Overview
Styles and Types
Materials

They all work the same way so pick one that pleases your eye and your bottom. An average toilet bowl will start around $200, but a royal throne could run you around $1000.

Styles and Types
One-piece or two-piece
Most toilets have separate tanks and bowls, making them two-piece, but some higher-priced toilets are one-piece, and they are generally more stylish. One-piece toilets tend to be quieter and don�t leak between the bowl and tank.

Round bowl or elongated bowl
Round bowls used to be most common because it conserved space, but now as bathrooms continue to grow in size, the trend is towards elongated bowls (two inches longer than a round bowl). The standard height of a toilet is 15 inches.

Gravity or Pressure
The magic of the flush. Standard gravity-fed toilets use the weight of the water to force everything from the tank into the bowl and through the S-shaped trapway, where a siphoning action finishes the flush. Pressure-assisted toilets hit the market in the early 90s when the government passed a law that restricted toilets to no more than 1.6 gallons per flush, as opposed to the old 3.5 gallons. These systems use trapped air to initiate the flushing mechanism.

Concealed Tank
Concealed toilet tanks are insulated and installed between the wall studs with the toilet mounted to the wall instead of the floor, making it easier to clean your toilet.

Materials
Toilets are generally made of vitreous china, which is clay fired at high temperature to form a high gloss, stain-resistant surface. They are durable but can be chipped, cracked, or broken if abused. Under normal use, however, they can last a lifetime.

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