Today, let’s talk toilets. We needed two for this remodel — one for the powder room and one for the new toilet location in the master bathroom (if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, feel free to check out the before and after plan drawings).
As I toilet shopped, the ones that appealed to me most were wall mount. I like them because they take up less visual space (how? the tank is in the wall!), and they seem like they will be easier to clean (both the toilets themselves and the area around them) because they’re not on the floor.
There are all different sorts for different styles of decor, but I had a modern look in mind and was intent on finding the simplest one I could. Again, thinking of cleaning, I’m hoping the simpler the toilet, the less places for grime to settle in.
So which one did I pick? It’s the Starck 3 by Duravit. It had great reviews and I really love the simple lines. There are several toilets in the Starck line, including a floor mount model, but I like the Starck 3 the best (by far!). Wayfair was my favorite source for toilet shopping. They have a feature where you can create different Idea Boards while you shop. So I would save all the bathroom items that I was considering to one board, where I could see how they all worked together and make comparisons on similar items. (Plus they had the best prices on the Starck toilets!)
The one in the powder room has been installed and looks terrific! The one in the master bedroom will be installed tomorrow or early next week. Very exciting!
Though they look great in person and I’m still in love with my product choice at this point, I’m also a little nervous. I’ve never lived with an in-wall tank system before and I’m curious to know if I’ll like it for the long haul. With a traditional tank, if something goes wrong, and the flush doesn’t work, it’s easy to remove the lid and figure out what’s going on. But with these new toilets, if there’s a malfunction, I wouldn’t even know where to start. I feel like I would have to call a plumber immediately.
Wall mount toilets are used all over Europe, so we’ve encountered them a bunch, but I don’t see them often here in the States. Do you have strong opinions about toilets? Have you ever lived with a wall mount version? If you have, and you have any maintenance tips for me (besides choosing another toilet — too late for that!), let me know.
P.S. — If you’re ordering a Starck toilet, learn from my mistake. Each toilet requires a specific toilet seat. I know this from experience because I ordered the wrong ones. Hah!
Disclosure: This post is not sponsored, but I do have a working relationship with Wayfair, and I did receive store credit from Wayfair at the beginning of this project, and used it to purchase certain items throughout.
My parents just got new toilets with in-wall tanks, too. They’re new, so I don’t have any long-term advice, except: make SURE you like the height they are hung at. I know special needs for high toilets exist in some cases, but I would highly recommend finding a chair that’s the exact height you’re installing at and sitting and thinking about whether that’s comfortable for you.
So smart to find a chair and base the height on that. I ended up going with the seat height of our floor-mount toilet that we have in another bathroom. I guess for me it seems like a “normal” toilet height because that’s what I’m used to. : )
But with wall mount, you make a great point that it’s such an easy opportunity to raise or lower the height for any special needs.
We recently finished a remodel of both our bathrooms as well – and also chose the wall mount toilets! In our case it was mostly a space-savings issue. Both our bathrooms are pretty small, even after the remodel, and the wall-mount saved us about 10 inches of space which made all the difference in the vanities we could install. We’ve had them in for about 4 months now and I am a completely satisfied customer. Cleaning – So easy! And the sales person assured us that these systems have a much lower rate of repair than traditional tank toilets. Also, the button panel folds down to reach the “tank” if you ever do need to get in there. Have your contractor show you how before they finish up! It isn’t too intimidating once you see how they function.
Congratulations! Can’t wait to see the finished product.
So glad you hear you’re a satisfied customer, Sarah! Yay!
And I hear you on the space savings. We’re really seeing it in the tiny (tiny!) powder room. We wanted to add a sink (previously, it was a toilet room only, no sink), and needed all the space we could get.
Speaking of which, the powder room sink is tiny and gorgeous. I need to do a sink post!
I was in Ireland recently and some of the hotel toilets were not only wall hung, but they had two different flush buttons: for “big flush” and “little flush”. That seems like a brilliant way to save water.
Yes! Yes! Apparently, it’s a thing with wall mount toilets. At least, every model I looked at seemed to have a two button flush panel — one big button, one little button. So smart.
Almost all toilets here in Australia have a half flush and full flush and it has been that way for years. Amazed to find it isn’t standard. Not sure it’s even possible to buy a toilet here that doesn’t have two buttons. They also come with star ratings for the amount of water used per flush!
I’d be concerned about tank access too. Also, what about when the toilet needs to be replaced? Aren’t you going to have to tear out a whole section of wall?
Yes, you are exactly right. If the toilet needs to be replaced, there could be sheetrock repairs involved. But apparently, tank access isn’t the issue I thought it would be. There’s a push button flush panel on the wall, and you can access the tank if you remove the push plate cover.
I never thought I’d type this sentence: that is a beautiful toilet. I wish we had used these in our new build! I was so afraid of maintenance issues, that I didn’t even consider them. If I had realized that these often don’t need as much maintenance and include access for maintenance, it would have been an easy decision.
Gorgeous, right? I wonder if they will become more and more common here in the States.
I’ve never even heard of these! What a neat idea, and I’m all about saving space!!! I look forward to hearing how these work for you in the long run…I plan to redo more than one bathroom in my current home within the next few years.
Crossing my fingers it was a good decision. I definitely felt like it was a risk because we haven’t had one before. But then I felt dumb, because it’s not much of risk if it’s now being widely sold in the U.S. and has great reviews. #sobrave
The absolute best toilet ever is wall hung! I’m talking about cleaning here. Forget about it! It’s like there’s nothing to clean. Cleaning the floor under the toilet….pure joy and I don’t say that lightly. Having to wipe down the bottom portion of the toilet with the bolts that are always dusty/hairy on a floor mount was the worst and now no more. I’m on a wall hung proselytizing mission!
