Bathroom Furniture - Difference in quality

[Spanner10]

Hi all,

I am planning a bathroom renovation at the moment and have visited a couple of showrooms. My question is about the difference in quality between the various brands of bathroom furniture. Locally I can get hold of Syphony (Aquadi), Kohler, Laufen, Mereway, Ellis, Roca and Utopia amongst others. I've done a fair bit of reading up on the subject and a lot of people tend to recommend V&B, Duravit and Laufen but is this because of the quality of the basins rather than the furniture? The Laufen furniture looks pretty much identical to the rest to me i.e. it's all gloss covered MDF!! Additionally, the basins fitted to Symphony, Ellis and Mereway look identical to me. Are they all made by the same company?

While I'm at it, who offers the best quality of shower enclosure between Kohler, Simpsons and Merlyn? They seem to be the most recommended by my local suppliers. With regards to toilets, Vitra and Kohler are the two brands that I've had quotes for. Are they any good or would I be better stumping up the extra for Laufen?

I want this bathroom to last so I'm aiming for the best quality that I can afford and could probably stretch to the likes of Laufen if it's worth the additional cost.

 

[Chalked]

Fitted quite a lot of utopia furniture with no problems. Viceroy and boch are good quality, but for furniture , no better than utopia.
Shower screens. I like kudos, they are very well made.
For your choice of pottery, I rate vitro above laufen, it's nice and solid and always true ( a lot of pottery is twisted or out of level).

 

[AMW]

Utopia you get what you pay for I find its dearer but think it's worth it.

 

[manse]

fitted utopia in my own home about ten years ago and still as good as new

 

[Ray Stafford]

In terms of "get what you pay for", I would spend most money on any built in shower that might be difficult to access, then furniture, then the shower door, then other taps and brassware, and lastly, the sanitary ware.

If servicing your built in shower mixer means disassembling your bathroom, they consider Mira, Aqualisa or Trevi.

Unlike sanitaryware, furniture will degrade over time if you get cheap. So don't.

For shower enclosures, the important thing is to get a recognisable brand, who will still be here in 8 years, when you need that replacement roller, or hinge.

Similarly, choose taps from a manufacturer or re-seller who have been around a while, and will still be here to provide that replacement valve.

Sanitary ware is pretty dependable. If it was OK when it went in, it will probably be fine in 10 years. Cistern fittings may fail, but they are generic (unless you pick something really wild), and you can always upgrade to fluidmaster or similar if you need to. Don't waste too much money on a pot to p1$$ in.

 

[Gray0689]

Flair shower doors are decent I prefer them to merlyn

 

[SimonG]

For the whiteware, tbh, anything. Decent taps, make it look like something. Mira showers. Like the trays from Williams, used to use Mira Flight but they changed the wastes.

If you do buy from the sheds, first thing to do is bin the wc cistern bits and buy something decent. Fluidmaster.

 

[Spanner10]

The shower will be an exposed mixer and all the pipework should be accessible.

None of the furniture is what I would consider cheap when you consider its all made out of MDF! The Smphony unit is around £400 inc basin, Ellis/Mereway around £700 and Utopia around £1000. Laufen is obviously dependent on the range but costs about the same as the higher priced manufacturers for a similar spec of vanity unit (600mm 2 drawers). The basins on the Mereway, Symphony and Ellis units look identical. Could they all be sourced from the same manufacturer? Would I be be better off with V&B mentioned above? There are no stockists locally but I could probably source it online.

With regards to taps and shower, I was looking at Grohe as that is what I'm used to seeing in hotels and they wouldn't buy rubbish! Are Grohe and Hansgrohe pretty much comparable quality wise? I haven't seen any Hansgrohe stockists and my local suppliers are pointing me towards Bristan, Pegler and Crosswater although one has a deal this month on certain Grohe items, just not on a shower that I like.

Thanks for your replies so far.

 

[Gray0689]

Hansgrohe is better that grohe nicer showers but you will pay for it
Cross water do some lovely taps and showers to

 

[Chalked]

Cross water and peggler are very good, but the Germans ( Grohe) just make very good stuff. In 35 years I have never replaced one! And if I needed too, they will still keep spares for them for years.

 

[Spanner10]

I have got my taps and shower (Hansgrohe) sorted so thanks for that. A couple of plumbers have had a look to give me a quote and one said basically said that back to wall close coupled toilets are the spawn of the devil and I should avoid one at all costs. I can't fit the cistern in the wall so it would have to be a WC furniture unit that I go for and some just look naff which is why I steered towards a back to wall C/C WC in the first place. Ellis has a Thomas Dudley Vantage cistern. Are they any good and would the likes of Fluidmaster mentioned above be better? I have no idea which cistern is fitted inside Mereway.

 

[JCplumb]

one said basically said that back to wall close coupled toilets are the spawn of the devil and I should avoid one at all costs..

My guess is that particular plumber isn't very good at fitting cc toilets. Done right they are fine.

 

[stevetheplumber]

nothing difficult with back to wall pans or even wall hung

 

[stevetheplumber]

while were on this subject can you fit a wall hung when the furniture is also wall hung ie no plinths or legs? ive been told theres a special frame????

 

[Spanner10]

I think he was inferring that once they the pan is pushed back and secured, you can't tell if there is a leak.

 

[plumben]

I think he was inferring that once they the pan is pushed back and secured, you can't tell if there is a leak.

You'd tell if theres a leak when water starts running out from under the pan,

I take it you mean back to the wall as in where there no gap at all between the wall and pan,
As to fit these ideally you need to use a flexi pan connector and flexi inlet hose which although work fine can have faults if incorrectly fitted

 

[Spanner10]

I take it you mean back to the wall as in where there no gap at all between the wall and pan,
As to fit these ideally you need to use a flexi pan connector and flexi inlet hose which although work fine can have faults if incorrectly fitted

Yes, it is a back to wall pan.

 

[tolly]

I think what your plumber was referring to is what should be called a Close Coupled Closed Back toilet, nothing wrong with them, just take a bit longer and you have to you a flexi tap connecter to pipe the cold up. I still hard pipe the waste outlet though as i hate flexible pan connecters. Sometimes you can be a bit crafty and look down one of the toilet seat fixing holes with a torch held over the other hole to make sure the pan connecter is pushed home.

Me personally i would chose a close coupled toilet, be it open or close backed over a BTW pan with concealed cistern any day of the week.