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Help choose - Toto Promenade or Kohler Memoirs?

15 years ago

We are putting a Kohler Memoirs pedestal sink (classic) in our powder room, and like most people here have a preference for Toto toilets. I think the style of Promenade works pretty well but no a perfect match. Is there any reason I should consider the matching Memoirs toilet? Thoughts, experiences (good and bad) are appreciated.

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Comments (6)

kpaquette
15 years ago
We did the memoirs sink and matching toilet in our last renovation - we were both very happy with it. In fact our close friends liked it so much they did it in their pool house bath, and they are happy with them as well. I see everyone here says Kohlers clog - maybe we were just lucky. Since we never had problems I never had to deal with their bad customer service. I prefer their design and am getting a Kohler (revival) for our master bath during our current reno. Toto didn't have anything that was the retro style I wanted. If they did I probably would have considered it, based on all the feedback here.
bluekitobsessed
15 years ago
I started off wanting the Memoirs suite -- toilet, pedestal sink, the works -- but I ended up with the Toto Eco-Promenade with a round seat (and no Memoirs at all -- long story there). I have had no problems whatsoever with its performance in the four months that it's been installed; aesthetically, it fits the vintagey look that I wanted; my water bill has dropped (it replaced a 5 gallon water hog); and it has a relatively small footprint/bowl protrusion, which was important to me in a small bathroom. HTH.

FWIW, here's a work in progress pic. The sink is a Kohler Archer, and the vanity is from RH. If there's a difference in whites, I can't see it in person, and you can't in the crummy lighting of this pic :)

Blue
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The Age old question of what toilet is better! To be honest, it depends on the models. Some Kohler toilets will perform better than Toto toilets, vice versa. When it comes to overall performance, I have had much better luck with Kohler (Installed in rental units and my home) Toto makes an OK product, but I recently looked at different reports about toilets and found that Kohler has upgraded their flushing technology. All of their new Eco models are flushing at the top of the MAP test (Which is the only toilet performance test) This score indicates that the toilets are plug resistant. Also, I did some digging into what makes the products different, and found that Kohler glazes all of their trapways, even on entry level models, Toto does not. What this means is the internal parts of the toilet are smooth, like the external parts, it prevents plugging. Toto does not take the time to do this on all models. I also had a 1 piece Toto in my home that I switched to a 1 piece Kohler. For the last year, I kept noticing a line that ran accross the bottom of the tank, I found out that this was part of the molding process, and needs to be sanded down, it never was, now I see it on Toto toilets all the time. It was kind of dumb, but once my wife pointed this line out, I could never, "not see it" My new Kohler Cimarron does not have any molding lines or visible joints on it. So in looking at toilets, I would say go with Kohler, I have had great luck with the Cimarron line, both 2 piece and 1 piece models. From my understanding the same technology is going into all of Kohlers toilets.
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sherri_09
15 years ago
We have a Kohler Memoirs toilet and I believe it's the worst I've ever used at clogging. I am also planning on using the Memoirs pedestal sink in another bathroom, and would also love to use the Memoirs toilet, but not after the experience we've had w/this one. The toilet is in a powder bath that gets very light use. Ours is about six yrs old, so possibly they've improved since then.
buildinginva
Original Author
15 years ago
Sherri, I think they now have a class 5 flushing system that's fairly new. Any other thoughts would be appreciated.
hsw_sc
15 years ago
We have the Classic Memoirs toilet and the sink in our front bathroom. This is thebathroom that gets the most use and we've never had any problems with clogging in the two years that we've lived here.

I think I'm in love with a toilet ;)
susan631
15 years ago
I am relieved to hear that someone is in love with the Memoirs, as I chose one to go into my new bathroom and don't want a clogging nightmare. More comments, anyone?

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