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Toto Guinevere vs Promenade - help me chose

14 years ago

Purchasing toilet for master bath. Like these two soley on looks and brand following on this site. Any thoughts on either of these models? Thank you!

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Comments (5)

ctlady_gw
14 years ago
We happen to have just installed both, the Guinevere downstairs in a small guest bath, the Promenade upstairs. The Guinevere is "skirted" and the Promenade is not (so cleaning the exterior base of the Guinevere is much easier, important to me in the cramped quarters of our downstairs guest bath). We were going to put a Soiree in our master bath upstairs but switched to another Promenade when I had a plumber "advise" against the PVC flange fitting of the Promenade. He considered it "junk" and said the toilet, as a retrofit, would never sit quite properly (would "rock") and he said at some point, that PVC flange would break. No idea if he was correct or not, but we changed to the Promenade. Very happy with both Guinevere (which I think has the same PVC flange as the Soiree) and the Promenade. Haven't noticed the Guinevere "rocking" but the bath was a complete gut and the floor was new, so perhaps the installation was different than it would have been for a retrofit in an existing floor?

One important distinction between these two: the Promenade is a two-piece toilet, the Guinevere is one-piece. Pros and cons to that (ask your plumber, if you're using a professional for the install) -- be sure they know it's a one-piece if you decide on the Guinevere. Makes a difference in the time it takes to install (among other differences), apparently, plus both plumbing firms needed two guys to deal with moving a one-piece whereas one guy can handle the two-piece units. Might be a factor if you're doing it yourself.

I found the Toto lines incredibly confusing. If you are installing this replacement toilet yourself, be sure you look at the spec sheets for the specific model you are considering and be sure you'll be able to install it. The Guinevere gave the contractor's plumber (who installed that one) a bit of pause, but he got it in. The second plumber (who we hired for the other replacement) had done a lot of Totos and had nothing good to say about the PVC fitting.

I would be interested to hear if any other folks have had plumbers balk at those PVC flange fittings Really liked the look of the Soiree but went with the very experienced (and highly recommended locally) plumber's advice!
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carolinesmom
Original Author
14 years ago
Ctlady,
Thanks so much for sharing! I really appreciate hearing about your experience. One additional question I have: I really want the higher seat, and I noted that the Guinevere is a full inch higher than the Promenade. Can you tell a noticeable difference between the two? I am getting another brand for kids/mud room baths (Gerber Avalanche - cheaper but excellent reputation) and their ergo seat sits at at least 17" if I remember correctly. I believe the Promenade is 16 1/2 and Guinevere 17 1/2; again, any thoughts on height appreciated.
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peggross1
14 years ago
Well, I'm online at this hour bc I just investigated the water running noise and found that yet again one of our Guinever toilets flush handles was stuck in the up position, permitting hundreds of gallons of water to run down the drain. We replaced all our toilets with Totos and 2 are Guineveres and they both stick.

After reading a lenghty post someone wrote about being disappointed with their Guinevere, I now also know that my toilets are not leaking, as I thought they were, but that it is normal for water to trickle out of the Guinevere bowl as you add any volume to it. I won't go into details, since I don't exactly understand why, but do a search for Guinevere and you will find it.

I was "sold" on Toto quality and installed 1 Soiree and 3 Drakes in the rest of our house. The Guineveres were two of the most expensive ones and they are the only ones to give us trouble so far (one year later and they've been sticking for over a month already.)

Expensive toilet, expensive waste of water, weird trickling noise when you add anything to the bowl - I'd have to recommend against the Guinevere.
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homepro01
14 years ago
I have two Carlyles which have the flange for installation. My Carlyles are going on 8years old and I moved them from one house to the other. The buyer of my last house did not like the toilets, I went to HD, bought them something and took my Carlyles with me. I installed these units myself both times. The carlyle is a one piece and luckily I live in a ranch home so moving them about was not a problem. I am a girl by the way and weigh under 150lbs! I disagree with your plumber. These are the easiest toilets to install because of the flange. The flange also allows the different rough ins without changing the toilet. If I had a toilet that required a 14" rough in, I would just purchase another flange and use the same exact toilet shell on it. You can remove the toilet without disturbing the wax seal. It take one minute to drill the holes into the ground and screw the flange in place. The promenade is a good toilet too but the reason for getting one was not valid.

Smarge,
Have you reached out to Toto to see if this is a known issue and maybe they have a fix for it? Also, did you post over at the Terry love forum and get some feedback? There are a lot of plumbers on that site that install Totos regularly.

Best of luck!
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carolinesmom
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks everyone for the invaluable info!
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