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Meet the New Super Toilets
With features you never knew you needed, these toilets may make it hard to go back to standard commodes
Houzz Contributor. I'm a Silicon Valley-based writer, columnist and blogger, covering technology and culture. http://elgan.com
Houzz Contributor. I'm a Silicon Valley-based writer, columnist and blogger,... More »
Indoor plumbing is arguably the greatest invention in the history of humankind (with the possible exception of Peeps sushi). And the porcelain and chrome toilets that grace most bathrooms in the industrialized world work fine. While most people think, "If it ain’t broke, why fix it?" some gadget-happy companies — especially in Japan — say, “Why not?”
Fancy electric high-tech toilets, which the Japanese call super toilets, can be found in more than 72 percent of Japanese households. At minimum they include a bidet feature and often a seat warmer.
High-tech features vary, but most of the toilets use electricity to provide warming, automation and bidet functions.
More: Dream Tubs for Bath Lovers
Fancy electric high-tech toilets, which the Japanese call super toilets, can be found in more than 72 percent of Japanese households. At minimum they include a bidet feature and often a seat warmer.
High-tech features vary, but most of the toilets use electricity to provide warming, automation and bidet functions.
More: Dream Tubs for Bath Lovers
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The Kohler Numi’s squarish, angled shape, subtle buttons and strange automatic lid make it look like it's anything but a toilet.
It has a motion-activated lid that automatically opens when anyone stands in front of it and what Kohler calls “advanced bidet functionality,” which is an integrated air dryer.
The appliance, however, goes beyond the normal functions of a toilet and adds atmosphere. It has a heated seat and even a subtle air vent that warms the floor in front of the fixture.
It even has an atmosphere light and a music player. A touch-panel remote, which attaches to the toilet with a magnetic docking station, lets you customize all the settings.
It has a motion-activated lid that automatically opens when anyone stands in front of it and what Kohler calls “advanced bidet functionality,” which is an integrated air dryer.
The appliance, however, goes beyond the normal functions of a toilet and adds atmosphere. It has a heated seat and even a subtle air vent that warms the floor in front of the fixture.
It even has an atmosphere light and a music player. A touch-panel remote, which attaches to the toilet with a magnetic docking station, lets you customize all the settings.
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The leading super toilet maker in Japan is a company called Toto. And if you’ve ever visited a nice hotel in Japan with a Toto toilet, you know you’re not in Kansas anymore.
Toto’s most advanced toilets are sold only in Japan, with controls labeled only in Japanese. The most advanced Toto toilet you can buy in the United States is the Washlet S300.
It has a heated seat, a remote-controlled bidet feature with air drying and the option of an oscillating bidet stream of water.
Toto’s most advanced toilets are sold only in Japan, with controls labeled only in Japanese. The most advanced Toto toilet you can buy in the United States is the Washlet S300.
It has a heated seat, a remote-controlled bidet feature with air drying and the option of an oscillating bidet stream of water.
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Roca W+W, which stands for "washbasin plus water closet," uses advanced technology to help the environment.
The water appliance saves, filters and chemically treats the sink water you use to wash your hands and brush your teeth, then reuses that water for flushing the toilet.
The net effect is that you use the same amount of water in the sink but zero extra water for the toilet.
More: Dream Showers Let You Soap Up In Style | How to Replace a Toilet in an Hour
The water appliance saves, filters and chemically treats the sink water you use to wash your hands and brush your teeth, then reuses that water for flushing the toilet.
The net effect is that you use the same amount of water in the sink but zero extra water for the toilet.
More: Dream Showers Let You Soap Up In Style | How to Replace a Toilet in an Hour
Ideabook updated on Oct. 9, 2012.
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A very expensive conversation piece ;-}
Numi toilet, $4076.02.
Washlet S300, $848-$1035.60, by far the most affordable on the list.
Roca W+W, about $4025.00.
In contrast, an American Standard water-saving 1.28 gpf dual flush toilet, $279.80 at Home Depot. The $4000 I save on a toilet, will buy 3 sets of exterior doors for my house. Your own mileage may vary.
It is a ridiculous indulence but amazing,
I think this is what you are looking for.
Regards.
3D-Tile-Design - Bertram Tasch
Maple Ridge, BC (Greater Vancouver)
http://www.3D-Tile-Design.ca
Cheers Bertram
@tat3R: Thank you! Will check the Kohler site out.
