People seldom look for just a toilet. They want the best toilet out there, nothing more and nothing less. Since technology has evolved so much, even on our bathroom buddies, it is not surprising at all that we can now spend several hours researching on toilets.
Unfortunately, there are so many types and different brands on the market that it’s quite difficult to get the best flushing toilet without a few migraines. I know that this is a horrendous chore. We’ve been in your position, and we came to study various toilets as if they were artifacts.
This guide should come really handy for those who’ve just moved to a new house and are in need of a high-performance toilet. You’d be baffled by how many people don’t know how to use their budget to purchase a good product. Let’s proceed!
Why You Should Choose Your Toilet Carefully
First of all, there are many types of toilets. Subsequently, they are all different. Some of them are not that efficient, but others will be recommended by the vast majority of plumbers. Second of all, price does not always reflect quality.
Therefore, a blindingly expensive toilet does not vouch for high-quality; by contrast, purchasing a cheap one doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve made a bad choice.
There are a couple of things you have to keep an eye on when you’re looking for the best toilet for the money, and we will outline them all for you.
Things To Pay Attention To
There are three primary aspects you have to analyze carefully when you’re trying to choose the best bathroom product from the catalog of a reputable company. These are the type of the toilet, the flushing power and whether or not it is a dual flush toilet.
All of these are incredibly important and will affect the price you’ll be paying for it and –even more importantly – its durability.
The Type Of Toilet
In the previous section, we presented you some of the most common types of toilets. However, we’re quite positive that nobody wants a squat toilet in his house, correct?
If you want to be the beneficiary of a state-of-the-art toilet, then you should go with one of those washlets, for instance. They’re expensive, it’s true, but their performance makes up for that big time. If you think that this is really not that important, any other type will do.
The classic one, with a porcelain bowl and a water tank will work just fine for 80% of the population, or even more. Of course, each type of toilet comes with its own perks.
Still, the chances are that you live either in a house or an apartment. In this case, a flush toilet is – honestly – the best choice you can make. Especially if it’s one of those that can be attached to the wall, therefore saving more space.
The type doesn’t matter, as long as it suits your needs perfectly. Just keep in mind that you must choose a silent, low-cost, low-consumption one.
Flushing Power
This aspect is crucial when you’re trying to choose the best toilet, the best flushing toilet, to be more precise. Throughout the years, toilets became more developed.
To give you an example, we’ve talked about American Standard and their Vormax toilets. The flushing power on a Vormax item is a lot stronger than that of a classic toilet.
How is this possible? Simple: the water is evacuated at a higher speed and with a higher pressure. This results in a faster centrifuge. What’s more, this will also decrease the risk of having your toilet clogged and spending hours crying next to it with the plunger in your hand.
You might think: “I believe there are other things to worry about than the flushing power.” Incorrect – this will have a direct impact on how much water you’ll be saving (or wasting, obviously).
Therefore, the flushing power will add numbers to your bill on the current water. Or not, if you make the right call and you choose a toilet with a great flushing power.
Dual Flush Toilets
Dual flush toilets are great because they allow you to regulate the flush. For example, if you need to flush urine, you’ll have to press one valve. If it’s feces, it’s the other button that should be pressed. This type of toilet can be seen at pretty much any shopping center you might visit.
As in the case of the toilets with great flushing power, dual flush ones save tons of water. So, if you’re asking “What is the best toilet when it comes to its capability of saving water?” the answer is “a dual flush type.” Moreover, the flushing power on such a toilet is actually really great.
As you might expect, these toilets are somewhat more expensive than common ones, but they are totally worth it, given that you will be paying less on bills. With all of these being said, let’s move on to a section where you’ll learn about 5 of the best toilet brands.
Our Recommendations
We’ve done some research high and low and compiled a list of top 5 toilets for you. Read the descriptions carefully and afterward you will be able to finally hit that “Order” button and rest assured the hassle is over. Here we go.
The KOHLER 3810-0 Santa Rosa
Kohler is, for a vast number of people, the go-to brand when it comes to bathroom products. Their experience in the field and the expertise they’ve gained after tens of years of development made them a favorite among plumbers and individual homeowners alike.
