Our Top Pick For The Best Smart Toilet

When installing a toilet, you might feel like most of them are basically the same, so the model you select doesn't matter that much. However, one type of toilet sets itself apart from the rest. A smart toilet design likely grabs your attention for the curiosity factor, but does it have truly useful features that make the smart toilet worth the cost? Is it time to upgrade your home with this kind of smart technology? If the answer is yes, our top pick for the best smart toilet is the Kohler Innate K-29777.

One of the most important features of a smart toilet is its ability to help people with disabilities and the elderly. For someone who has difficulty cleaning themselves, many of these appliances also have a bidet function that helps. They use a heated or massaging seat that helps with comfort. They also save water by automatically sensing how much is required for each flush. They have built-in night lights. Best of all, they're often self-cleaning. They may use UV light, automatic tank cleaners, or a deodorizer to improve the toilet's performance.

If you've already taken steps to make your house a smart home, a smart toilet may be the next move you want to consider. We didn't sit down and test smart toilets in the store — for obvious reasons — but we did inspect quite a few models and relied on online reviews to pick the best one.

Kohler has long been one of the most trusted brand names for toilet models, and this brand quality is carried over into the smart version of this appliance. Kohler typically combines stylish designs with reliable materials, helping it earn consumers' trust.

Kohler continues this same attention to detail in the design of the Kohler Innate K-29777 smart toilet. It has an impressive average water use of 1.28 gallons per flush (GPF) for solids and 0.9 GPF for liquid waste, which is well below the EPA's standard of 1.6 GPF. By automating the water usage based on the type of waste, the Kohler smart toilet can save you quite a bit of water over time. Its design includes a built-in bidet and automated lights, which can be helpful for elderly people using the bathroom at night and who need help with cleaning themselves. Its automated toilet bowl cleaning techniques are especially impressive, using a pre-use mist to ensure a cleaner flush and UV light to kill bacteria. It also applies automatic deodorization after each use.

Although the Kohler smart toilet is pricey, reviewers on Home Depot recommend it at a 90% clip. Reviewers at Wayfair give this model a 4.7-star rating out of 5.

• Purchase the Kohler Innate smart toilet from Home Depot for $2,550.
• Purchase the Kohler Innate smart toilet from Wayfair for $2,550.
• Purchase the Kohler Innate smart toilet from Kohler for $2,550.

Determining which model to select as the best smart toilet requires following a few key steps. At House Digest, we follow the same methodology when choosing the top products in any category.

We start by relying on our experience with these products and similar products in the category, including at-home and in-store testing. We also take into account online reviews from product experts and actual users. When sourcing user reviews, though, we do everything we can to ensure that they are not sponsored reviews, where the manufacturer pays the online reviewer. We pay attention to designs of the products, ensuring that our top picks have the most important features that people want from a model in the category. Within the smart toilet category, we found that users are especially interested in saving water and automatic toilet bowl cleaning processes.

Finally, we make sure that our best product selections are reasonably priced compared to competitors. For highly trusted brand names or models with cutting-edge features, though, we understand that a premium price is probably going to be justified.