Half Bath Renovation: Adventures in Toilet Buying

Since when did toilets get so complicated? Between the various GPFs (gallons per flush) and ranges of “white” and classes and styles, there’s also the hefty price tag these fairly utilitarian unitaskers are asking for.

We had replaced our toilet in the main bath a couple years ago with a Kohler Cimarron and figured it’d be pretty easy to get another for the half bath so they’d match. However, apparently toilets are like cars and they come out with new models every year, as well as have numerous versions of each model to contend with each other. Having so many choices from which to relieve oneself, I thought that I’d gone the safe route of picking the same model as we picked for the main bath because, at least on the outside they looked identical.

It wasn’t until I brought it home that I realized they had made a few minor improvements. First of all, the inside rim curves down at a forty-five degree angle rather than the straight ninety the earlier model has, which, honestly, is a pain to keep clean for some reason. Hopefully this adjustment will help. Also, this one came with a toilet seat and wax ring with bolts, and our other toilet did not. We’ll see how we care for the standard seat after having the quiet-close version in the main bath.

With as much as we were hoping to get the exact same toilet we have in our main bath, the most important part was that it be elongated and chair height. Those two things alone make a huge difference in the comfort of relieving oneself. I just hope that it isn’t too big to fit into the half bath because I hate returning things… really, really hate returning things. But it’ll be a few days before we can install it, as my plan is to do the final cleaning of the tiles today and the final sealing tomorrow, which means Friday at the earliest.

Of course, the biggest shocker to these new toilets is their price tag. I mean, we felt like we were getting a bargain at only spending $248 on a new toilet when compared to some of the others out on the market! Seriously? It flushes poop people! C’mon, do you really need a $700 (and up) waste extractor?