First, I don't think appliances are buy-it-for-life items anymore. They're just not engineered for durability.

Second, I think washer/dryer combos can be a good solution for tight spaces—you just have to understand that you'll be doing laundry differently.

For example, you can't wash a full load of say, jeans, and expect to dry that full load.

I've had a decent experience with LG combo washer/dryers. We bought our first one while living in a tiny apartment in Paris. Had it 5 years with no problems. We also bought a combo for our Chicago condo. The first one was used by our renters, and it lasted a little over a year. I suspect it broke because the tenants didn't use it properly. We replaced the broken unit with a new LG unit, and that's been working without a problem for two years.