Warming trend: in the hot seat

Custom Home, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Sharon O'Malley

These days, toilet seats can do everything from warm your buns to take. your blood pressure. Most popular among homeowners who choose to upgrade from standard-issue seating are heated toilet seats, which plug into a regular household electrical outlet and raise the rim's temperature to a toasty 100 degrees or so.

That's comforting to those whose air conditioned homes might hover around 70 degrees in the summer, lowering the temperature of the seat to 28.6 chilly degrees below body temperature.

"This takes the edge off," notes Kohler's Mike Chandler. "When the seat is basically the same temperature as human skin, it's a nice, warm, inviting, comfortable experience"

Toto's heated toilet seats double as bidets. Remote controls operate such features as a warm water spray, air deodorizer, and dryer. Buyers can blend several options for a custom-tailored seat, which Toto calls a "washlet."

More popular in Japan, where Toto also sells seats that take a user's blood pressure and conduct urinalysis, sales of washlets in the United States have "not hit the growth cycle" admits Toto marketing director Newbold Warden.

Still, manufacturers are urging builders and remodelers to install electrical outlets near toilets because more toilets and accessories will be powered by electricity in the future. Indeed, Kohler makes one plug-in toilet that conserves water by switching from 1.6-gallon flushes to 1.1-gallon flushes with the touch of a button. And the company plans to introduce a lighted seat.

Lower-tech lavatory perches are making their way into America's bathrooms as well. Sanderson's wood composition seats feature extra-large hinges that the company says last longer than others. One builder, Mitchell, Best & Visnic of Rockville, Md., installed a $1,000 solid mahogany seat on the toilet of a well-to-do customer, says Scott Vaszil, senior account manager.

Meanwhile, Kohler is comforting couples with its Peacekeeper toilet seat--the unit won't flush until the user puts the seat down.

This article first appeared in BUILDING PRODUCTS magazine.

Sanderson. The wood composition toilet seat features a heavy-duty Perma-Loc hinge, which boasts a larger base and hinge pin with a snap-down cover. The company's newest model is a square-back seat and contour-designed cover that are compression-molded for strength. 800.647.1042. www.sppi.com. Circle 175.

Toto. The electrically powered Jasmin washlet includes a front and back warm-water spray with temperature control; a massage-like water flow; and a seat warmer, air deodorizer, and dryer. The seat fits most elongated-style toilets. 800.350.8686. www.totousa.com. Circle 176.

Kohler, This heated toilet seat installs in minutes and plugs into any GFCI outlet. The UL-listed seat heats to 30 degrees above the average room temperature, up to 104 degrees. The standard design fits most elongated toilets. 800.456.4537. www.kohler.com. Circle 177.