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While smart toilets have long enjoyed popularity abroad, they haven’t made a splash — no pun intended — stateside until more recently.
“The majority of Americans just haven’t grown up using smart toilets and bidets like in Japan where 78 percent of households have them,” Jeannette Long, vice president of brand marketing at plumbing giant American Standard, explains. However, within the last few years, more and more manufacturers have been introducing smart models to the U.S. audience. “Although it still remains a very niche market, there’s an uptick in demand. Particularly interested are U.S. residents who previously lived in countries where this type of toilet is standard, global travelers and those who appreciate new technologies.”
Still maintaining a certain level of rarity and novelty, smart toilets are one way to push your project over the edge. And so, if you possess the budget and are willing to take the plunge, here are a few products and considerations to dive into before integrating a smart toilet into your next design.
TOTO’s Neorest 750H features patented technologies that keep organic waste from sticking.
1. Consider self-cleaning surfaces
TOTO was a pioneer in bidet-style toilets, introducing them to the U.S. market as early as 1993. What distinguishes the most recent model of the intelligent toilet are the patented technologies used to keep organic waste — whether visible or not — from “sticking,” which means less bowl-cleaning duties. First, its ewater+ uses the incoming water supply to pre-wet the surface with a mist, helping prevent sticking 80 percent better than a dry bowl would.
Post-flush, ewater+ releases a mist of a slightly more acidic electrolyzed water. And, finally, the bowl’s Hydrotect glaze also keeps waste from adhering: An integrated ultraviolet light in the seat lid triggers a photocatalytic process on the Hydrotect coating to break down organic substances. This model also offers the smart-toilet basics: a cleansing system, a sensor-driven lid that opens and closes when you enter and leave the room and hands-free flush. This high-end model can use as little as 1 gallon of water per flush.
Duravit’s SensoWash Slim and its remote
2. Invest in a true all-rounder
Designed by Philippe Starck, Duravit’s SensoWash shower toilets are something of the American market equivalent of Toto’s Washlet. Marketed as safe, energy-saving and sustainable, SensoWash does it all.
SensoWash Slim, which was launched in late-2015, is the most slender and sleek model of the SensoWash range. The flat lid and seat are composed of a robust scratch-resistant and pore-free surface, which can be easily removed with a single hand. This outstanding element of practicality allows for easier, quicker cleaning, thus making SensoWash Slim an ideal solution in public or semipublic settings.
Video via Duravit
Some of the product’s other notable features include its remote control functions, self-cleaning wand, slow-closing lid and nightlight. Beyond turning the toilet on and off for energy savings, the remote control activates and adjusts the intensity and spray position of three wash cycles — ComfortWash, RearWash and LadyWash — and controls the temperature of water that is released.
Left: DXV by American Standard’s bidet-integrated AT200 toilet; right: the company’s AT100 electronic bidet seat
3. Go for glow-in-the-dark
DXV by American Standard’s most recent offerings include the AT200 and AT100. AT200 is a complete smart toilet with an automatic lid and seat, sensor-activated wash and warm-air dryer, adjustable heating and auto flush. Additionally, its nightlight function illuminates the inside of the bowl as well as around the base.
At a much more affordable price point, the AT100 is a bidet seat only that can be installed on many standard elongated bowls. It features three heated-seat temperatures, front and rear cleansing, warm-air dryer and remote control.
Kohler’s Veil Intelligent Toilet
4. Make it minimal
Last but not least, Kohler follows up its beautiful Veil toilet — which offers a truly clean look thanks to a tankless hatbox-like design — with the Veil Intelligent Toilet. A remote control activates and adjusts touch-free opening and closing of the lid and seat and dual flush, heated seat and bidet functions.
Across the American market, smart toilets are united by their upgraded cleaning functions geared to the conservation of the toilet and bowl as well as the user’s rear end. While TOTO really pioneered the industry, the basic functions that you may come to expect out of all American smart toilets include a cleansing system, auto-open and -close and hands-free flush. As a result, your selection will boil down to a consideration of aesthetic qualities, budget and a hierarchy of what specialized performance functions are most important to you.
This article was adapted by Jennifer Geleff based on Sheila Kim’s article Game of (Porcelain) Thrones: The Latest in Smart Toilets.
Architizer's A+Product Awards is open for submissions, with the Extended Entry Deadline fast approaching on Friday, February 23rd. Get your products in front of the AEC industry’s most renowned designers by submitting today.
