We operate a high end showroom. And yes, we sell bidets. I’ve known about them since I first began selling plumbing fixtures decades ago, but I hadn’t ever been a fan. This was not out of experience in using one, but rather, from lack of knowledge.
For years we touted the advantages of owning a bidet. Cleanliness and hygiene were our selling points. But we sold very few because the bathroom required additional space for the separate bidet fixture. Only those who had either traveled through Europe or lived abroad wanted one. In Europe they’re very common. But Americans were not willing to dedicate space for them, and architects who designed new home bathrooms pretended that they didn’t exist.
It wasn’t until I talked to a European once about this very issue, that I truly got a vivid picture of the benefits. He said to me, “I’ll rub mud on your arm, and I’d like you to clean it off with a dry paper towel or toilet paper only. Is 100% of the mud gone, or do you want to wet a rag or towel to finish removing the mud?” The answer is obvious, and the analogy pretty clear.
Then Toto (a Japanese company) came up with a creative solution to the problem of adding a separate bidet fixture to the bathroom. They created a bidet toilet seat as a retrograde to fit your existing toilet. Their invention took the place of the existing toilet seat, and used the toilet supply water to operate. The one small issue to solve was getting an electrical outlet near the toilet to make things work.
Benefits? Lots of them. The seat has a built-in warming element to help with cold winter temps. How comforting and relaxing this is... Toto came up with a remote control that can be wall mounted if preferred, with easily read icons for cleansing, using a soft or hard spray by a sliding scale, with front or rear cleansing spray direction. The water nozzle retracts so it’s not visible until it’s called upon for use. After use, there’s a button for a drying fan. You can even control the air temperature, and run a vent fan afterwards that goes through a charcoal filter. How much more could you ask for in a hygienic device? And it takes no extra room, since it fits on your existing toilet.
So... I took one home to try it, and I’ll admit I don’t use it every time the occasion arises. But I do use it regularly, and I’m now a fan. There just isn’t a valid objection to having one anymore, other than that they’re not free.
