Toilet Seats

65 toilet seats from Toto (26), Bemis (16), Duravit (10), American Standard (9) and DXV (4) — round and elongated, closed front and open front, in plastic, enameled wood and electronic bidet.

Round or elongated is the first thing to get right, and it is measured on the bowl, not the seat. Take the distance from the centre of the two bolt holes at the back to the outside front edge of the china. Round comes out around 16-1/2"; elongated around 18-1/2". The seats stocked here bear that out — the round ones run 16-5/16" to 16-7/8" front to back and the elongated run 18-7/16" to 19-1/16". A seat one size off will bolt down and still overhang or undercut the rim, and it is the single most common reason a seat goes back in the box.

Open front is a code requirement, not a style. Public and employee restrooms generally call for an open-front seat, with or without a cover depending on the occupancy — the split in the bowl-front is there so the seat is not contacted where it matters. 13 open-front seats are stocked, from Toto, Bemis and American Standard, most of them heavy duty for commercial traffic. A closed-front residential seat in a public restroom is a failed inspection, and the local code is what settles which version applies.

The hinge is what wears out, not the seat. Bemis names the mechanism in the model: a self-sustaining check hinge holds the seat and lid wherever they are left, which is what a commercial spec usually calls for; a non-self-sustaining hinge lets them fall. STA-TITE and Top-Tite are the mounting systems — they clamp the seat so it stops shifting side to side, which is the failure that makes a good seat feel cheap after a year. Where the seat has to come off for cleaning, the telescoping and lift-off models release without tools.

32 of these are soft-close or slow-close: the lid and ring drop under damping instead of slamming, which saves the hinge, the china and the household. Toto calls it SoftClose, Duravit and American Standard call it slow-close, and the mechanism does the same job.

Material splits three ways. Plastic — polypropylene on most of these — is light, easy to sanitize and the standard for commercial. Enameled wood is heavier and warmer to sit on, and three are stocked in that construction from Bemis. Toto’s EverClean and comparable surfaces add a glaze that resists staining on high-traffic bowls.

Electronic bidet seats are the other category here entirely. Nine are stocked — Toto WASHLET (S7A, S7, K300, A2 and a WASHLET+ Ready square), the DXV AT100 SpaLet and two Duravit SensoWash, one of them with remote and app control. All of them need power at the toilet, which means a GFCI receptacle within reach of the cord and usually an electrician before the plumber. The WASHLET+ models are built to pair with specific Toto bowls that route the supply and cord out of sight — check the bowl before ordering the seat, because the concealed connection only works on the matched pairing.

Related: toilet bowls, toilet repair parts, flush valve parts, wax rings and bolts, connected home equipment and the full bathroom range.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if I need a round or elongated seat?

Measure the bowl from the center of the two bolt holes to the front edge of the rim. About 16-1/2" is round and about 18-1/2" is elongated.

Do electronic bidet seats need an outlet?

Yes. They need power at the toilet, usually a GFCI receptacle within reach of the cord, and a water connection at the toilet supply.

What is the difference between open-front and closed-front seats?

Open-front seats have a gap at the front and are common in public and commercial restrooms, where codes often require them. Closed-front seats are the usual residential style.