub and filter, and each programme chooses the motions suited to what is inside it.

Steam is on the Allergy Care programme, running at 60 °C to cut down the substances that set off allergic reactions — sensible for bedding, pillow covers and baby clothes. The machine feeds from a single cold inlet and heats the water itself, so every temperature from cold up to 95 °C is available without a hot water connection. Spin tops out at 1200 RPM, and in this climate that top speed is the difference between clothes that dry on the line and clothes that sit damp. Delay End can push the finish time out by up to 19 hours so the wash lands when someone is home to hang it.

Two practical notes for installation day. The transit bolts must come out before the first wash, using the spanner in the box — running the machine with them still fitted will damage it. And the machine needs to sit properly level on all four feet or it will walk during the spin. The cold supply hose, spanner, hole caps and anti-rat cover are all in the box; the drain hose is already fitted at the rear.

The same machine is available as a 7 kg (FHB1207Z2M), which is a slimmer 440 mm deep for tight spaces, and as a 9 kg (FHB1209Z2M) for the heaviest household loads. In stock in Malé at Night Owl.