Victoria Plumb, Wickes, Plumbonline or somewhere else, how do I decide?

[MardyPig]

The prices of bathroom suites just vary so much. I've found a straight superdeep bath I like in Victoria Plumb and it's only £109 plus delivery, 5mm acrylic, does this sound reasonable? Similarly the basins and toilets seem really good value, what am I missing? If there is little difference in quality between the toilets I'd rather save hundreds of pounds and buy the cheaper ones - but I don't want something that will break when dp sits on it.

I think 5mm is the standard for an acrylic bath, the ridgitity apparently comes from other factors such as it's construction and how well it's fitted.

We bought a really cheap loo and basin from plumbworld, honestly can't see any difference between ours and the ones in the large DIY stores, although the loo seat was rather rubbish, that's easily replaced.

Spend the money saved on nice tiles/flooring etc.

Most things I have read seem to suggest you might as well buy a cheap suite and then spend the money on taps etc but I am also utterly confuzzled and have looked at so many bathroom suites in the last couple of days that I may well go insane

PS My mum is recommending a steel bath, just to confuse things further!

Its ok to spend less on things like the MDF bathroom furniture, but for something like the cistern, taps, and shower heads, you're much better going for really good quality. As if those break, it'll take a plumber to come fix - which is costly. Plus there's less risk of leaking and flooding too.

So things like bathroom furniture, the bathtub, basin.... cheap should be fine.

I'm off the opinion that you spend money on things that work hard - loos and loo seats - they need to good quality. I went through 5 loo seats last year - I really wished I had just bought decent quality to begin with. Basins you can buy cheaply if you shop around, I think the difference in price is mostly down to styling. If you are clever you can make a cheap bath look pricey by customising the bath panel - tiling or getting a good piece of veneered MDF wet grade...but to get someone else to do these things then you might be cheaper to just buy a better styled bath panel.

Just had a delivery from Victoria Plumb this week - excellent service, helpful deliverymen and the price was reasonable. Opened up all the boxes and the quality of the products to me seem brilliant - got toilet, sink, bath, shower & tray and door, taps, etc and all seem really good quality. The taps are very heavy and look the part. I cant comment on fitting and whether they are good or bad as we are not upto that yet!

Victoria plumb I have used and am using again. Got a lovely deep bath for not alot of money (maybe about 150?) plus sink and taps. Lovely lovely. Just costed up kitting out mums 2 bathrooms - roll top bath and taps, shower and tray, the shower (thermostatic), 2 sinks and taps, 2 loos all in a lovely syle, under £1500.

I did get the loo for £60 from wickes though - very very basic and plain. Lasted well for a family of 5 so far! (been in a few years, as the rest of victoria plumb bathroom)

We used Victoria Plumb 4 years ago for 2 bathroom suites and a walk in shower. They were a lot cheaper than anywhere else, we had no problems with delivery or customer services.

We've had no problems other than the soft close toilet seats both broke after about 2 years, they are no longer soft close, but easily replaced.