It's a little difficult to draw conclusions about trends on the first day of a tradeshow, but even this early at KBIS, there are a few obvious common threads among manufacturers that may turn out to be bona fide product trends.
Modern and innovative designs are popping up among toilet manufacturers, even as they focus on improving toilet performance and water efficiency (more on this as the Show continues), probably in response to the trend toward more contemporary and Asian-inspired designs in bathrooms. Non-traditional shapes and compact sizes are making a strong showing from many manufacturers. One example is Neptune's Murano dual-flush toilet, which head-on looks a little like an exclamation point. Murano has a round bowl rather than an oval bowl along with a straight, narrow tank and base. Its dual-flush system delivers 0.8 gallons per flush and 1.6 gallons per flush. As a plus, it's also extremely compact.
Another compact, dual-flush, round-bowled toilet is on offer from Caroma: the Brisbane, part of a bath suite, which has crisp, clean lines. Its tank and body are blocky and angular and its bowl is almost cylindrical. Check out VitrA's booth to see their Istanbul collection's toilet, designed by Ross Lovegrove; the entire collection has a sort of otherworldly-landscape or alien-spacecraft thing going on. The toilet is sleeker and more aerodynamic than any other I've seen, although I don't think it actually flies. A colorful seat lid tops it off.
Hide-away toilets are making an appearance as well. Only two companies are showing them off, but you never know; they might catch on. Julien's Bathroom Suite by Troy Adams includes the BenchToilet, a freestanding bench with a compartment covered by a sliding wood sheath that conceals a very low-rise toilet. The wood sheath slides aside to reveal the toilet, then slides back to reveal a stainless steel surface with a storage drawer. Villeroy & Boch's City Life SmartBench follows the same basic idea of concealing the toilet something pretty and useful. Though it has no drawer for storage, the SmartBench offers plenty of surface area for setting towels and such, and it also conceals a toilet paper roll under the hinged lid along with the toilet bowl.
Water conservation is a definite trend, at least when it comes to toilets. Water-conserving toilets, also known as high-efficiency toilets, are on offer from most companies at the show--and not just the 1.6 gallons per flush models we've all become familiar with, but also single-flush toilets that consume as little as 1.1 gallons per flush. Dual-flush take the water savings even higher, with most of the low-use flushes coming in at 0.8 gallons.
Day Two
Visiting more toilet manufacturers' booths today at the show, one thing became obvious: water conservation is on everyone's mind. As mentioned in yesterday's report, most manufacturers now offer at least one--or a few--water-conserving toilets. A good handful even have several high efficiency toilets, which save 20% more water than standard 1.6 gallon-per-flush models. Some use 40% less than 1.6 gpf models. I saw more dual-flush toilets today than I've seen at any other show. They come in every shape and size to appeal to a wide variety of design sensibilities.
The manufacturers I talked to indicated that even though high efficiency toilets (HETs) are not mandated in any states yet (although a few drought-prone areas might have mandates), reducing home water use could become such an issue that an HET mandate becomes necessary. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that Americans use an average of 100 gallons of water per day, which is stressing the water supply. In fact, according to EPA, many states expect to experience water shortages by 2013. Currently, California offers rebates for installing HETs, and EPA's new WaterSense labeling program will make it easier for consumers and contractors alike to identify water-efficient toilets, as well as faucets and other water-using fixtures, similar to the way the Energy Star program works. WaterSense labeled toilets will hit the shelves later this year. (check out www.epa.gov/watersense for complete information on the program.)
In talking to manufacturers about dual-flush toilets, many of them mentioned that contractors are still very unfamiliar with installing these models and that they are leery of working with dual flushing systems because of this. But installing dual-flush toilets is not all that different from installing a standard toilet, manufacturers say.
To see some of the latest water-saving and high-efficiency toilets, stop by these manufacturers' booths or visit their websites: TOTO USA, which is introducing 9 new HET models this year; Villeroy & Boch; Gerber, whose UltraFlush dual-flush HET models are GreenSpec listed; American Standard; Kohler and Sterling; Neptune; Mansfield; and Caroma. By the by, a few months ago TOTO received a Water Efficiency Leader Award from EPA for the WaterSense Program.
Toilets certainly used to use a lot of water, but these days when you consider how little water now gets flushed down a toilet on a daily basis, showers--especially luxury showers with multiple body jets--really seem to be the bigger culprits in excessive water use. But we Americans love our showers, and the more luxurious the better. Of course there are water-saving shower heads out there, but they really aren't receiving much attention yet. Tackling toilets is only the first step; showers may be next. Baby steps.
--Stephani L. Miller, associate editor, CUSTOM HOME Magazine.
