Front loading washing machines, by nature of their design have always been expensive to produce relative to top loaders. In places like Europe and the UK where front loaders are the main type of washing machines sold, costs can be recouped so better designed/built units are IMHO easily found. Mind you there are some bottom of the barrel units to be found also.
What Amercians have been offered are front loaders designed with a life span in keeping with the "use them and trash them" mentality many consumers have towards appliances. Unlike commercial front loaders which feature easily repairable/replace parts like bearings, drums, pumps and so one, American domestic front loaders seem to be loaded with cheap plastic parts, and built in such way that replacing one bad part is not possible because it is part of an assembly.
Case in point would be the FriGeMore models with bearing problems. In a good front loader replacing the bearing is a common enough thing as the bearing, inner and outer tubs are all individual parts. Electrolux decided that on their models the bearing is part of the SS inner tub, and plastic outer tub. The idea in case of failure is to change the entire drum assembly. Well the cost of something like that easily equals the replacment value of a new machine, so the old machine goes to the scrap heap, and a new one is purchased.
We have been looking for larger front loader for ages now, and nothing really looks promising. The only bright spot is Speed Queen's front loaders. Despite the limited cycle range and length, these units will literally bury their light weight competitors. In fact spoke with SQ a few weeks ago, and they indicated changes to the front loader were coming but won't arrive until about 2007. What will be new? More user flexibility in terms of cycles and perhaps a few more goodies.
Miele of course is still the gold standard in terms of front loaders, but their price, small capacity and 220v electrical requirements make them a hard sell for some. Whirlpool's Duet/HE series (with the exception of the new HE2 line), seem to have a good reputation, but again lots of plastic.
If you want a really solidly built front loader, look around for a used small (18lb) commercial unit. These units, like the SQ will outlast almost anything else on the market.
Launderess
