Technology and bathrooms; two words that you wouldn’t often associate with each other, aren’t they? After all, when you think of technology, you think of water, and as we all know, they do not go well together. Another reason why we don’t associate bathrooms with technology is because bathroom manufacturers and designers haven’t given us the chance to bring the latest technology into our bathrooms. It’s one of the few remaining industries where the old ways of doing things are still favoured by many, although they’re slowly coming round to new ideas, as we shall see.
So, without further ado, let us delve into the treasure trove that is the must have pieces of bathroom technology.
Harbour Glow LED Bluetooth™ Mirror with Demister Pad & Shaver Socket
The humble bathroom mirror might not be first place where you would expect to find the latest bathroom technology, but there are some modern bathroom mirrors that are so packed with technology that it’s a wonder they can still hang on the wall. The Harbour Glow mirror is one such mirror. If you haven’t bought a new bathroom mirrors for a few years, you may have missed three of the other big revelations in bathroom mirror design: LEDs, heated demister pads and shaver sockets. The Harbour Glow has these three, but its pièce de résistance is the built-in Bluetooth™ speakers.
How much more relaxing would your evening bath be if you could have some ambient music or your audiobook playing without the worry of your phone falling in the bath or getting damaged from the humidity in your bathroom? How much more energising would your morning shower be if you could be singing along to S Club 7? With the built-in Bluetooth™ speakers on the Harbour Glow, you can have your phone safely in another room whilst still getting crystal clear sound.
Crosswater Revive Multifunction Recessed Shower Head with LED Lights & Remote Control
With 20 different mono colour options including strong yellow which emanates a warm high noon sun, perfect for cold winter mornings or deep purple which creates a peaceful Zen atmosphere after a long day at work.
Technologically isn’t always about making our lives easier; sometimes it’s just about making it more enjoyable. The Crosswater Revive is designed to make your daily shower a more enriching experience. The beams of light housed in the oversized dome cast a lovely glow in your shower and you’ll almost certainly find yourself losing track of time because you’re admiring all that’s around you.
Vellamo Smart Japanese-Style Bidet Toilet Seat
The smart toilet represents the latest in bathroom technology in the one place where you would least suspect it. It has a temperature adjustable heated seat, LED lighting, a deodorising function and plenty of cleaning functions.
The control panel has easy to use buttons, one of which is the front and rear cleanse mode - the most hygienic way to clean and also very environmentally friendly as well as it virtually eliminates the need for you to buy toilet paper. The pressure and temperature of the water can be fully adjusted to suit whoever's using it. The position of the nozzles can also be adjusted. Once you've finished cleaning, there is an air dryer and again, the temperature of this can be adjusted. There is also a deodoriser to keep your bathroom constantly smelling fresh.
It benefits many people - it's ideal for the energy-conscious among us with its energy-saving mode which ends a reliance on toilet paper. And for the less abled user, it makes everything that much easier and its multitude of functions can be used without even moving.
Dual Flush Cisterns
There are still millions of homes in the UK that still use standard full flush cisterns, and with water prices set to rise again this year, it’s time to switch to dual flush. If you don’t have a dual flush cistern, you could be using as much as 15 litres of water every time you flush the toilet. Compare that to our Vellamo Universal concealed dual flush cistern which is WRAS approved and uses just 6 litres for a full flush and 4 litres for a ‘half’ flush. If you thought that was impressive, the dual flush cistern that comes with Imex close coupled toilets has an even more ecological 4 litre full flush and 2.6 litre ‘half’ flush. It’s estimated that the average family of four could save 15,000 litres of water a year just by switching to a dual flush cistern. They are so effective that they are compulsory in all new build homes in Australia.
Rimless Toilets
The popularity of rimless toilets has skyrockete, and with more an more manufacturers moving exclusively to rimless designs, we’re confident that within a few years, every new toilet sold here at Tap Warehouse will be a rimless toilet. Rimless toilets are universally accepted to be cleaner, more hygienic and more environmentally friendly than ‘standard’ toilets, and you can read more in our blog, Rimless Toilets: What’s All the Flush About.
Here's a few of our favourite rimless toilets:
Thermostatic Bath Taps
Is there anything more frustrating than starting a bath, leaving the water running for a few minutes whilst you go and get ready, and then coming back to a tub full of cold water? How do you avoid that, save staying and constantly checking and adjusting the hot and cold water? The answer is with a thermostatic bath tap. With a thermostatic bath tap, you set your temperature, turn your tap on, and enjoy your bath at exactly the right temperature.
Thermostatic bath taps and bath shower mixers are the safest way for you and your family to bathe and shower. When you’re bathing a child, you no longer have to worry about having the water too hot or too cold. Thermostatic bath taps keep the water at a constant temperature, even if elsewhere in the house someone is using another tap or flushes another toilet. The thermostatic cartridges in these taps also shut off the water in case of a failure, so if your cold water suddenly fails, you won’t be scalded by hot water.
Ceramic Cartridges
When we talk about technology in the bathroom, ceramic disc cartridges are probably the smallest and least technologically advanced piece of technology on this list, but having them in your bathroom is one of the best things that you can do. If you’re not too sure what ceramic disc cartridges are, our handy blog will explain all about them.
Most modern taps - both bathroom and kitchen - now come with ceramic disc cartridges. These tiny porcelain valves make turning your tap on and off much easier. There’s no more twisting and twisting to turn the tap off, worried that something’s going to snap; and once the tap has been turned off, that’s it, it’s off. You won’t be kept up at night by the constant dripping of your tap, and because taps with ceramic disc cartridges are so easy to turn off, you won’t have to worry about your children not being able to turn the taps off after they’ve used them.
Underfloor Heating
Stepping onto a cold bathroom floor first thing in the morning is not the nicest feeling, and neither is stepping out of a cosy, warm shower onto that same cold floor. With underfloor heating, you can step out of your warm shower onto a warm floor. Underfloor heating systems can sit under almost any type of floor - stone, tile, wood and carpet - and comes in two main types, electric underfloor heating and water underfloor heating, sometimes referred to as wet and dry systems respectively.
Underfloor heating doesn’t have to be confined just to your bathroom, although that’s where it’s most popular. One of the best things about underfloor heating is that it doesn’t just heat the floor though; the heat also rises slowly and can heat a whole room, whereas a radiator often just heats a solitary area. Whilst underfloor heating can be retrofitted, although this is pricier to install than if you were to put it in a brand new room.
Digital Showers
A digital shower is a must for any technology fan - or for anyone that hates the time between getting out of bed and waiting for the shower to warm up. The most modern digital showers don’t just have fancy touchscreens where you can set everything from the temperature to the colour of the mood lighting; they can also be controlled by an app on your phone so can turn your shower on and have it set to the perfect temperature before you even get out of bed. From the touchscreen control in the shower, you can also divert the water to any other outlets you might have connected to the shower. A digital shower makes for a seamless showering experience.
Have a look at some of our top picks below.
