Although high-end toilets do essentially the same job as standard models, they offer additional features for comfort and hygiene that make taking care of your daily needs just a little easier.
Exceptional Cleanliness and Comfort
Performance and appearance are the primary factors that set luxury toilets apart from their traditional counterparts. Many high-end toilet brands include shower toilets, or toilets with an integrated bidet, in their product lines. These give you all the benefits of a bidet without the need for space to accommodate a separate unit.
Little conveniences such as lighting, seat heating, and deodorization are fairly easy to find on higher quality toilets, but the truly luxury models offer advanced features such as touchless operation, foot warmers, and noise masking.
In terms of design, high-end brands go beyond the average with minimalist models that evoke an atmosphere of refreshment and relaxation, as well as more decorative models that lend personality to your bathroom. Rimless, skirted designs are common not just for their modern look, but also because they’re easier to clean.
High-End Toilet Brands to Watch
ToTo
Founded in 1917, Japanese manufacturer ToTo is today among the most respected toilet brands worldwide. The company’s designers aim to blend hygienic living with modern minimalist aesthetics, and few other toilets offer as many state-of-the-art features.
Toto’s best known product, the Washlet unit, is a toilet seat with a bidet function that fits onto a standard toilet. The most advanced model offers hands-free operation with automatic lid open/close and automatic flushing, warm-water cleansing and warm-air dry functions, as well as lighting, seat heating, deodorization, and even a privacy button that plays white noise.
Toto’s Neorest and Aquia toilet lines include many of the same features, and the Neorest’s sleek, low-profile is a perfect fit for minimalist homes. Most higher-end models use ToTo’s proprietary 3D Tornado Flush system, which promises to keep the bowl cleaner for longer with minimal water use.
Kohler
Producing toilets since 1883, Kohler is one of the oldest and best known names in American bathroom fixtures. The Veil, Eir, and Karing lines of intelligent toilets offer modern comforts such as hands-free operation, warm-water cleansing and warm-air drying, heated seats, and deodorization.
The Numi, Kohler’s most innovative high-end toilet, takes luxury even further. In addition to the features found in the intelligent toilet lines, it also offers user presets, ambient lighting in a variety of colors, UV sanitization, and a foot warmer. If your power goes out, the Numi can still support up to 100 flushes.
The Numi 1.0 uses Bluetooth to sync to devices so you can enjoy your choice of music. The Numi 2.0 works with Amazon Alexa, letting you personalize your bathroom experience with voice commands alone.
INAX
This Japanese firm, operating since 1924, has grown to carry a small selection of thoughtfully designed toilets with luxury features such as hands-free operation, deodorization, and foam cushioning that minimizes splashing.
Designs are grouped into the S600, S400, and S200 lines. The S600 line features the SATIS G shower toilet constructed from rounded rectangles, or squovals, for a contemporary look. The S400 line includes easy-clean rimless one-piece and close coupled toilets that combine the softness of the squoval with simple straight lines. The S200 line’s rimless one-piece and close coupled toilets are designed with a shorter depth, but wider seats than standard toilets, making them ideal for compact urban living.
Laufen
Swiss bathroom fixture company Laufen, founded in 1892, offers primarily floorstanding and wall-hung toilets, along with a few one-piece models. Laufen’s designs focus primarily on aesthetics, blending Swiss precision with expressive Italian flourishes. While the designs suit modern needs, they offer relatively few advanced features.
Laufen’s shower toilet, the Cleanet, provides warm-water cleansing and air drying with adjustable, programmable settings managed by remote control or touch screen. The Sonar line of easy-clean rimless toilets are designed for optimal hygiene. For a truly distinctive minimalist look, consider the Ilbagnoalessi One line, created by Italian furniture designer Stefano Giovannoni. Designed to resemble a water-smoothed stone, this model’s flowing lines let it hide in plain sight.
DXV
In celebration of more than 140 years producing bathroom fixtures, American Standard launched the DXV brand to represent design periods that have influenced the company’s products. Models are grouped into the decorative Classic, refined Golden Era, sleek Modern, and eclectic Contemporary lines.
Aesthetics, rather than high-tech features, are at the forefront of this brand, but every model is built for lasting performance with American Standard’s proprietary microbe-inhibiting EverClean glaze additive and slow-close toilet seats. If you’re looking to remodel an older home, this brand is an excellent source of toilets and other fixtures that will help you maintain your bathroom’s historic character.
WoodBridge Bath
A relative newcomer to the bathroom fixture scene, WoodBridge produces a small selection of high-end toilets. The luxury B0980S Intelligent Smart Toilet offers an elegant low-profile design, integrated bidet with a warm-air dryer, hands-free operation, lighting, seat heating, deodorization, and a flushing system that’s both efficient and quiet. The more budget-friendly T-0008 toilet with a bidet seat shares many of the same features, although the design is similar to that of a standard toilet with an elongated seat.
Nameek’s
If you’re looking for a distinctive design and don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, Nameek’s imaginative bathroom fixtures could be a perfect fit. In the Ibiza, Mona, Next, and Noura collections, you’ll find square wall-mount toilets that stand out from the usual rounded designs. The Planet collection, produced by Scarabeo of Italy, features a spherical wall-mounted toilet that’s just as unconventional. Most of Nameek’s toilets include a soft-close seat, but are made from ceramic rather than more durable porcelain.