My towel loads are similar to yours. I remember seeing the "22 Towels" display in the dealer's. However, they were small sized bath towels, the kind we'd get in P.E. in middle and high school. I buy the large Costco towels (not the bath sheets) the ones that are Egyptian cotton and retail for like $7 each. I can do 4-5 of those plus hand towels plus dish clothes and it's full.
For perm press cycle, since most of my work clothes are from LL Bean with the all cotton/no wrinkle finish, roughly five pairs of trousers and five long sleeve shirts are a full load.
The 3.5 cu ft capacity was "large" when I bought it, when only WP offered anything larger (3.7-3.8 cu ft) in the Duets. Now it's on the small size of the capacity scale for US sized washers, HOWEVER if you look at a traditional standard 27W x 27D x 36 H inch footprint, it's about the biggest capacity around. I have to stack my machines (code-required steel/concrete bollard sits in front of washer space, as this is rear wall of garage, and would block an FL door) in what originally was the dryer space.
The larger capacity washers get the extra space by being deeper and/or taller. Some of the machines are nearly 40" tall, which when stacked would result in controls being 6'8" off the ground!! I'm average height, and for shorter persons it would be untenable. Depth is not an issue for me, with laundry in the garage, but for people with closet installations, or with a laundry room door that swings close to the machine, a deeper machine may not work. I believe the 4.0 new Bosch machines that stack (controls were removed from top to front panel) are only 38" tall resulting in only a 6'4" stack (vs. 6'1" stack now)
For that reason, I am glad that one manufacturer recognizes the need for special installations, either stacked or not extra-deep. If everyone moved to 4-4.5 cu ft machines up to 32" deep and 40" high, I'd be out of luck when my current machines need replacing. Also, since stacking kits generally accommodate only the same company's dryer feet, I would not be able to re-use my existing dryer with a different make of washer, should the washer break beyond repair. Why pay another $1000 for a dryer when the existing one works? Many people here have mismatched side by side washers and dryers, but when you stack the machines you have to
A friend of mine recently chose her new Kenmore FLs on the basis of machine depth. Some of the deeper machines would block her laundry room door from opening (in to the room), and even with the Kenmores there is less than an inch clearance. Once the door is closed or opened fully, there is plenty of room, but the architect who designed the house in the 1980s assumed that washers would always be only 27" deep. She was willing to sacrifice on depth in order to avoid a costly reworking of the door frame.
