Get bowled over by the latest stylish toilets
June 29th, 2008 by katenorrisSource: The Star-Ledger - NJ.com (Original Article)
The humble toilet isn’t necessarily a plain-Jane — or should we say plain-John? — fixture anymore. It’s gone upscale, fashioned in stainless steel, clad in leather and pimped out with heated seats, water-jet cleansing systems and all manner of gadgetry designed to make your stay more satisfying.
It’s all in keeping with the increasing emphasis placed on kitchens and bathrooms, says Lenora Campos, public relations manager for the U.S. arm of high-tech Japanese toilet maker Toto.
Those are the two most popular rooms for renovation, and many people are treating their bathrooms less as utilitarian places than as spa-like refuges, she says. What’s more, the extras on today’s high-end toilets appeal to consumers who are wowed by the latest technology.
“In today’s world, we’re not satisfied with products that just do their utilitarian job,” she says.
After all, if your home is your castle, shouldn’t it have a proper throne?
No one takes that idea more literally — and with more amusement — than the folks at Herbeau, a 150-year-old French manufacturer of bathroom fixtures. It sells the Dagobert, an imposing solid-ash commode that’s a replica of an authentic 16th-century throne, except, of course, for that hole in the seat.
The Dagobert, named for a seventh-century French king, was designed for a 1970 Paris trade show by the company’s then-owner, who just thought it was funny, says Marion Hendricks, director of marketing for Herbeau Creations of America, the U.S. distributor. The toilet wasn’t introduced in the United States until 2005, but for something that Hendricks described as “so over the top,” it’s been a surprisingly good seller, she says.
The toilet has all the features you might expect from a royal flush — armrests, a hand-painted coat of arms and even a chime that plays “Le Bon Roi Dagobert” (”The Song of Dagobert”), a standard among French schoolchildren, when the lid accommodation is lifted.
At a suggested retail …continue reading