You know you’ve left your mark on the world when people quote you in the pages of Time magazine or you get interviewed by Oprah. But what does it mean if one of your top google results is “young house love toilet” (true story)? And up until now, searching that term on our blog didn’t really lead you anywhere helpful (Sherry talks a lot about our favorite toilet mostly on IG Stories). So if that’s the rabbit hole that led you to our blog and you typed in those infamous words, this post will now have you and all of your toilet-related queries covered.
Our favorite toilet is the Kohler Memoirs Elongated Toilet (sometimes also called the Memoirs Stately Elongated). It has been our go-to place to go for 7 years now, ever since installing it in our last home’s powder room. It’s comfortable, good looking, and – for lack of a better phrase – has always gotten the job done.
Why Is It Our Favorite Toilet?
The main selling feature to us was the slightly “fancier” design, specifically the classic crown molding-like detail around the top of the tank and similar flourish around the base. Out of all of the toilets out there, we thought it would be the perfect complement to the traditional style of our previous Richmond, Virginia home. So we bought one for our downstairs bathroom and one for our ensuite bathroom upstairs.
But we’ve also bought one more recently for our more modern beachy-feeling home in Florida and it works just as nicely. More “modern-looking” toilets are likely to be simpler and therefore, to us, have a tendency to look more basic – like the kind you might find in a retail setting or a fast-casual restaurant. Just sort of… bulbous and round and kind of cartoony? Is that thinking too deeply about a toilet?
Probably.
I’d argue this toilet design is classic, so it can pretty much slip in anywhere. And wait until we get to the function part. That’s really where this baby shines.
The point is, if you’re the type who puts a lot of care or thought into the look of your other bathroom fixtures (faucets, showerheads, towel bars, etc), the Memoirs toilet looks like a more intentional choice and less like an afterthought. It also comes in several colors like black, gray, greige, and more – but we always prefer the classic white finish.
We also REALLY LIKE how it functions. As mentioned, we’ve bought it three times over the last 7 years, and have heavily used each one (these are our use-them-every-single-day toilets), and none of them have ever needed so much as one repair visit or one call to the plumber. Never. We have not plunged these toilets one time. Not once. Which is more than we can say for every other toilet we have owned. So yay for a toilet that does its job.
How Much Does It Cost?
Admittedly, it’s not the most affordable toilet out there. At the time of this writing, it’s sometimes listed around $399 (although it’s currently out of stock at that price) and often listed a little higher (like here on Home Depot where it’s actually in stock). So for that reason, we did skip it when doing more budget-friendly renovations, like in our duplex Airbnb. But when it came to the places we, um, use on a daily basis, we decided it was worth the extra few hundred bucks. Plus the elongated bowl and comfort height design makes it more comfortable to sit on than smaller cheaper models.
The main drawback is that the Kohler Memoirs Elongated 2-Piece toilet isn’t typically sold in stores, so you will need to order it online for delivery or in-store pickup. You can do that at places like Lowe’s and Home Depot, or with online retailers like Build.com.
TIP: Double-check if your listing includes a toilet seat because many don’t. We recommend this Kohler Highline toilet seat since it’s quiet-close and elongated (that’s a must, or your toilet will look like it has an underbite).
Want A More Basic Budget-Friendly Toilet?
Let’s talk about this for a sec. Because we certainly didn’t spring for our favorite toilet everywhere, as we already mentioned. Our favorite basic lower-budget-but-still-dependable toilet is this one by Delta, which we have used over 7 times in the duplex, pink house, and our previous house with zero issues ever – which is a pretty great track record). I mean, look at the reviews. For the price, there’s nothing better.
Ok, Back To Our Favorite Toilet – How About Some Before & Afters?
If you’re interested in seeing more of the bathroom makeovers where we’ve used the Kohler Memoirs toilet, you can check out this post about our current bathroom (and what it’s like having 4 people share 1 bathroom).
Or take a deep dive into the HUGE gut renovation of our previous main bathroom – we knocked down walls, tore out doorways, bashed out a tub, and more. That post even includes a budget breakdown for you (toilet included!)
As part of that renovation, we also made over our walk-in closet using affordable Ikea Pax systems. Our walk-in closet reveal post includes a walk-through video of how we customized and organized the closet to make the most of the space. Toilet not included in this space…
…although you can see it in the mirror above. All the more reason to spend more than a minute thinking about which one you buy 😉
This leads me to one last thing…
How To Install Or Fix A Toilet
Switching out your old toilet is also something you can totally do yourself. We’ve done it multiple times! Here are some posts that can help:
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