What's the most expensive toilet in the world?

The most expensive toilet in the world is made of solid gold and can be found in Hong Kong. Learn more about the world's most expensive toilet in this HowStuffWorks podcast.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know
from House Stuff Works dot Com? Brought to you by
consumer Guy at Automotive we make garbine easier. Hi, and
welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, as staff writer
here at how Stuff Works dot Com. With me is
always is the greatest edit tricks on the planet. Candice Gibson, Candice,

(00:24):
how are you quick? Tell me what is the most
expensive toilet in the world? Come on three? It is
solid gold, y'all. It is a solid gold toilet. And
it's not just this solid gold toilets part of this
huge display, right, I have a solid gold laboratory right right,

(00:44):
And there's actually um non laboratory parts of the displayers
like gold Buddhist and stuff. But far and away the
biggest tourist attraction here at Hang Funk Jewelers in Hong
Kong is the solid gold laboratory, which is why it
was such a surprise when Hang Fung announced early in
two thousand and eight that they were going to start
melting down parts of it, and people were mad, and

(01:04):
not just because they had to get a really badly
because you can't actually use the bathroom. The toilet is
for a display, but it was just such an odd attraction.
People wanted to preserve a fa solic old toilet for
posterity sake, right, So Hang fun actually did start melting
down parts of the laboratory because the price of gold
had reached a thousand dollars. The dollar did weekend, thank
you su Prime mortgage debacle, and gold went up, so

(01:27):
Hang falling besides the cash in I mean, we're talking
tens of millions of dollars for a ton of gold.
And they assured everybody though that the solid gold toilet
was going to remain. Can't say the same for you know,
other fixtures of the laboratory, like the golden shower, the
golden sink, that kind of thing. But the solid gold
toilet remains. And that is the most expensive toilet in
the world, indeed, and it's a testament to luxurious bathroom

(01:50):
retreats everywhere. It is. That's kind of a big trend
right now. Indeed, it really is. And now, you know,
the bathroom used to just be another room in the house,
but it really has become a sort of a spa
retreat for people. People are adding uh, marble counter tops
and sunken in tubs and um chandeliers in place of
vanity lighting. It's it's huge right now. It really adds

(02:12):
to the value of your home. So, you know, I
actually read a study that showed that luxury bath upgrades
return something like of the investment, which is just ridiculous.
Kitchens are like, isn't that wild? And you know, it's funny, Josh,
because the kitchen really used to be sort of the
place where people would go to gather. You know, inevitably,

(02:33):
whenever you throw a party, people end up in the
kitchen and much to the hostesses chagrin. But um, now
people are apparently congregating in bathrooms a because they're big enough,
but b because just some are that nice. Well, you know,
I'm not quite sure that the guests are actually congregating there.
I think they're kind of assembled there against their will.

(02:55):
But I read at least one article, one in the
Wall Street Journal that was centered around this couple who
threw an engagement party, a large one, uh, in their bathroom,
and their bathroom, like you said, it was a nice one.
It has This one had a coypon fireplaces and certainly
lots of marble and all that. But uh, these people
aren't just complete wackos. I mean, this is this is

(03:15):
something that's becoming a trend in America. Bathrooms are starting
to step up and say pay attention to me, pay
attention to me, and people are doing just that. People
are doing just that, and they have more reason to
with innovations like the neo rest fix toilets. This is
my favorite toilet in the world. I'd like to see
even more than the solid gold toilet, mainly because you
can actually use this one. And this is a really,

(03:37):
really nice little potty companion. It actually opens its lid
when it sendss you approaching, it warms so that your
to doesn't have to touch cold porceline. Right, there's a
there's a cleaning stream of water, a jet of water
followed by a puff of air to dry you off.
Pretty much the only thing the neoistics hunter doesn't do
is talk to you. Wouldn't you agree? I agree? And

(04:00):
so you've got this great near rest toilet where you're
gonna do put in some schlovey shower or something. Now,
there's plenty of other amenities too, that are available. Have
you heard about this idle lux shower? I have not, Dude.
This thing is a stand up shower, but it has
a UV lights around it, so you actually tan while
you're showering. Wow. That certainly is an upgrade from the

(04:20):
bathrooms of your uh cess pits and which people used
to urinate and defecate and open areas. Sure, yeah, but
I mean what came after that? It wasn't a direct
leap from cess pits to out houses, was it. No?
Trenches came next? Oh, gotcha? Yeah? And then out house
it's right, And then yes, and then aspensibly the near

(04:41):
rest ascendered. Right. Yeah, it's pretty much the progression. It's
like that a picture of the evolution of man, except
with bathroom Now. Well, if you want to read more
about the most expensive toilet in the world and other
lux bathroom fixtures, check out the article entitled What's the
most expensive toilet in the World on how stuff works
dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics.

(05:04):
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