I’m going to replace the four toilets in my new house with elongated taller toilets.
I’m looking at the $300 range because of some design features (taller seat, elongated bowl, tank attachment, easier to clean around seat bolts, etc) but I note that toilets start at $125 and go up from there. What are the features of a toilet that mark the marginal improvement as toilets get more expensive?
Edit – to clarify this point, among elongated tall toilets, what justifies the price differences? Is it purely aesthetics and brand name? Or are there things that make one toilet “better” than another?
Also it’s annoying that at least one store sells so many “exclusive” models. Are these just unique names so we can’t compare head to head with other retailers? Or are their differences between two apparently similar but differently named models at two retailers?
Best Answer
There are different materials, i.e. porcelain (vitreous china) or ceramic. They are similar, but there are cost differences based on the manufacturing process. Porcelain is baked at higher temperatures, so they take longer to cool, resulting in fewer toilets per day from the manufacturing plant. Ceramic however needs additional coatings to make it smooth, but people are wanting things like anti-bacterial coatings, oil resistance etc.
One piece toilets increase the price too because if something cracks or splits in the baking / curing process, they have to throw away the entire thing, vs only the tank or only the bowl. But when you have separate parts, you have more nooks and crannies to clean.
After those main details, it mostly becomes marketing, aesthetics and hype, often about that the toilet is capable of "passing". I bought one that famously claims it can "pass a tennis ball", that was total BS...