With appreciation to the both of you, -mrsben-
The duravit is pretty affordable and nice too. http://www.homeperfect.com/duravit-2545090000-darling-new-wall-hung-toilet-in-white.html?source=nextagcse
Here are lots of different models: Tip: First look for a model which suits you resp. which you like. Then type the model name in your browser and see where you can get it. http://www.calibex.com/for-wall-hung-toilets/zzcalibex2zB1z0--search-html?nxtg=15340a1c050f-A6E3AF0CB3039229
Here two more models: (Free shiping to Canada)
- http://www.vintagetub.com/asp/product_detail.asp?item_no=C805
- http://www.vintagetub.com/asp/product_detail.asp?item_no=AS2093.100.020
On a Geberit Wall Mount System you can install wall hung toilets from the following suppliers: http://www.geberit.us/pdf/GNA7087.pdf
Important !!! Don't buy a cheap replication. Keep in mind once installed it will cost you a lot to replace it if it's broken.
Blu Bathworks - http://www.blubathworks.com
Duravit - http://www.duravit.com
Icera - http://www.icerausa.com
Lacava - http://www.lacava.com
Laufen - http://www.us.laufen.com
Mirabelle - http://www.mirabelleproducts.com
Neo-Metro - http://www.neo-metro.com
Porcher - http://www.porcher-us.com
Roca - http://www.roca.com
Toto - http://www.totousa.com
Villeroy & Boch - http://www.villeroy-boch.com
Cheers Bertram
We specialize in renovations which means we are consistently working with existing plumbing, walls and floors that we may or may not be able to change.
Here's a new line that may be of interest...The Geberit Monolith (http://www4.geberit.com/us/en/design/monolith.aspx).
It is only 4" deep and it is surface mount to the existing wall. You can hang a floor mount or wall-hung toilet toilet to it. This makes it less deep than a standard 29-30" toilet.
It comes in white glass or black glass. It is sleek.
Even better, it is German-made how Bertram explained and has no issues of failure due to it's excellent design and construction. The flushing mechanism is reachable through a top panel for easy access if needed.
There are numerous bowls that work with this design which means the design possibilities are many.
Regarding the high price of some of these items, we always suggest to look at it more as to how much happiness or pleasure does this bring. For example, we recently returned from a driving trip through Germany (the main purpose to visit with our cabinet company, Poggenpohl). There are numerous rest stops and gas stations along the Autobahn. The private stations have pay toilets where you pay .7EUR or approx $1USD to use the facilities. The public rest stops are free (included in the 19% tax paid by all). We used a few of the pay facilities and were really impressed with the cleanliness and updated facilities. Then we stopped at a public rest stop. Not updated, not very clean and rather industrial (stainless wall mounts with no seats).
After the public rest stop experience we would gladly pay $1 per use of a nice, comfortable facility.
We are human and have to evacuate frequently so let's do the math...on the low end $6/day per person equals $2,190/person.
Would you pay $300 for a commode you dislike and experience that unpleasant feeling 6 times a day for a year? or would you pay $2,190 for a commode you love and enjoy using every time you use it?
After a year, the cost is "free," and you still have the happiness factor.
It's just a perspective...
This generation can be a little spoiled, so I have been known to show them old documentaries just to give them a reality check. I'm sure anything beats an outhouse. Yuk.
Something that should be said about these types of toilets is that they offer up a little dignity to older users. Being able to go about your business and have a helping hand (something other than a fellow human) brings a little privacy to the table or should I save bathroom.
It can also bring a little fun on the job-site. Like asking the new guy to check the toilet for water and then squirting him in the face with the remote control! lol
JW
This is the American Standard Champion IV, the one they promote can flush golf balls. It does work very well, but doesn't have the fancy bidet features. Am still seeking an add-on seat that comes in black to match.
The photos catch part of the toilet. We don't usually focus on commode photos : )
Cheers Bertram
A few general responses -
Wall hung toilets are difficult to retrofit in a minor bath renovation. When a client says they want to move the toilet, those are thousand dollar words, your plumber is right on with his $3,000 as stack and venting locations, structural wall and making space for the carrier and then installing the bowl so that it is stable and doesn't settle are all considerations that will drive cost and scope up.
