Steve -
WOW, this turned out to be a huge post....
I did some research last summer on these dryers and have tried to keep up-to-date on them since, but my family has owned and used no less than five dryers of this design since they came out in 1966 and we have had flawless results since. Even our 1972 standard capacity (5.9 cu ft) dryer coped with our large capacity 1974 Kenmore washer quite well.
The current large capacity dryers in 29" version are all variations on the same thing. My suggestion would be to determine the exact feature(s) that you must have, then search the brands for the lowest price. I prefer the 29" dryer over the 27" because the drum is wider, and thus allows more tumble area which has a small effect of minimization of wrinkles on larger loads.
I bought an Admiral dryer at Home Depot about 10 months ago and was stunned at the price ($239 on sale). It is fairly basic by today's standards, but an excellent dryer nonetheless. If you like the Amana, by all means go for it. I think HD is a good place to buy, however you may want to check your local dealer just for grins as one here sells Amana and won't allow themselves to be under-sold by a big-box seller if they can help it.
As to the machines themselves, the capacity fluctuates not by the drum, but by the stationary rear bulkhead. Some history:
When WP developed this dryer for market arrival in 1974, it was offered as a 6.9 cu. ft model. The drum has a small 'lip' in it where the drum widens/narrows from front to rear, and this transition lip area occurs in the middle of the drum surface. In 1983 a new EZ-loader door was developed which in my view is by far the best door for that dryer, and the lip was removed from the drum, which then became 6.8 cu. ft. One of the most notable differences between the standard dryer at 5.9 and the large at 6.8/6.9 was a recess in the rear bulkhead of the large dryer which was simply flat in the 5.9.
Today I believe the highest quoted capacity of this design is 7.0, yet many available are rated at 6.5. The 7.0 requires the EZ-loader door except with Maytag branded dryers. Whirlpools and Kenmores are the only ones that use the EZ-loader door now I think (Roper used to have it as did KitchenAid), all the rest of the WP brands have the side-swing door. I prefer the drop-down, in part because that's what I have always had, but also because clothes can fall out onto the floor when opening a side-swing.
BUT, the 6.5 vs. 7.0 in these dryers is a result of using the flat bulkhead in the 6.5 vs. the recessed one in the 7.0, which is slightly more deeply contoured in the 7.0 vs. the older 6.8. The area on the bulkhead would seem to me to be less than the total size of a small shoebox, so how this half a cubic foot affects much I can't say, but it wouldn't be a concern to me.
With that said, what I learned last summer was interesting - of the Admiral, the Estate, the Roper and the Amanas, I felt the Estate had the most useful timer. The dryers physically were all the same save for the timers. I do not remember seeing an Amana as fancy looking at your choice however. The Estate had an automatic termination cycle for both high and low heat, plus timed and air (they all did I believe) but many offered only 30 mins of timed dry, which makes that cycle not very useful, at least not to me. The Estate had a 60-minute timed dry, whcih is MUCH better. I use timed dry at times when I don't want to hear my Kenmore's wrinkle-guard scream at me for 30 minutes and when I want the dryer to stop at X time period, but 30 minutes would not be enough to dry my larger loads.
In a nutshell, it looks to me like you're making a good choice, but you may want to shop around just in case some cool little local retailer can offer you a similar Amana. As well, I think the Estate may be worth a look and it will likely be less expensive.
I'm interested in knowing what you finally choose Steve!
Gordon
