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palimpsest

Buying for future replacement

3 years ago

I have been thinking for a couple things that it may make sense to buy a back up in case some things need to be replaced in the future.

Specifically I have Kohler Ice Grey fixtures in one bathroom and I was thinking I might buy an extra toilet and store it in the basement, because this is a very specific color and it could be discontinued at some point like so many things.

This may sound a little weird but in a different bathroom we had a toilet develop a hairline crack through the rim for no apparent reason so we replaced it. Things like that shouldn't really happen but they do.

At the very least I think it would make sense to have back up toilet seats to fit the models of toilets that one has.

I also bought a spare or two of a couple light fixtures where there are several installed and broken glass on one of them would involve replacing all of them, possibly.

Is there anything else that it might make sense to have extra of? Also putting this in Building a Home--I am not building but it's an extensive remodel.

Comments (20)

  • 3 years ago

    Door and cabinet hardware - in my previous house we had a couple of doorknobs/levers that needed to be replaced. Emtek still carried the style, but the detailing was just a bit different and the color was slightly different. Not that the average visitor would ever notice the difference!


    palimpsest thanked chispa
  • 3 years ago

    Other than flooring not sure i’d do much else. pretty sure whatever you buy extra of is not going to break and something else will. at least thats the way my life works. and if something breaks 20 years down the line chances are you may want something different anyway…

    palimpsest thanked lharpie
  • 3 years ago

    Well I can almost guarantee I will never remodel another bathroom in my life :)

  • 3 years ago

    I did buy an extra one of my flush mount light fixtures with a square glass shade. My husband asked me if I had an extra shade so I did admit it. I was not planning to tell him as I figured he might be more careful if he thought we would need new fixtures if one broke.

  • 3 years ago

    I kept a few bundles of heavy cedar shakes after reroofing. They made my shed smell fresh and did come in handy after a rooftop solar project damaged a few. A shake roof is good for 50 years or more in my climate but they are hard to find and I don't expect that to improve.


    Extra bits of flooring and tile are also useful to keep.


    I do not have space to store an extra toilet. Perhaps I would if I didn't have all the flooring and roofing materials. 😉

  • 3 years ago

    I am thinking the toilet might be a bit extreme, but on the other hand, I always find it a bit disappointing when I see colored bathroom suites in real estate listings and they had to replace the toilet with a white one. Not the end of the world of course,

  • 3 years ago

    I didn’t buy the whole light fixture but I did buy multiple extras of the glass shades on a new mounted on the mirror light fixture we installed during a master bath remodel. The shades needed to be set just so into the bracket on the long bar of lights. Sort of an art deco style. We learned, purely by chance, that the light we bought was a discontinued model. I had visons of dropping one of the shades when changing a bulb or cleaning it. Not only did I use a couple of the replacements but about 6 months after we sold that house, our buyer reached out to us through our realtor asking for info on that light fixture. They had broken a shade & were looking for a replacement. They had forgotten about the box we left under the sink!

  • 3 years ago

    What about the stopper or faucet for the sink?

  • 3 years ago

    Actually one the posts for the pop up drain did break at the interface between the knob and the post. Stupid. With the quality of things these days you could need a spare of almost anything.


  • 3 years ago

    Extra cartridges for shower faucet - DH just replaced ours yesterday and said this particular one has been discontinued by the mfg. He has a stash :-)

  • 3 years ago

    Oven / cooktop knobs, heating element, and some electronics if you can.

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    I have extra light bulbs for my odd fluorescent light fixtures in the bathroom. I did a really simple cabinet door pull in the bathroom. The two drawers have push-to-open drawer glides. I read that those tend to break, so I have one extra. But I also bought the door pull for both drawers, just in case they all broke!

    Berenson 1065 Bravo 9-1/16"L Finger Tab Large Cabinet Lip Pull / - Polished · More Info


  • 3 years ago

    Well, I am installing a range top style cooktop, and I am having them make a matching drawer front and rail to fill this in, in case I switch to convection down the line, so I don't have to redo cabinetry with a switch of appliances.

  • 3 years ago

    I buy fabric of anything I get upholstered. I just recovered my kitchen chair seats and bought extra fabric in case a stain happens that just won’t come out

  • 3 years ago

    Paint samples, especially for anything custom mixed or if a painter claims that they color match. I had to do some touch ups in a room with a fairly dramatic color, and the sheen and color were never quite right.

  • 3 years ago

    cabinet door/drawer pulls. When I got new cabinet doors and painted our kitchen, I replaced all of the door/drawer pulls. When we decided to later add an island, I got door/drawer pulls ordered right away, even though it took an additional 5 years to actually order the doors/drawers.

  • 3 years ago


    All toilet seats are designed to fit one of two bowls: round or elongated. No need for a backup, unless, as you say, the fixtures have a unique, trendy color and which could be discontinued.

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Toilets come in gray??!!

    Of course it’s your home but I personally wouldn’t install fixtures in any color but white or off-white.

    I have strong memories of a spare bathroom in a former home with a harvest gold toilet, bathtub and sink. All in perfect condition and therefore didn’t need replacing, according to DH. 🙄

  • 3 years ago

    I am not a fan of harvest gold bath fixtures, but I would side with your husband on that one: no need to spend $25-50K to replace older fixtures in perfect condition, triggering an entire remodel. Especially since they were probably manufactured to a higher finish standard than today's fixtures.