The company was established in 1873 and in 2017 it is still alive and kicking. So, the people behind the company know what they’re doing.
But they’re not satisfied with that – they keep on pushing forwards and bringing innovation to their feet. Let’s get into analyzing briefly their Santa Rosa model.
Kohler’s 3810-0, equipped with AquaPiston Flush Technology, is the best toilet. Period. But what makes it so great? A variety of things actually.
First off, it has an awesome design. It’s nothing too fancy, and the size is just perfect, even though it has an elongated bowl. (Round-bowl toilets are usually smaller than those with elongated bowls).
OUR RATING
And now comes the kicker. This particular Kohler model is a gravity flush type. To that, it adds the fact that it has AquaPiston technology. Combine the two, and you get:
- A powerful flushing system that cleans the bowl
- A generous decrease on your water bill. The Kohler Santa Rosa uses 1.28 gallons per flush (GPF)
This water-saving capability of a toilet is not given as much credit as it should. Anyway, if you have the possibility to choose a toilet that has been proven to affect water consumption (in a good way), you should definitely do it. A good toilet isn’t all about the design and the space it occupies.
In fact, these things matter less. Would it help to have an eye-catching toilet if it wastes more water than you can afford? Of course not. Everything boils down to money, so make sure you’ll be paying less, not more. The Santa Rosa model is a very good choice in this respect.
Santa Rosa comes with other features that make it a great purchase. For instance, it has the height of a chair, which makes it so much easier for adults to sit on it comfortably. Also, the bowl and the water tank are integrated, therefore the toilet is a 1-piece, which saves so much space in the bathroom.
TOTO Ultramax II
Toto has been manufacturing great toilets and other bathroom products since 1917 when Kazuchi Okura founded the company. Nowadays, Toto products can be found all over the world.
In the USA, Toto has an exclusive outlet, as it does in Asia, so if you’re living anywhere in the United States, you’ll be able to get your hands on some amazing Toto products.
Their Ultramax II is as great as Kohler’s Santa Rosa, but there’s just a little difference in price between the two. Toto’s model is also a 1-piece, and it looks quite fancy. It’s small-sized and has a comfortable seat.
One innovation that we haven’t seen anywhere else (until now) is something called SanaGloss. What does this do? It’s a glaze that allows this Toto toilet to clean the bowl efficiently after you flush it. According to the company, it is an ion barrier that keeps filth, germs, and microbes at bay.
OUR RATING
On top of this, the Toto Ultramax has two nozzles for squirting water, resulting in a fantastic flush. It’s called the Double Cyclone and seriously, the name could not be more fitting. What does this have to do with anything? Well, we’ve seen previously that the “best toilet” is not worthy of the “best” title if it doesn’t help with saving water.
The Double Cyclone places the Ultramax on the advantageous side of things. On top of all these features enumerated until now, here’s one that will certainly sound appealing to everybody. Remember those times when the toilet seat smashes so hard that you take cover, thinking somebody just shot at you with a shotgun but missed you?
Yes, that is pertaining to times long gone. The Ultramax is made of a special kind of plastic that absorbs noise, even if the seat smashes against the bowl. With all these, the greatest thing about this particular toilet is that glaze we’ve talked about.
It ensures that the toilet will need less maintenance and cleaning than a classic one because bacteria and germs won’t stick to the bowl. This is the best toilet you can get in the range of $500, or even less.
Those who have used it couldn’t be happier about their purchase. You don’t need to squat over it, because of its height. It’s definitely one of the best toilets in the industry at the moment. If these two first models don’t arouse your interest, there are various other alternatives. We have 3 of them for you, so keep on reading.
Saniflo SANICOMPACT 48
Saniflo is one of those brands that are largely unknown, but for no good reason. The company originates in France and mainly deals with macerators, toilets and a large array of products for one’s bathroom.
This is the thing with macerators: they are unbelievably efficient because they don’t require major destruction in the bathroom floor. Unfortunately, all other types of toilets do. If you don’t want to break through the concrete, then a macerator comes to the rescue.
