Most washing machine advice assumes a house. In an apartment, the washer is in a closet off the hallway or the kitchen, a bedroom may be on the other side of the wall, and someone else's ceiling is under the floor. That changes which noise figure you should care about, which size fits, and even which plug you have.
This guide is one chapter of a bigger question; our page on keeping an apartment quiet covers the rest of the machines and the hours you run them.
This guide uses the same research as our main guide to the quietest washing machines, rechecked on the makers' pages and manuals, and reranked for an apartment. The short version: the spin figure matters more than the wash figure, the delay timer is only useful if you know when the spin happens, and the outlet in your closet may decide the model before noise does.
Our picks are listed above, with full specifications for each.
A washer runs two very different machines in one box. For most of the cycle it turns a wet load slowly. For a few minutes at the end it spins that load at up to 1,600 revolutions a minute.
Bosch is the only maker that publishes both halves in the US, and its figures show the gap. The 300 Series lists 52 dBA washing and 72 dBA spinning. The 500 Series lists 51 dBA washing and 75 dBA spinning. That is a gap of 20 to 24 dBA on the same machine. On the decibel scale, roughly every 10 dBA sounds twice as loud, so the spin is about four times as loud as the wash, or more.
For the neighbor downstairs there is a second reason. A dBA figure describes sound in the air. It says nothing about vibration traveling through the floor. The manuals are blunt about where that vibration comes from. Miele says a concrete floor "is far less prone to vibration during the spin cycle than wooden floorboards or a carpeted surface." Electrolux says it "may be necessary to reinforce the floor to prevent vibration or movement." Both sentences are about the spin. Most apartment floors above the ground level are exactly the kind of floor these manuals worry about.
So for an upstairs flat we ranked on the spin figure first. That puts the Bosch 300 Series above the 500 Series, even though the 500 washes a decibel quieter. The 500 wins in only one apartment layout: when nobody lives below, and the washer shares a wall with your own bedroom, where you hear the long wash more than the short spin.
Spin speed is the setting you control
The two Bosch compacts give the cleanest evidence we found on spin speed. The 1,400 rpm model spins at 72 dBA. The 1,600 rpm models spin at 75 dBA. ASKO's manual puts the rule in one sentence: "the higher the spinning rate in the spin cycle, the higher the noise and the lower the residual moisture content."
All four picks let you turn the spin down, and every one of them offers a no spin option. That is the most useful quiet setting an apartment dweller has, and it costs something. Bosch's own troubleshooting table lists "The laundry is too wet after the spinning cycle" and gives the cause as "A low spin speed is selected." Wetter laundry means a longer dryer run, and a dryer is not silent either. See the quietest dryers if yours will run in the same closet.
No maker publishes a figure at a reduced spin speed, so we cannot tell you how many decibels a medium spin saves. We can only say the direction, which the makers themselves state.
The vibration control the makers actually document
Every maker names a balance system, and most attach no figure to it. What the manuals do describe is how the machine behaves when a load is uneven, and that behavior is what a neighbor hears as thumping.
Bosch says that when the drum starts and stops briefly several times, "The appliance eliminates an imbalance by repeatedly redistributing the laundry," and that when a high spin speed is not reached, "The appliance is using a reduced spin speed to eliminate an imbalance." Miele describes the same thing: the machine "detected an imbalance during the final spin and reduced the spin speed automatically." ASKO says its washer "will automatically decrease the spin speed if vibration is too strong."
In practice that means two things. First, a small, lumpy load such as a single bath mat is more likely to thump than a mixed full load, and Miele advises washing large and small items together for a more even load. Second, the machine will protect itself by spinning slower, but only after it has already started to shake.
The rest is installation, and the manuals agree on it. Remove every shipping bolt. Level the machine and tighten the lock nuts: Bosch says to align it "In order to reduce noise and vibrations." On a wooden joist floor, Bosch asks for a water-resistant board at least 1.18 inches thick screwed tightly to the floor, and Miele for a 24 by 24 by 1 3/16 inch plywood base anchored to the joists, in a corner if possible, because a corner "is usually the most stable part of the floor." Bosch also sells fixing brackets that it says improve the stability of the appliance.
Compact, stackable and the plug in your closet
Apartment laundry usually means a closet, and a closet usually means a stack. Here are the sizes the makers publish.