I love your comment, Allison! I hope I join you on your wall hung proselytizing mission. : )
I’m converted! Thank you!
We’ve been very happy with ours. Echoing the comment above about getting the height right. I wanted a comfortable height but also enough clearance that a Roomba or similar device could get underneath. We’ve installed them in both of our bathrooms. that and the heated floors are my favorite feature.
So funny that you mention height. We were going for standard height — approx 18 inches — which is the current height of my floor mount toilet. But when I saw the new toilet mounted, I almost freaked out because it looked so low! My brain was scrambling — how did we get the measurement so wrong?
So I pulled out my tape measure and was surprised to find out it was the correct height. Hah! I finally realized it just looked low because there’s no tank.
Oh my stars. Wall-mount toilets are my spirit animal. Cleaning floor mount terlits is gnarly and every kind of gross.
The Starck 3 is perfectly dreamy. . . LUCKY!
“Gnarly and every kind of gross.” So true!
Strong opinions about toilets? My husband does! As a German we’ve always had wall mount toilets and my husband ‘fell in love’ with them while living there. He just brought back the third one – as a piece of luggage – from Germany to Canada! This last one is for a little guest house we just built and I remember many discussions that the toilet in it doesn’t matter that much. BUT, he couldn’t do it. He had to get another Duravit. For the same reasons you got yours, less space consuming and so much easier to clean. The ones in our house are also Starck 3. Never thought to put pictures of those when I did my house tour! By the way, he has equally strong opinions on German vacuums! And washing machines.
German vaccums and washing machines? I want details. Are they brands I would recognize?
And the toilet-as-luggage story made me laugh!
Miele are a german brand and make great appliances!! Not sure if you have them in the states but in Australia they’re one of the top brands you can get, especially when it comes to vacuum cleaners and washing machines!
I second that. There is nothing better than Miele. It is very pricey but you probably never have to replace it ever again. It is the real deal.
It is indeed Miele! It’s a top brand in Getmany and is built to last. We got our washing machine here in Canada (even too heavy for my husband to take on the plane
Wow! These wall mounted toilets are beautiful. I can’t wait to read how you like it.
Is there a weight limit? The first thing I imagine is a 6’6″ 350 pound rugby player crashing it to the ground because there’s no structure below it.
Gabrielle, we do have the same one for nearly 7 years now. No problems to report.
In case anything needs repair or maintainance in the water tank, we can access ours pretty easily via the plate that sourrounds the two push buttons. I did it once after my 2year-old pushed them both enthusiastically for 5 min in a row (…) and got the buttons stuck. One counter-push from the bottom and everything was all right again. And I’m no plumber….
Love hearing that, Katja!
I live in Germany, grew up with a real vintage (probably post war) toilet and live with a new mount wall toilet now for 8 years. The water tank is behind tiles in the wall and I never had to break anythink because nothing ever malfunctioned. I think it’s pretty safe. :-)
I honestly had never even seen a wall-mount toilet before! I think they look a little more “modern” than I prefer, but I think this would be perfect in smaller bathrooms! I’m especially thinking these would be perfect for a “powder room under the stairs” situation.
Another question, if you have time: does the wall need to be thicker than normal, or is the tank tall and skinny so it fits into a regular-depth wall?
We have two back-to-back tanks for two toilets, so we did need to thicken the wall, but otherwise, I believe the tanks are designed to go in a standard wall. This is the kind of tank we used.
We’re (seemingly endlessly) contemplating a bathroom reno. We’ve got just one bathroom in a small apartment and could use any extra space we could get so I’m going to add a wall-mount toilet to our list to consider. I love the idea of being able to clean underneath easily – genius!
These are especially lovely! But, I have to wonder, what do you do if it clogs? Same process as a “normal” toilet? I’m fascinated…
For clogs, a plunger seems like it would still work. I’ll let you know if I hear differently.
I love these! Fabulous choice. We just finished updating both our bathrooms and I never knew I cared so much about toilets until I had to choose new ones. We couldn’t do wall mounts (old house problems), but I did pick out dual flush skirted models and can’t get over how much easier they are to clean! And I bet these are so much better even. Why do they even make the traditional kind? :) Can’t wait to see the finished rooms!
A friend of mine bought a home with wall mounted toilets and after thousands of dollars spent repairing water damage and rotting walls she makes it a point to tell everyone planning to install wall mounted toilets that it’s not a good idea. However, the house was built in the 70’s so maybe they are better now, or possibly they weren’t maintained well. In any case, I thought it would be good to share her experience.
We put three wall hung toilets in our house during renovations 5/6 years ago. They have all worked out well and make cleaning around them so much easier… ( I have 2 growing boys who are not always on target!)
The big thing with wall mounting is the installation. The plumber needs to be experienced and know what they are doing.
Satisfied customer here!! We moved in to a very modern house a year ago with floating toilets and they make such a visual impact, everyone comments on them when they first see them. So far in the year we’ve had them, we haven’t had any issues. And I love the two button flush option. Very happy, I’m sure you will be too!
This is the same thing that our designer has recommended for our new powder room. We are excited to give it a go and I agree that not having to clean the bottom of the toilet seems like a nice benefit. Hadn’t thought about the space saving element but that’s a bonus too! Look forward to following the rest of your remodel story as we’ve just begun our own.