Some thoughts about painting.
Painting an entire machine properly is a major undertaking that requires a great deal of preparation(hardware and trim removal, cabinet disassembly, sanding and feathering, priming, more sanding, etc). And the typical tape and spray paint job is just awful. They look good from across the room, but terrible up close. That's why if the finish on the machine in question is salvageable(which yours likely is) then I'd think twice about doing it. If the faded streaks and spots on the finish are bugging you(they certainly bugged me) then I'd try buffing them out before I did anything more drastic. Having worked on a few of them myself by hand with mild rubbing compound, I know they'll come off, as the discoloration seems to be right at the very surface of the paint. Unfortunately, though the results can be excellent, it's really tiresome to do by hand. I'm currently in the process of rubbing out the paint on the yellow Maytags I picked up in January, and to make it easier I've been doing an eight by eight square section of the cabinet every day(when I remember)and the results so far are really encouraging. But if that sort of thing doesn't appeal to you, you might try having a mobile auto detailer come by and do it for you. They have tools that'll make the job go quickly, and the cost shouldn't be that much different. I just purchased some custom mixed Harvest Gold catalyzed enamel to use on my parents washer(it had some corrosion issues all along the lower edge of the cabinet that required sand blasting) and the paint, hardener, and thinner, in the smallest quantities I could order came in just shy of a hundred dollars.
I'm not saying you can't paint your machine and have it come out well, because I know it can be done. But it's very hard to duplicate the quality of a baked on factory finish. Consequently, on large items that I can't bake in an oven, I only repaint as a last resort.