As the name of the model says it, this is a more compact toilet that you can install in a narrow space where a common toilet would not fit. The really interesting thing about this is that it doesn’t have a water tank and – wait for it – it’s electronic. Instead of flushing the waste, it macerates it with one push of a button.
Also, it has a water limit set on 1 gallon, so that’s saving of water right there. As for the warranty (by the way, something you should always pursue), this model has a 2-year warranty. What else could be said about this state-of-the-art 2-in-1 toilet and macerator?
OUR RATING
Maybe that it’s amazing? Of course. Saniflo’s toilet is based on a gravity system of flushing, which means that it creates siphoning to simultaneously flush and clean the bowl.
The single disadvantage of this toilet is that the price doesn’t make it accessible for everybody.
But, on a more positive note, all the modern features it possesses makes it worth every penny. The design, too, is quite beautiful. The porcelain is snow-white, and its round seat offers comfort to the user, which cannot be said about all toilets in the world. This is the best toilet with macerator and pump you can get for under 1k.
What recommends it from the start is its size. This way, you can install it wherever you want, be it your basement or attic, depending on your needs. Even though it’s electronic, it doesn’t sound like a jet engine, so that is one more advantage to take into consideration.
Niagara Stealth Toilet
Niagara is a considerably younger brand when compared to the other four we’ve talked about. The company was established in 1989, but that didn’t stop it from becoming one of the most famous ones. In fact, Niagara is known for its incessant revolution in bathroom products.
The company always pursues the latest designs and the best materials, in order to give great quality for the money you spend. There are many models of Niagara toilets, but we think none of them beats the Stealth.
While the Saniflo SANICOMPACT uses 1 gallon, the Niagara Stealth uses only 0.8. That’s money in the bank right there.
However, the flushing system isn’t that innovative, but it certainly does its job. Most of the times, you have to flush the toilet a couple of times for the waste to go down the drain. Not with the Niagara. One single flush is needed for a perfect cleaning of the bowl.
OUR RATING
The toilet is made with metal and porcelain, so you won’t need to worry about cracks. What everybody seems to hold in high regards is the fact that this toilet was built in such a way that it doesn’t clog. Now that’s something you’ve never seen in a toilet.
The thing is that toilets with forceful flushing rarely or never clog anyway. This is something that the best toilet must have in order to deserve this denomination.
When it comes to the installation, everybody can do it. It ships separately, so you’ll need to install the bowl first and then the tank. This can be done in half an hour tops if you’re handy with tools.
This is indeed the best toilet for the money if you desire a product that uses half the water a normal one would do. What’s more important is that it’s quiet. Therefore, you won’t wake up your neighbors in the middle of the night thinking that the Germans are at the gates.
We have seen this model, and we’ve used it. So, we highly recommend it if you pay too much for water already. And the price is extremely fair for what it does, how it looks and how easy its installation is.
Conclusion
We’ve finally come to the end of this rather extensive buying guide. We’ve presented you the very best five toilets on the market at the moment and, at the same time, provided some insights into their features and functionality.
We usually think of toilets in demeaning terms. Skeptics and badmouths will always exercise their arguments against the fact that it doesn’t matter what type of toilet you get. As you’ve seen until now, that’s wrong on all possible levels.
After you’ve read our guides, you saw that the type of toilet you own will show on your water bill. So, why would you pay tons of money on bills when you can make your situation so much easier by purchasing a toilet with low consumption?
Even though we’ve outlined these toilets, that may not be something that helps you make a final decision. There’s more to each of them, of course. One thing is sure: the best toilet must help with decreasing the amount of water that is consumed with every flush. All of these 5 products illustrate this point perfectly.
Now the following question will definitely be asked: “What is the best toilet of all these?” That’s something you should answer yourself. Our in-depth reviews will hopefully make a contribution and facilitate your ability to give an answer you are 100% sure of.
Stay tuned because we’re not over yet. We will take four of these products, and we will analyze them thoroughly, to make sure you’ve understood everything about them.
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Last update on 2025-03-11 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API