The benefits of wall hung toilets are maximized when selected during design development of the home so that the space saving from location the in wall tank can be leveraged into gaining the enclosed WC or shoe horning that funky powder room into an otherwise unusable space. As with all gravity drained plumbing fixtures, joist/truss/structural floor and wall layout needs of the 3" carrier drain pipe needs to be accommodated. My advice to first timers is to buy the carrier well ahead. Arrange a meeting with plumber (with the carrier) and carpenter on site during floor/wall framing. Soon they will both embrace the benefits of wall mounted toilets.
Regards.
3D-Tile-Design - Bertram Tasch
Maple Ridge, BC (Greater Vancouver)
http://www.3D-Tile-Design.ca
.
Whenever I read and article like this one I always remember my years in the USA and can't imagine how I survived without a bidet.
Even TODAY I go over the pictures of the most magnificent bathrooms on Houzz and marvel at seeing only the traditional toilet... but no bidet??!!
Why, why is that so? Has it something to do with old puritanical dogmas?
Here in Argentina they started with bidets I believe with Chris Columbus, it would be practically impossible to sell the most gorgeous house if the bathrooms don't have bidets (although that's an impossibility here).
Can somebody (an architect perhaps) explain to me, once and for all what makes this cultural gap in the USA?
I think the answer to your question is pretty simple. Sometimes the people here just don't know it better, however the main reason is still that most people don't want to spend too much money when renovating their houses. They don't build and install what they like, instead they install what cost not too much money but will still raise up the value of their homes so they can make more profit once they will sell their houses down the road because many people are are just not connected to their homes. However I can see a slowly trend-change in this behavior. Especially older people like to stay in their homes and make changing for their own good.
Another reason is, lots of plumbers don't educate their customers and show them what's possible these days. They just install or replace what they did 20 years ago. And the reason for this behavior is a.) They just don't know about new products because they don't educate themselves what are the newest trend. And b.) Installing "new" and modern products is just too much expensive and they cannot make the profit which they can make when installing cheap products. For example, a wall hung toilet cost about $ 700 incl. carrier and needs about 3 hours in total to be installed. Assuming the plumber needs $100 an hour to work profitable, It would cost you about $1000 to maybe 1200 to install such a toilet.
So, honestly, why should he install a wall hung toilet when he easily can earn way much more money in less time by just replacing the old toilet? If he would reccomend and install a wall hung toilet, instead just replacing the old toilet against a new (old-style) toilet, he had to charge $1600 to $1800 to make the same profit. And I guess nobody would install a wall hung toilet for this much money.
My last client had a plumber to installing (actually changing) the shower mixing valve and routing two new pex-pipes to the sink. (He did not change or installing any waste water pipes!) My client told me the plumber was at his place about 3 hours. The client supplied the fixtures. The $$$ for material which the plumber used was about $50 and he charged my client $1000 ! That means, he made more than $300 an hour!
Regards,
3D-Tile-Design - Bertram Tasch
Maple Ridge, BC (Greater Vancouver)
http://www.3D-Tile-Design.ca
Here are some picture of his grandiose work.
Thank you so much for such clear comment!!
I feel better now after reading your explanation because I was afraid the thing had some religious roots and SIN had something to do with it.
Probably we have standardized the universal use of bidets at the beginning of the XX century, when Argentina was completely influenced culturally by France, since at that time the bourgeois spoke French even among themselves at home and only the natives spoke Spanish.
Their influence eventually dripped down to lower classes and it was de rigueur to have a bidet in your bathroom (we are compulsive SNOBS).
Your client was robbed by that plumber! he/she should have done some research before hiring anyone!
You have a very nice profession, I used to do interior design in the USA, but mainly for commercial photography and film, as I later did in Europe, when I decided to move over there, so I was never involved with whatever went on behind the wall (fake).
Thank you again for your splendid explanation!
