It may be something you’ve never really thought of until you’re at Home Depot standing in front of the wall of toilets, but all toilets are not created equally. When considering which toilet to buy, consumers often only look at style and price, while arguably, they should be looking even more closely at ease of maintenance and overall flushing ability. The last thing you want is for the stylish new toilet you’ve bought to clog or break down without the ability for a timely repair!

Today we’re going to look at the big three - American Standard, Toto, and Kohler toilets. With annual revenue numbers in the billions, these brands have no problems selling toilets. But which should you buy?

First, let’s talk about how we’re going to be scoring:

Style comes down to how “fancy” of a toilet you can get per dollar spent. Each brand has “fancy” toilets that cost thousands of dollars, but what about someone looking to spend a more moderate amount? Are you stuck with a plain old toilet, or does the brand make something that looks a bit nicer for the same price point?

Flushing Power is an easy one to judge - in 2002, a group of 22 organizations in Canada and the U.S. contributed funding to develop a program that would test and rank toilet models based on their flushing performance, thus enabling consumers to base at least part of their buying decisions on flush performance.  This testing program continues to this day and is called Maximum Performance (or MaP) Testing. Each toilet is given a MaP rating of up to a maximum of 1000 points, telling the consumer how powerful the flushing ability of a toilet really is.

Ease of Maintenance is something arguably as important (if not more important) than both style and flushing power. Any toilet you choose will inevitably break down at some point. You want to make sure you purchase a brand that has accessible parts, available in a timely manner, and won’t cost you as much as replacing the toilet altogether!

With all of that said, let’s get into it!

American Standard - The Everyman Brand

For nearly 150 years, American Standard has been innovating, producing, and selling kitchen and bath fixtures to customers across the world.

While there are some nicer looking, expensive options, American Standard toilets are for the most part, standard. Many of these toilets, both in the lower and middle price ranges lack stylistic pizzaz, but instead focus on getting the job done. For Style, American Standard gets a 6/10.

In their long history, American Standard has put quite a bit of time and effort into creating toilets that have incredible flushing power. Rated in second place, the average MaP Score score of an American Standard toilet is 930 points out of a possible 1000. Even more impressive is the understanding that this score is taken as the average of a whopping 450+ models. Not only is this the second highest average score of our competition, but it ranks them higher than most of the toilet brands out there. In the Flushing Power department we’ll give American Standard a 9/10.

Lastly we’ll talk about availability of parts - and scoring this brand is going to be a bit of a tricky one. The vast majority of parts used in American Standard toilets are readily accessible through either their own branded parts or by using “universal” parts that can be found in the big box retailers. With that said, if you find yourself looking for a part that isn’t so “universally available”, you might be in a bit of trouble. The one problem that American Standard seems to face is a lackluster customer service department. Part inquiries will often go unanswered, and when you finally get through, the parts themselves can take some time to come. With that said, I do want to reiterate that for the most part, American Standard parts are accessible! For Ease of Maintenance, American Standard gets a 9/10.

Toto - Continued Stylistic Innovation

Founded in Japan in 1917, Toto (formerly Toyo Toki Company), was started by a man named Kazuchika Okura after a trip to Europe. A ceramics manufacturer by trade, Kazuchika wanted to modernize Japanese bathrooms by reproducing the porcelain toilets found in Europe at the time. Fast forward more than 100 years and this brand is the reason Japan has been known for it’s “fancy”, innovative toilets for so long!

Aside from innovation, Toto has been known for it’s stylistic approach to toilet design for quite some time. Found in many of the nicer bathrooms you’ve been in, Toto does a great job of creating beautiful toilets at all price ranges. Whether you’re looking for a more basic “traditional” option, or one of those fancy “Japanese style” toilets, Toto has you covered! We’re going to give Toto a 9/10 in the style department. 

While they may look fancy, Toto toilets perform lower in the MaP scores than the other brands we’re comparing today. With an average of 820 out of a possible 1000 points, Toto toilets will still do the job quite well, but aren’t quite up there with the other two brands! For Flushing Power Toto gets an 8/10.

When talking about Ease of Maintenance, Toto toilets can also be tough to score. With a wide array of potential parts that are dependent on the toilet you install, most Toto toilet parts are not sold by the bigger retailers. For these parts you’ll likely have to source them from a local plumbing supplier or directly from the manufacturer itself. With that said Toto does (for the most part) print a large sticker that is placed on the underside of each toilet tank’s lid, helping you identify which part (and part number) you might need! Once you have the parts in hand they are relatively easy to replace, but keep in mind if you have purchased one of the fancier “Japanese” style electronic models that Toto creates, the solution to whatever problem you might be having is going to be much more difficult! Toto’s Ease of Maintenance score is a 8/10.

Kohler - Power and Design

Kohler started 151 years ago, when John Michael Kohler and Jacob Vollrath purchased Sheboygan Union Iron and Steel Foundry from Kohler’s father in law for a whopping $5,000 ($131,455 in today’s dollars). Early products included cast iron and steel farm implements, decorative iron pieces used for cemetery crosses, and settees. In 1883, John Michael applied enamel to a cast iron horse trough, birthing the company’s first bathtub. They have been in the plumbing business ever since.

Similar to Toto, Kohler does a great job of offering stylistic toilets at all price points. Going with a more “traditional” look across most product lines, Kohler offers hints of style in the tank and lid designs, rather than the more standard shaped molds used by the other manufacturers. Kohler toilets do a great job maintaining that traditional design, while adding a touch of grace at the same time! For Style, we’ll give Kohler an 8.5/10.

When it comes to Flushing Power, Kohler is at the top of the list. Boasting an average MaP Rating of a whopping 952 out of a possible 1000 points across 117 different models, these toilets can definitely get the job done. In fact, they are some of the most powerful flushing toilets on the market. For this incredible Flushing Power, we’ll give Kohler a score of 9.5/10.

If there is a downside to Kohler toilets, it’s in the availability of parts. In generating such an amazing MaP rating, the parts these toilets use are very often specific not only to the brand (not many “universal” parts can be used), but to the toilet model itself. As a result, most big box retailers do not carry Kohler replacement parts - and if they do, it likely wouldn’t be the one you need. Kohler’s customer service department is quite good, but once they help you identify the necessary parts, you will have to wait for it to be shipped to your home, leaving your toilet potentially out of commission until that happens. For this, we’ll give Kohler an Ease of Maintenance score of 5/10.

In Conclusion…

As we’ve learned, it’s no surprise that competition between these “big three” toilet brands is so tight. Boasting very similar overall scores, each brand shines in it’s own area. When heading into your next toilet purchase, ask yourself… Do you care more about Form or Function? Are you going to be able to wait for parts to arrive? Are you someone wanting to make a repair yourself, or have a plumber there to take care of it for you? With the answers to these questions and the information above, you’ll be able to make the best decision for your needs!

As always, if you’re in Toronto and have a toilet that is on the fritz, need help making a decision on which toilet to buy, or just want to say “Hi”, we’re always here to help! Please feel free to reach out by email to [email protected] or by phone at (416) 587-4302.

We’ll see you next time!