TOTO CST454CEFG#01 Drake Bathroom-Hardware, Cotton White

I can say with certainty that the Toto Drake 2 is worth every penny. This commode is something to brag about. And it does what it does while using only 1.2 gallons of water per flush. Every time someone ensconces themselves upon it's cool seat of perfection, the angels sing. The stars shine brighter. Your troubles melt away to nothingness. Your life has meaning.For all the greatness that is the Toto Drake 2, it gets better. One might think that it isn't possible to improve upon perfection. One would be wrong. With the addition of one small accessory, your life not only has meaning, it has new direction. It is possible that after installing this item that one day you might be the President. Or CEO of GM. Choose your lofty goal. With the addition of the waxless seal made by the clever people at the Fernco company, your joy will be complete. This dandy little item adheres in a most tenacious manner to the bottom of the commode (~3/8" thick super adhesive) and has a "horn" with 4 barbed rings around the outside that engages into the soil pipe assuring that whatever it is you're flushing away goes where it's supposed to go and nowhere else.The sad excuse of a toilet, the Kohler Wentworth, the one the Toto Drake 2 replaces, is now in the trash. Only 10 or so years old.When I removed the Kohler Wentworth from its location, I got the distinct impression that the wax seal was tenuous at best. There was probably some degree of leakage going on. Not a lot, not much, but enough to suggest that the bronze ring that is the closet flange was probably getting wet. And seemed to explain why occasionally there'd be a greenish liquid around the base of the commode. With the old toilet removed, cleaning the floor around the toilet was not the most fun I will ever have. I think my wife would have horked, maybe more than once, had she been the one to do it. Plus there was also the mundane task of ordinary cleanup of the area behind the toilet. A place not easily accessible when the toilet is present.Assembly of it all took some time. I wasn't going to rush this. I bought a new pair of closet bolts. To be able to snap the ends off and get the plastic caps installed correctly. I got that Fernco seal onto the bottom of the bowl and then carefully trundled the assemblage (noticeably heavier than the old one) over to its new home for the indefinite future. Because my wife and I may want to replace the flooring in the bathroom at some point in the near future, I'm going to buy an extra Fernco seal to cover that eventuality. These awesome seals are not sold at Home Depot. For that matter, the Toto Drake 2 is also not at any Home Depot location though you can order one. For $200 more than buying it through Amazon. Why does Home Depot bother? Do they think people will not check Amazon? Maybe I'm one of the weird ones. I researched, however briefly, toilets. My goal - which model, of the low flow models, actually work. The advice of a friend played a role. He advocates the American Standard "Champion" - the reviews, admittedly old, didn't give me a warm and fuzzy about construction quality. Those issues are probably history given the number of years since those reviews were posted on the website I looked at, but what can't be ignored are the glowing reviews for the models made by Toto. All Toto models are given good, if not glowing, reviews. No exceptions. No other manufacturer gets better than 3 of 5 stars. Toto models get no less than 4 ½ stars. And most are 5 star. Toto is making their toilets in the USA.The choice was obvious. The Toto Drake 2 would be coming to live at my house and would be my new best friend.The more mundane notes - the Drake 2 is somewhat longer than the Wentworth. During assembly, the making of the connections was more positive than what I recall from when I assembled the Kohler Wentworth years ago. Toto has made the effort to provide advice and visual feedback for assembly of the tank to the bowl. It's a 3 point mount. They give drawings showing how those mounts should look when assembled. You don't merely crank down on the bolts all wily-nily. You look for those 3 points. You bring them into even contact. You give another ½ turn. You are done. The plumbing guy at Home Depot gave one other good bit of advice. Use a connection hose longer than you think you'll need. Let it form a big loop. That way the hose is not under any stress anywhere along its length. Good advice. My old shorter connection was not too far from being kinked.And last, the seating position is a good 4 or so inches higher from the floor than the Wentworth. You might not think that matters in any way, but trust me, you'd like it. If you should ever get a commode like the Toto Drake 2.I also got a Toto self-closing seat to go with the new toilet. The seat itself is a bit of a marvel. Plastic screws and nuts to anchor it to the toilet (Yay! Someone learned that steel rusts! Yay!) There's also a non-skid washer that gets positioned at each screw between the seat and the bowl. The work well. The seat is in no way "squirmy" when you're placing your awesome self upon your new best friend. Another thing - when the seat and lid are up against the tank, and you want to lower them to the bowl, simply give a small tug. Let them go. They will, ever so slowly, so gently, lower themselves to the bowl without slamming.So ride. Ride your steed to elysian fields of glory. Ride like the wind.

This is the second Toto toilet I have purchased and installed myself. I bought a one-piece, Ultramax II, 1.28Gpf toilet in 2012. I have been so pleased with it that I just installed this Drake II toilet in a second bathroom. You can read all the marketing blurbs on the Toto website about this feature or that. I relied on my experience with the Ultramax II to tell me this would be a wise move, too. Yes, you can get a cheaper toilet at your favorite home improvement store, but are you really saving? Our water bill dropped slightly after buying the first toilet, and I am hoping to save even more. It's not just a matter of money, it's a matter of responsibility to conserve water resources.The toilet I replaced, an American Standard at least 20 years old, used over twice the water with each flush. Plus, it often took two or more flushes to clear the bowl, it was that inefficient. What a waste. The flush action of these two models is very efficient. Instead of trip, whirl, whirl, whirl, drain, trickle, and a slow tank refill, I now get trip, whosh, whirl, and a quick tank refill. The Sanigloss glazing, combined with the different flushing action, does mean a better clean of porcelain surfaces than before. We have only had three stoppages in the Ultramax in two years, each caused by the grandson using yards and yards of toilet paper. A quick plunge took care of these.As for installation, if you are the least bit handy, you can probably remove an old toilet and install one of these yourself in an hour or two. The two-piece Drake was easier to install for me. The Ultramax II was trickier because it was one-piece and heavier. I needed my wife to help me align the toilet on the two bolts that attach it to a drain flange. You can only do this once since if you get it wrong you would mess up a wax ring and need to get another. (Wax ring with bolts and a flexible supply line are not included; get them on Amazon or your local home-improvement store.) I really like the matching Toto SoftClose seats. They are great for late-night trips so as to not wake up others with an accidental drop of the seat and lid.By the way, my Prime purchase, purchased and shipped from Amazon, arrived in two days. Toto packaged boxes within boxes, lined throughout with expandable foam. I am always worried about fragile shipments, but Toto really came through. I would worry only about a major drop off a delivery truck or extremely rough handling in transit.Okay, I may have grown up from years past with something just one step up from an outhouse and Sears Roebuck catalog--yes, I do recall!!--and I probably will never adjust to a washlet toilet with dryer. To me and for my middle-class lifestyle, these Toto's are a real ROYAL flush.