What's the difference between a $500 toilet and a $200 toilet?

Question

my friend said the expensive ones have better porcelain and will less likely stain.

Answer 1

Normally about the only difference is cost and the way they flush. As far as staining, the $500 one will stain just as easily as the $200 one almost. The $500 one might have a slightly thicker glaze. The glaze is pretty much glass. Only if you scour the heck out of it should it keep and hold a stain. Use the right cleaner on almost any toilet, no matter how dirty and you can pretty much make it look like brand new. Normally the difference in price is either due to looks/style or flushability. Normally, on the more expensive ones they do a lot of flush tests to see which one flushes the best. I'd recommend getting the cheap one. I had the builder for my house put the cheap one in (a Mansfield) that is the standard they put in for their houses and mine flushes and works just fine. If they use it on that many houses I figure they'd use a different one if they got a lot of complaints on it.

And on a show I watched one time, they said what the average lifespan of a toilet is: 100 years. It will last pretty much as long as your house does. So if you get a cheap one and it lasts half as long as the average, you're still talking about replacing it once every 50 years.

Answer 2

The difference is the amount someone is willing to pay for a very generic product. Even at $200 you're at the designer end of the spectrum. There won't be any perceptible difference in the use or cleaning of the product. Unless you live with a 900 pound man, I can't imagine that strength of the porcelain is a major difference, either. You're just paying more for the ability to tell people how much the throne cost. Nothing more.

Answer 3

It's the little little details that make it more expensive. For example:
1. Quiet flush (flushes way quieter than regular toilet)
2. Slow closing lid (instead of the lid banging against the toilet when you put it down, it has a stopper that makes it go slow)
3. Some of them comes with washer to rinse your body part with after you're done with your business.
4. There's even temperature control for water that comes out from the washer.
etc.

Answer 4

A 500 dollar toilet? Good golly, it better do a lot more then flush and repel stains.
Mine was about 150.00 and is 12 years old and looks and works like new.

I think it has more to do with how often you clean it then how much you paid for it.

Answer 5

$300. The porcelain won't stain unless you don't clean it, and even then it'll take months of neglect to make it stain. Save $300.

Answer 6

I would guess some of it is the thickness of the product. Plus higher quality porcelain.

Answer 7

Go with the cheaper toilet. It all does the same job and it'll be just fine.

Answer 8

Nothing but the name and the little "tag" that says Kohler or American Standard.