Bathroom suites - good quality mid range prices

[TheBelmont]

I’ve spent the last few months obsessing about kitchens and now that’s almost done, moving on to bathrooms…I have no clue where to start. Been browsing Victoria plumb and basically they all look the same to me.

any recommendations on loos, baths, sinks, shower units? Any brand recommendations and brand avoids?

what should I be thinking about? What should I watch out for?

all tips gratefully received!

Following as I'm in the same situation. My kitchen is all designed and ready to order but for bathrooms I don't know where to look (I wish there was a diy kitchens version for bathrooms).

@LillyLeaf its quite frustrating! I’ve a small toilet, large shower room and master bathroom to kit out. I’d kind of like to be able to pick a good quality brand/range and pick from that but it looks like everything is so individual - showers, baths, loos, cisterns, shower trays, shower doors for two different shaped shower units, flush handles! Then flooring, tiling and cabinet/unit choices on top of that, most of which don’t seem to work with the basins I like! This is WAY worse than kitchen decisions!!!

It's often cheaper to decide on a range and brand and then shop around for the cheapest price of each item. This way you can probably get a higher quality brand, e.g. Burlington, at midrange prices. A very cheap brand that I really like is the Milan brand, their 'brushed golden' taps and exposed showers look, feel and function like a much more expensive brand. I have them mixed with Lefroy Brooks, Burlington and BC items throughout my house, and they actually are my favourites to use. The colour and material is amazing to keep clear, too.

Lauren Pro

Do you mean Laufen?

I see Clifton Trade Bathrooms recommended on plumber forums.

Of course, doh

We just got our en suite from Clifton. You need a trade account to shop there though. We got the account details from our plumber and went in and chose what we wanted and paid. Not super cheap but good quality, shower panels, enclosure and tray, toilet, vanity sink and towel radiator ended up costing around 2500

We found exactly the same - it's so frustrating. In the end we picked a brand and started from there. We chose Roca and are really pleased with the quality. They have several ranges if you want everything to match, although they're quite classic so you could mix and match and it would still work well together. We ordered through City Plumbing. Their prices were by far the best, although you'd need to open an account.

It's just so rubbish that you can't go and view bathroom collections in the same way you view kitchens. It's all rows of toilets and random vanity units. Why don't they have decent showrooms displaying proper bathroom collections?

We went to some local bathroom
showrooms - you can see various suites on display with different tiles and panels, plus displays of things like taps. The staff at one in particular were really helpful and got what we wanted narrowed down from what was on display to further ranges they could order in eg a longer bath with grips rather than the one actually on display.

It's a showroom that just sells the bathroom stuff and you have to then employ fitter, plumber etc to fit it. Gives you more options though than the companies that manage the whole project for you.

We chose Deuco furniture in the end.

Ok I’m tempted by Ideal Standard…I think I’m prioritising quality over style. has anyone got this…in particular the Aquaflush technology? I’ve started another thread specifically on that…I like the concept but wondering if it is just a gimmick?

also…thinking back to wall loo…which would require a “false wall” to hide the cistern in. How much of a faff is that going to create for maintenance? What kind of a false wall should we be looking to create? I think close coupled seem to be easiest for maintenance, but I prefer the streamlined look and prefer back to wall for cleaning…less books and crannies! Any thoughts?

We had a nightmare dealing with the back to wall toilets installed by the previous owner so went with close coupled when it came to redoing. I believe there are ways to to box-in the cistern that would still allow access without ripping it out (they had not done this), but our experience of dealing with repeated leaks and a rotten floor were enough to put us off! In the end, we went with (what I consider quite pretty 🤣) close coupled toilets. Interested to hear of alternative boxing-in solutions too though for next time…

Yep. I'm trying not to buy online and shop local but finding most bathroom places are closed or very limited weekend opening times, only have uber modern designs on display and just give me a brochure for the styles I want. I've also repeatedly been told that my 2m x 2m bathroom I'm replacing with ideally low to mid range items and minimal tiling to keep costs down will be 12-16k for supply and fit! I'm in the northwest and people down south are saying they paid like 7-9k for a bigger fancier bathroom 😯