David Traversa
I have installed same same back in OZ, Sunshine Coast. works a treat. Cheers
To the Bidet comments and why in the USA we do not have them, I believe it is because we take more showers. We typically get up and do all of our necessary business in the bathroom and then take a full shower. Sometimes I take more than one shower a day if I am doing lots of outdoor work or going out again in the evening or exercising later in the day. Sometimes my husband has taken as many as three showers a day if he has been working in the yard or doing other heavy work. We also live in a very warm climate in our part of the country so this is quite normal. In the 80's there was a huge interest in all things European and many people installed the Bidets only to have them removed later by the next owner. With our shower taking society, they just were not used. I don't personally understand the Bidet culture not having grown up with it. Taking all over showers if necessary a couple of times even in one day is more typical for us. To each his own, variety is the spice of life : )
At least in Argentina that problem about not taking enough showers is not the matter when we speak about (as you put it "the bidet culture") since we take as many showers as you do in the very clean USA (use deodorants too) and most of the ones that live in houses have swimming pools, the thing is... how should I put it delicately with my scarce English... the thing is when you use the toilet..., well, toilet paper ALONE most of the time leaves sequels that ONLY the bidet can eliminate... capisce?
And I'm sure that neither you nor your very clean husband won't take a shower to remedy that small problem (but SO important for good personal grooming!) every time you go to the bathroom, right?
Practicality I mean.
Because to tell you the truth, to go about without having finished the chore by using the bidet... yak!
Well, there it is the explanation for the "bidet culture" we were talking about.
Couldn't be simpler after all.
No wonder the French (they invented the bidet) were such leaders when it came to the pleasures of civilized living!!!
Wow Phnom Penh sounds sooo exotic from Argentina!... (look who's talking, from the end of the world).
I understand your proposition about eliminating toilet paper --it could save so many thousands of trees right?-- but the problem is always the same, no matter if we talk about toilet paper or climate change, people in general resent very much to change their old ways, even if by not doing so it will eventually kill them.
That's all.
Why are we so adamant about refusing to change bad habits for better ones?
Nobody knows, well, yes, maybe some very skilled psychiatrist could know the answer.
Thank you for your comment Steve!
David Traversa
You make it sound like a very tiny place, and we don't know about the style of your house in general.
The simplest rule: follow your instinct.
Maybe light up the tiny room with an antique looking toilet with an interesting lid, or a stark white piece of contemporary design...
Just follow the Yellow Brick Road!!
After visiting Japan, I bought one and I knew before hand I had to upgrade the supply line and run electrical... Totally worth it. My suggetion if remodeling on a budget is to cut items until one of the Neorests or Numi fit into the budget.
Is there a space between the toilet and the wall? If yes, then the designer of this toilet failed in my opinion. How are you going to keep this space clean? This "problem" could be easily avoided by a more thoughtful design. I guess the designer was a man. ☺
Regards.
3D-Tile-Design - Bertram Tasch
Maple Ridge, BC (Greater Vancouver)
http://www.3D-Tile-Design.ca
Cheers
i'm from Brasil, where bidets used to be in all bathrooms.About, 15 years ago, this situation changed and most of the people have only toillets and douche sprays.(sorry about my english)Here there's a belief, that douches are more hygienic, and i think the price and spaces are importants too.But im my house we love bidets and now we are thinking about Toto, is it good like bidets?How to clean?
Especially as a woman who has to endure the red monthlies, these bidets are a godsent!
I've never used a bidet - but I'm sincerely curious as to how it works? Can somebody explain please?
Hyjet bidets are actually washlets you can install in toilets. I guess they used 'bidets' in their branding to familiarize it in the western market.
Washlets on the other hand sound like the toilet with built-in sprays you have in Turkey. But the term is more well-known in Japan by the company Toto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washlet
Ferah Tanatar_Soner, show us one toilet "a la turca"!
Ferah Tanatar_Soner, :)
I don't recall seeing them when I was in Australia although my girlfriend had this cool commode where you pushed one button to flush water and another button to flush heavier waste. I later saw the same in Barcelona.
What I want is something I ran into in Dubai. Every restroom I used (airport, hotel, mall) had one and I absolutely loved it. It was a spray nozzle, sort of like a kitchen sprayer, but mounted to the side of the commode. The water was already a wonderful temperature right away - nice and warm but not hot.
What are they called? Are they available stateside or do I need to plan to have the things shipped? Knowing how to install that is on my criteria list for the plummer for our new home. It is a must have.
Regarding USA and bidets. I don't know why others don't put them in. For me, I am not exactly sure what you do with it. Do you move from the commode to the bidet in order to clean yourself after using it? I've stayed in hotels with them but without an instruction book - perhaps where they are common everyone assumes others know how to use them. I don't know if you sit facing wall or away from wall. I hope this is providing a good laugh - laughing is good for you.
I'll stick with what I have nicknamed my Dubai sprayer. :o)