The two Bosch compacts are 33 1/4 inches tall and 23 1/2 inches wide, and 24 1/4 or 25 1/2 inches deep. Bosch gives a minimum stack height of 67 3/4 inches with a matching dryer. The Miele is 33 1/2 by 23 1/2 by 25 3/8 inches. The Electrolux is a full-size machine at 38 by 27 by 32 inches, with a 4.5 cu ft drum against 2.2 to 2.4 cu ft for the Bosch compacts.
Every pick stacks, with conditions. Bosch says to "Only stack the dryer on a washing machine using the connection kit from the dryer manufacturer" and "Do not install a washer-dryer stack on a platform; the appliances may tip over." Miele requires a Miele stacking kit. ASKO says its washers "should never be stacked on a counter or a dryer."
Closets also need air. Bosch's spec sheet gives louvered door areas and clearances for a stacked closet install, and notes that closed closet doors mean long drying times. A closed door does help with noise, which is one more reason to plan the louvers rather than leave the door open.
Then there is the outlet. Both Bosch compacts with published figures need 208 to 240 volts and come with a NEMA 6-15 plug. Many apartment closets have only a standard 120 V outlet. The Miele runs on 120 V at 15 A, and so does the Electrolux. If you rent and cannot add a circuit, that decides it: you can have a published figure, or you can plug in, but not both from the washers we checked.
Delay start, quiet hours and the spin at the end
A delay timer sounds like the answer to quiet hours. It is, if you set it the right way round.
Bosch calls its timer Finish in, and its manual says it sets "the program end time." The final spin comes at the end of the cycle. So a cycle set to finish at 7 am spins just before 7 am. If your building's quiet hours run until 8, set it to finish after 8, or run it in the afternoon.
The timers vary. Bosch's 300 Series runs Finish in for up to 24 hours, and Bosch lists the 500 Series delay as continuous. Miele allows 30 minutes to 24 hours, in half-hour steps below 10 hours. Electrolux's spec sheet gives 1 to 12 hours. ASKO allows 30 minutes to 24 hours.
The end of the cycle brings one more noise: the alarm. Bosch lets you set the end-of-cycle tone and the button tone from 0 (off) to 4 (very loud). Miele lets you switch off the buzzer and the keypad tone separately. Electrolux lists Chime On and Chime Off. Through a shared wall at night, a loud chime can wake someone the spin did not.
How quiet is quiet enough in an apartment
The room decides. The World Health Organization recommends less than 30 dB(A) in a bedroom at night for good sleep, and that is for the whole room. No washer comes close to that while spinning, and none will. The realistic goal in an apartment is to keep the loudest part of the cycle away from the hours and rooms where people sleep, with the lowest spin figure you can buy, and a floor installation that does not pass the vibration on.
A basement laundry in a house hides a 72 dBA spin behind a floor and a door. A closet in a flat has thinner walls, a wooden floor, and neighbors on the other side. Read more in how quiet is quiet enough, room by room.
Mistakes apartment buyers make
Buying on the wash figure. A single quiet-sounding figure usually describes the wash. Ask for the spin figure, and if the maker has none, assume the spin is the loud part.
Setting the timer to finish early in the morning. The spin arrives at the finish time.
Forgetting the outlet. A Bosch compact on a 120 V closet circuit will not work.
Putting a stack on a platform. Bosch says the pair may tip over.
Installing it yourself and expecting the Electrolux guarantee. It is void unless the dealer's authorized installer fits the washer level.
New to the units? Read dBA explained, and see why you cannot compare dB ratings across brands.
How we chose
We started from the washers in our main guide and kept the ones that fit an apartment: 24-inch compacts and a full-size model that stacks. We reopened each maker's product page, spec sheet and manual where the site let us, and quoted every figure in the maker's words with the part of the cycle it describes. We compared Bosch's figures only with other Bosch figures, because they are the only published spin figures and share the same labels. We never set a wash figure against a spin figure.
We ranked a published spin figure first, because the spin is what reaches neighbors. Below that, where no figure is published, we chose on what apartments need and makers do state: a standard 120 V supply, stacking, delay timers, switchable alarms, floor installation advice and a guarantee for upper floors.
We did not measure any of these washers. Every figure here comes from the maker's own documents, and where a maker publishes no figure, we say so rather than guess.
