How to Choose the Right Toilet for Your Bathroom in 2024

There are so many toilet options on the market today, so which is right for your home? Let us look at toilet options and see what goes into choosing a toilet to see what you can expect:

Decide on Which Bathroom

Decide on which bathroom this toilet is going in and it’s functionality. If it’s a toilet that sees heavy use and requires good drainage, then a single flush system might not be ideal. Carefully consider who is going to use the bathroom ahead of time and your household’s needs. 

Measure First

Always measure your bathroom and find out how much available space you have. These limitations are important for helping you decide on what type of toilet you can choose. This will also help you decide on installation type and combined with your budget, it can save you a great deal of time before you begin your search. 

Finalize your Budget 

Before you begin hunting for the perfect toilet, create a budget for yourself. A toilet can cost anywhere from $250-10,000 depending on the style and upgrades you choose, so you a budget is important. Have a clear idea of what you want or at least how much you are willing to spend before shopping. 

Choose your Bowl

We will begin with the bowl, as this will determine your comfort level of using the toilet. There are two primary choices: Elongated and round toilet bowls. Elongated bowls measure up to 31 inches from the wall behind the toilet to the front, and the added space provides the most comfortable compared to round toilet bowls. Contrarily, round toilet bowls extend only 28 inches from the wall, which are smaller but are ideal for smaller bathrooms. 

Choose Your Seat

After choosing your bowl, you have more options when it comes to seating. 

• Bidet-A bidet provides a stream of water that helps the cleaning process of using the bathroom and will help to reduce toilet paper usage overall. Bidet seats provide warm water, an air dryer, massage, nightlight, and heated options for additional comfort. 
• Soft close-As it’s name implies, a soft close toilet seat uses special hinges to provide a controlled close to your toilet seat so that it will never slam shut. Soft close seats can either be lowered with a button press or have a manual open and release function. 
• Easy release-an easy release or quick-release toilet has specialized hinges that allow you to remove the seat for deeper cleaning or replacement easily. 
• Heated-No one likes sitting on a cold toilet seat, especially in the middle of the night, so heated seats are designed to solve that problem, providing a heating element in the seat that you can control. 
• Children’s-Designed with children’s safety in mind, a children’s seat has a detachable inner seat for potty training. The inner seat can be removed as the child ages to integrate it as a standard toilet seat better. 
• Lighted-Lighted toilet seats have a built-in light to help illuminate nighttime bathroom trips without disturbing anyone else in your home.

Decide on the Height and Profile of Your Toilet

Now that you have chosen your bowl and seat, you can now choose the height and profile of your toilet. This will determine the overall size and shape, and elevation of your toilet. Your choices are a visible trap or a concealed trap. A visible trap is very common and shows the full profile of your toilet as it connects to the wall. A concealed trap is a much more modern design, hiding trap ways and eliminating the need for a rounded outline. 

Decide on Toilet Types

Now we have a better idea of what you want for your bathroom, so we move onto toilet types. Your toilet choice will determine the ease and difficulty of installation. 

• One piece-A one piece toilet is one singular piece, making it more durable, easier to clean, and has a more seamless look. However, one-piece toilets are more expensive, heavier, and difficult to install. 
• Two-piece-A two piece toilet consists of two separate parts, which is the bowl and tank. This provides a great deal of flexibility in terms of installation and replacement. This setup is also less expensive than a single piece and has a greater range of style and height options. However, since there are two pieces instead of one, there is a greater chance of leaks. Two-piece toilets are also more complex to install. 
• Urinal/Wall-mount-Another option is to mount your toilet to the wall, however, this setup has limited functionality to a traditional toilet. The reduced functionality results in a cheaper install and is great if you want to save space, but you will need another toilet for additional bathroom demands. 

Choose Between Different Flushing Styles

Lastly, we have flushing styles to choose from. This will ultimately determine how your toilet handles waste disposal and how much water it will use up. Here are your flushing options:

• Single-A single flush is one of the oldest and most common toilet variants available. Single-flush toilets use gravity to flush the toilet. Their availability makes them cheap to install, repair and replace. 
• Dual-A dual flush has two separate functions to flush either solid or liquid waste. For solid waste, more water is used, which reduces your water bill and is more efficient. In addition, a dual system has a larger trapway to prevent clogs, however, the added function means that you will need to clean it/service your toilet frequently. 
• Pressure-Pressure assisted toilets utilize a special flushing mechanism to produce a more forceful flush than standard gravity toilets. Pressure toilets are less likely to clog as the assisted air pressure keeps the pathways clear. Overall, pressure toilets are a good choice as they use less water per flush.
• Power- An up-flush or power-assisted toilet uses a macerator and a pump to flush the toilet. When the water tank reaches a preset level, a sensor turns on the power and the blades reduce the waste to a slurry before discharging it into the sewer. This provides better drainage for your home and reduces waste remnants to a more manageable form. 

Smart Toilet 

Smart toilets are popular options nowadays as they provide many comforts to the bathing experience while being very affordable. If you don’t want to deal with all the choices, you can simply opt for a smart toilet with all the functionalities you desire. 

Choosing the right toilet is a very straightforward so long as you do research and look at the needs of your household. So look at all the options available to find the right toilet for you.