lol...I came here looking for decorating ideas, found this post, and had to join just to throw in my 2 cents! I am a very modest person, get embarrassed easily, and always seem to find myself in situations like this! :P My thoughts: tampon applicators should never be flushed...but I HAVE been in houses that there wasn't a trash can, or had to really LOOK to find it (& feel like, if they heard me opening all the cabinet doors they would think I was going thru all their stuff!) I always wrap them well & put them in the trash. As far as a USED tampon *cough* and as for how would someone know there was a wrapped used tampon in their trash? I would be paranoid that the smell would alert them to the presence. Anyone who has a heavy flow would feel this way, I would think. (and, working as a nurse intern at the hospital, I can speak from personal experience about body odors, not to mention germs--from patients, as well as co-workers!) I mean, it came out of a body orifice. I'm a cat person, not dog, but that post opened my eyes, too. Dogs have a better sense of smell than we do. So, having said all that, I would prefer to be able to flush them--they are just cotton--less substantial than the wads of toilet tissue some of us use. But, from what I understand, the newer toilets don't have much flush power, and I guess it probably depends on where you live (I rotate between TN & AR--some out in the country, some w/ septic systems, some w/ the newer smaller flush, but I had never even heard of a "dual-flush" until reading this post). I actually do have a friend who lived in an apt. and she had to call a plumber, who said she needed to tell her many visitors not to flush--but at the time I honestly thought she meant the applicators. My mother doesn't like even toilet tissue flushed, but she has basically no water pressure. On another note-I have also been in a number of bathrooms lately that had no towels! As I said--I am very germ aware, and it's just natural to wash my hands after using the bathroom--look around, realize there's no towel--what's a girl to do??? It's unfathomable to me. Do you know how hard it is to dry your hands w/ toilet paper??? :P

dahoov2: "So seeing as they are building me a new bathroom and it'll be an addition and not something adapted, I guess I can get a skirted toilet. I like the idea of dual flush too. I never even heard about "sanigloss" till today as well. "Anything else to look for?" If you are building a bathroom from scratch, definitely -- I cannot emphasize this strongly enough -- make sure that it has a grounded electrical outlet within a foot or two of the toilet at baseboard level. WHEN (it is not a matter of "if") you find that you can no longer live without an advanced toilet seat (also known as a bidet seat or Washlet -- but Washlet is a trademark of Toto so other makers cannot use that word to designate their product), your cost of installation will be significantly reduced if the electrical outlet is readily available. In the meantime, you can have one of the electrical outlets with built-in sensor night-lights installed, which will enhance nighttime visits to the loo. The inevitability that you will be getting an advanced toilet seat also may influence your choice of toilet itself. Almost all Japanese advanced toilet seats will fit right on almost all Japanese toilets (savvy standardization of dimensions), but you'll have a hard time fitting an advanced toilet seat on a square-front Duravit, for instance. https://www.houzz.com/products/duravit-vero-1-piece-toilet-alpine-white-2103010005-prvw-vr~15698952-Vero-1-Piece-Toilet-Alpine-White-2103010005-contemporary-toilets Everyone who has been exposed to the use of advanced toilet seats for more than a few days (many for much shorter periods of time) completely falls in love with the concept. Once you have yours, you will find yourself disquieted when you travel and visit most American hotels and have to do without the amenity. But you can always travel to Japan, where approximately 100 percent of hotel rooms and better than 70 percent of private residences (nearly 100 percent of newly constructed private residences) have advanced toilet seats on every toilet. There are probably more advanced toilet seats in use in Japan now than TV remote controls, and the remarkable thing is that the product category is only about three decades old. We have a Toto Vespin II with an Inax Clessence advanced toilet seat; we chose those two units after much research, and because we travel at least twice a year to Japan (many relatives), and could ask real people real questions about their real opinions. We have recommended the same combination to several friends in America, who have followed our recommendation, and have been delighted with the outcome. Here is a link that might be useful: Inax Clessence

Of the dual-flush toilets I am aware of--the Kohler Persuade, the Australian Caroma toilets, the Toto Aquia, and others normally have a very small amount of water surface. This causes significant "BM" smearing, unless you are able to target the small amount of water in the bottom. If saving water and the ecological benefits are that important to you, I would probably go with the Toto Aquia first, and then either the Caroma 270 or the Caroma Caravelle 305. If the looks of the Gerber Ultra Flush 21-312 don't bother you, it is an extremely high quality toilet, but since it has a pressure-assisted flush, you will need to have at least 25 lbs of water pressure for it to work properly. My favorite one-piece toilet is the Toto Ultramax. It is not a dual flush model however. Also the Toto Soiree is incredibly good. On the lower end (pardon the pun) of Toto's product line is the Drake. Don't let the price fool you--it is also a high performer. Greg

MN, First, you need to know that I am no expert on this stuff. However, I have worked hard to become self-taught based on intense research (that I'm guessing many people on this site do to survive replacing/remodleing their homes). So, for what it's worth... I've received one message from someone that a toilet similar to a Senry didn't work well. But - that's one person's experience and it *wasn't* a Senry. From what I've learned, Toto is qualitatively different from other toilets. The engineering of their toilets make them much more likely to function properly. Again, I'd check Terry Love's website (mentioned above) and surf around a bit. I'm including a link that gives a great explanation of Toto's functioning (go down to comment #9). Personally, I think of toilets and mattresses as items that are well-worth purchasing wisely. They are important parts of our daily lives. A couple of extra bucks spent now are well-worth being happy with your purchase. So, I'd go for the Toto, even without seeing it work (your store had it hooked up?! How cool is that!). If you are greatly concerned, I guess you could carefully choose a retailer that has a liberal return policy in case you don't like your final selection. One final word - we are going for the Ultramax as the toilet will be used by our guests as well as ourselves. I would consider the dual-flush Toto (which has a somewhat lesser flushing mechanism) if we were buying something for our master bathroom. In any case, good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Info from Terry Love's website