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When designing your bathroom, the easiest product to pick out should be your toilet, because it's style is simply one of personal preference because all of them work in the same way. The first style point will be deciding whether you want a round or elongated model, a one or two piece, how high you want it to sit and whether you want a pressure-assisted or gravity feed. Beyond that you will have a choice of colors and ornamental trim, and several style options. Always sit down on your new throne before buying it to make sure the height and size are comfortable. An average toilet bowl will start around $200, but a royal throne could run you around $1000.

Styles and Types

One-piece or two-piece

Most toilets have separate tanks and bowls, making them two-piece, but some higher-priced toilets are one-piece, and they are generally more stylish. The benefit of a one piece is that you won't have leaks between the bowl and tank and they tend to be quieter.

Round bowl or elongated bowl

The most common toilet bowl used to be round, because it conserved space, but now as bathrooms continue to grow in size, the trend is towards elongated bowls (two inches longer than a round bowl). The standard height of a toilet is 15 inches.

Gravity or Pressure

These are the two ways by which the toilet flushes. Standard gravity-fed toilets use the weight of the water to force everything from the tank into the bowl and through the S-shaped trapway, where a siphoning action finishes the flush. The first pressure-assisted [flush] toilet was intoduced in the U.S. in 1984 by Mansfeld. Crane followed shortly thereafter and by 1986, virtually every North American manufacturer offered at least one PA model. In 1992 the government passed a law that restricted toilets to no more than 1.6 gallons per flush, as opposed to the old 3.5 gallons. These systems use trapped air to initiate the flushing mechanism.

Concealed Tank

Concealed toilet tanks are insulated and installed between the wall studs with the toilet mounted to the wall instead of the floor, making it easier to clean your toilet.

Materials

Toilets are generally made of vitreous china, which is clay fired at high temperature to form a high gloss, stain-resistant surface. They are durable but can be chipped, cracked, or broken if abused. Under normal use, however, they can last a lifetime.

A bit about Bidets

The word bidet (pronounced: bee day) is French for pony, a reference to sitting astride as if on a saddle. It is not a bathtub, shower stall or different kind of toilet (though it is placed next to the toilet) - it is hands-free, sit-down water washing unit or basin that used in place of wiping with toilet paper. Most Americans have never seen a bidet, unless they frequent upscale hotels in the U.S. and/or Europe. European's consider the bidet to be an essential part of their bathroom, in fact, no well equipped home is without one. Bidets are offered in a host of styles, from the traditional to the contemporary and usually match the toilet.