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Toilet
Buying Guide

Everything you need to know about choosing a toilet.

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Getting Started Toilet Type Installation Design Flushing

How to Choose a Toilet

Making the highest-performing and most innovative toilets is always top of mind for us, because we believe the people who buy them shouldn’t have to give them a second thought. Let us help you find the right toilet for your space.

Getting Started

Choosing a toilet will require that you consider your needs and desires in order to identify the toilet best-suited to your requirements and to the reality of your bathroom. This toilet buying guide will help you do that. 

To begin, consider these questions:

1. What type of bathroom will your toilet serve? You might choose different functionality for different bathrooms, like cleansing or bidet functionality for a master bath but easy-to-clean designs for a kids' bath.

2. Are you replacing a toilet or are you remodeling an entire bathroom? For a replacement toilet, you may want to choose the same footprint so it fits the space exactly, without gaps or visible marks on the floor.

3. Who will be using this toilet and do they have special needs? For example, you might consider taller than average toilets if someone in your home has difficulty sitting or standing or if you are updating your toilet in anticipation of future needs.

4. Have you considered a toilet with bidet functionality? Toilets that offer personalized cleansing are redefining the way people think about their private rituals.

5. How would you describe the style of your bathroom? Toilets come in many styles and colors, so you can either match or complement your existing bathroom's design details.

Understand the Possibilities

Explore all the options available to you when selecting a toilet.

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Toilet Types

One of the first decisions will be what type of toilet is best for you and your bathroom space: one-piece or two-piece toilet, floor-mount or wall-hung.

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Rough-In Measurement

Not all toilets are right for every bathroom, so figuring out how much space you have is a key step.

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Toilet Design

Choose the shape of your toilet bowl, the height of your toilet, and more.

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ContinuousClean

New technology means you can automatically flush and fight germs at the same time, keeping your bowl clean longer.

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Style Considerations

You'll want to coordinate the look of your new toilet with the rest of your bathroom fixtures and its overall style. You'll also need a seat.

Color Options

Color is important and plays a vital role in the look and feel of your bathroom. The decision of a white or color toilet can shift the tone and enhance the style by creating a drastic contrast or seamless integration. There is no wrong answer when choosing a color, it’s simply a matter of choice.

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Don't Forget the Seat

Toilet seats come with a host of features, including Quick-Release™ hinges for easy cleaning, Quiet-Close™ functionality, and bidet-style cleansing.

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KOHLER Collections

Your bathroom should reflect your personal design style. We have many collections, encompassing traditional, transitional, and contemporary styles.

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Toilet Types

Toilet types are defined by how many pieces make up the toilet (one-piece or two-piece) and how it's installed (on the floor or on the wall). Most homes in the U.S. have two-piece toilets that are mounted on the floor. A third type, smart toilets, are defined by their advanced features, like personal cleansing, self-cleaning, or touchless flushing. You'll need to decide which is the right choice for you.

One-Piece Toilets

The tank and bowl are cast as a single piece, meaning the toilet is seamless and easy to clean.

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Two-Piece Toilets

A separate tank and bowl are assembled together to create the full toilet. Two-piece toilets offer great value to homeowners.

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Smart Toilets

Personal Comfort and Cleansing

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Cleansing features include warm water, warm-air drying, heated seats, and a self-cleaning wand for unmatched comfort and wellbeing.

Because comfort is personal, smart toilets allow you to adjust water and seat temperatures, cleansing settings, and more with an intuitive touch-screen remote.

An innovative tankless design makes a smart toilet a stunning focal point in your bathroom.

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Floor-Mount Rough-In

To ensure your floor-mount toilet fits your space, measure from the wall (not the baseboard) to the floor bolts that attach the toilet to the floor. This is the rough-in measurement. The most common rough-in is 12", though there are also 10" and 14" rough-ins.

12" Rough-In 14" Rough-In

For floor-mount rough-ins, always measure from the wall, not the baseboard.

Wall-Hung Rough-In

To ensure your wall-hung toilet fits your space, measure the depth of the wall studs which will hold the in-wall water tank. These tanks come in sizes that coordinate with 2" x 6" or 2" x 4" studs. You will need to choose a tank that matches.

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Measure between the studs for wall-hung toilet rough-ins.

Toilet Design

Design details impact your overall space, as well as ease of use and cleaning. You want a bowl shape that is comfortable to use and works with the size of the room. Small things, like the position of the flush handle or concealed floor bolts, can make a big difference to personal care and cleaning routines.

Design

Bowl Shapes

The big difference in bowl shapes is length. Round-front is usually space-saving, while elongated bowls offer more comfort for most adults. The choice is yours.

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Elongated Toilets

Provides extra room and comfortable seating, with bowl length between 28½" to 31⅝".

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Round-Front Toilets

With the shortest bowl length of 25⅝" to 29¾", round-front toilets are a space-saving solution for small bathrooms.

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Flushing

Many of our toilets feature innovative new flushing options with benefits like a cleaner bowl and reduced water consumption. Consider which options work best for your household.

Water-Saving Toilets

Reduced water consumption saves you money. Older toilets used 3.5 gallons per flush, but today our toilets can use as little as 0.8 gallons and can reduce the average family's water used by toilets by 20 to 60 percent.

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WaterSense®-labeled toilets meet EPA criteria for performance and water efficiency.

Flushing

Toilet Flushing Types

Choose the one you're most comfortable with.

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Single-Flush

Same consistent flush with every use, with models that range between 1.0 and 1.6 gpf. Single-flush toilets offer you the most design, shape, color, and installation options.

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Dual-Flush

Dual-flush toilets offer you the choice of a light or full flush, using as little as 0.8 gallons for a light flush and up to 1.6 gallons for a full flush.

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Flush Handle Locations

The flush handle is an important design element, and comes in push or swing levers, push-button, sensors, and control panel formats. Whichever you choose, it should be easy to access.

Right or Left?

The flush handle is most commonly located as a push or swing lever on the front or side of the toilet. You’ll also want to be sure that you have easy access to the handle once the toilet is installed.

Left-Flush Right-Flush

Choose a flush handle position that will be easy to access.