I would have been seriously disappointed in buying a Toto if I had discovered the American Standard Cadet "3" models after paying through the nose for Toto's name. I was literally at the plumbing supply store picking out a Toto when the girl showed me the AS Cadet "3". I saved $300 plus I got the AS version of Sanigloss which the Toto Drake (right height, oval, white) did not come with. AS puts that finish on all their toilets, not just a few. To put this purchase into perspective, I've lived in hotels 50% of the time since 2004. I've seen way more toilets than I should have. The Toto Drake is a fine toilet, but it has absolutely NO performance value over what the AS Cadet "3" offers for $300 less. They are identical designs! The hotel I'm in now has the Kohler Cimmaron model. It's good, too, but still more expensive than the Cadet "3". I agree about not skimping on the rental. Again you don't need to pay $400+ for anything to get a great toilet. If you spend $180 for an AS, you'll never have to pay a plumber to come out. One plumber visit would pay for the toilet.

Actually, at this moment, we are especially up-to-date on the question of the topic line. We are remodeling our powder room (the bathroom that guests in our home use), and one of the primary reasons is to make it adaptable to a washlet-style seat. My spouse's sister and her husband have had Toto Washlets in both their upstairs and downstairs bathrooms in their home in Kamakura since the early 1980s, and we perforce use those appliances every year when we visit them and stay in their home; our home in the United States has seemed deficient without one. Last month, before our annual visit to Japan, I looked into the options, and one (very slightly, at its feature level) cheaper attractive on the North American market is the INAX Clessence. I admit that, in all my years spent in Japan, the brand INAX had not registered on my consciousness until last month. That changed in a hurry. After deplaning at Narita International Airport, I used the restroom in the Customs area while awaiting the arrival of our bags. All INAX fixtures. The next day, we met friends at Ginza 4-chome to see the art exhibition in Wako Department Store, and, looking down Ginza Doori, I saw a large INAX logo atop a building on the other side of Yurakucho. When I commented on it, our friends responded that the INAX Showroom and Gallery had become a favorite meeting place in central Tokyo, so we went there after Wako. Six floors, including one floor devoted to a gallery. Very hgh-end plumbing fixtures, including complete toilets, tile bathtubs, vessel sinks, high-end plumbing fixtures for both kitchen and bath. Everything was very elegant and understated, in the manner of the Dornbracht fixtures sold in the United States. When we mentioned INAX to our sister and her husband that evening, their comment was that INAX was absolutely top-rate --- if you can afford it. In Japan, INAX "advanced toilet seats" sell for a premium above the price of similarly spec'ed Toto Washlets. Very much the same kinds of comments, we found, were made unanimously by others, similar to comments about Miele appliances here. We took a side excursion down north (in Japanese, any trip away from Tokyo is "down," even when the direction is north) to visit friends and relatives in Sapporo. In the brand new terminal at Haneda International Airport, all of the fixtures were INAX. At Chitose Airport, all of the fixtures were INAX. We stayed in the new (opened mid-2009) Mercure Hotel in Sapporo, and all of the fixtures in our room and all of the fixtures in the restroom off the main lobby were INAX. Yes, we have used Inax "advanced toilet seats," in several locations, and in every respect they seem at least as well built as any Toto Washlet we have encountered, and they function flawlessly. For our part, we have decided that the "washlet" that goes into our remodeled powder room will not be a Toto Washlet but will be an INAX Clessence. Here is a link that might be useful: History of the company that makes INAX

Not a frequent poster but I've certainly enjoyed following your home posts Bodica. You are in an intense phase of grief. "Did I inconvenience.." that is blaming the victim; don't do it. Remember that even though it was not installed, your mother knew that you were advocating for her right up to the end. Institutions can cause so much pain. I don't have experience with nursing homes yet, but the pain the hospital caused me and my daughter at her birth and in the following days took years for me to recover from. I wish I had spoken to a counselor or therapist bc it was very hard on my husband and I. What eventually healed me was the natural process of how dendrons/memories change in the brain (softens the memory; it's been documented), and also looking at how happy/free from hurt my daughter is now. Your mother is free from the pain now, I hope that is a comfort to you. Unfortunately many of us have gone through these nightmare experiences of intense pain; loss of loved ones, injustice. Some say call a lawyer, in certain cases I might, but also I just try to be more loving to the ones I've got left. That is what heals me and honors those who are gone. Best of luck, and fwiw, I'm sure this thread will help countless others. I'd never given a washlet a second thought before, but now it's high on my list for older loved ones and someday me.

It certainly wasn't a barrel of laughs...! DH did the gut/re-build (framing, sheetrock, spackling...) and He and I painted, but we used our plumber and tile guy for all the plumbing and tile-related work. Your marble and travertine are beautiful--leftover pieces or not. Sometimes you get lucky that way! I'd say your contractor made some nice design decisions on your behalf! Your floor tile in the kids/guest bath (WZ Groove) looks similar to the floor tile we used in our MB--Atlas Concorde Glow Is yours textured? Ours has raised striations in/on the surface that feel extremely nice and very inviting (love walking on it with bare feet!). When I first showed a close friend the sample piece, she said the same thing, and I think our plumber would tear ours up and throw it in the back of his van to take home if he could--he just loved the texture. LOL! I fell in love with the tile because of that, before I was even sure if any of the colors it comes in would work!