# Whose idiotic idea was it to make all toilets white? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2009, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890 "2009-11-09T09:23:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/41 "2009-11-10T01:45:16Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > [Avocado Bathroom](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWoWHzq21tA) This to me is the real reason. White will never look dated. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/42 "2009-11-10T02:41:00Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > But they’re _not_ all white. Fixtures from the 70’s came in a variety of interesting and delightful colors such as Avocado Green, Harvest Gold Dude, thanks for making me relive my parents renovation again… ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/43 "2009-11-10T03:00:50Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Was it [one](http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?item=10453202§ion=2&category=30&subcategory=24) [of](http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?item=10453302§ion=2&category=30&subcategory=24) [these](http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?item=10453402§ion=2&category=30&subcategory=24)? They use a layer of lighter-than-water (presumably lighter-than-pee as well) liquid to provide a barrier between the waste and the outside. I love it that if you click the different color swatches - white, biscuit, almond, Mexican sand - you get images of the urinal in those different colors, but if you click the black swatch, you get [this image.](http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/300x350/default.jpg) It just seems…weird…to have a naked woman in a bathtub pop up with a seductive “fuck my head off” look when you’re trying to compare colors for piss-pots. (There must be a Delany reference here but I’m not seeing it.) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/44 "2009-11-10T13:10:43Z")
You’ve got to be kidding… toilets can come in “biscuit”? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/45 "2009-11-10T13:25:58Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > You’ve got to be kidding… toilets can come in “biscuit”? Sure! You know when people put creamed chipped beef on toast and call it “shit on a shingle”? It’s kind of a variation on that theme. . . ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/46 "2009-11-10T13:43:27Z")
All this “why white?” talk makes me wonder when porcelain veneers for teeth will stop being installed in bright white. ---
**Author:** ![Unlicensed\_Dremel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3be4f8/32.png) [@Unlicensed\_Dremel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unlicensed_Dremel)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/47 "2011-11-19T16:30:48Z")
It’s an excellent question, and I agree with the premise behind the question. It’s now been largely or partly answered (at least in theory), but it’s still an unsatisfactory answer - more on that later (the color issue). What I want to say and ask now is regarding the other huge giant defect in the design of toilets besides the white color, and that is this. Why in the name of all holy hell is the front of the bowl high, with a low slope down to the back of the bowl where the water is, instead of immediately dropping deeper toward the front, such that the water also is located much farther forward (by at least 2 or 3 more inches, preferably 4 more inches). It really seems like it’s designed as a big joke - the engineers sat around discussing it … “OK, guys, how can we design the modern toilet and foist it on the public so that when you take a shit - this is gonna be particularly awesome when you’re a guest in someone else house and there’s no toilet brush by the toilet – when you take a shit, the turds, sharts, and diarrhea must all FIRST hit the ghost-white porcelain at about a 30 degree angle (closer to flat than vertical), where no water is at all, and then may or may not slide down into the water – that way, we can absolutely MAXIMIZE the length, width, thickness, and contrast of skid marks and turds stuck up there on the shelf, and stuck halfway on the shelf and halfway in the water? Can do you that for me? - You have your mission, gentlemen - Go!!” Whiskey tango?!?!?!?!?! You’ll be sorry you ‘got me started’ on this forum - I hate doing things for tradition’s sake, and always look for the better way… ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/48 "2011-11-19T16:37:44Z")
I don’t have this problem. Try sitting farther back on the toilet. ETA: Or maybe, face _away_ from the toilet tank. ---
**Author:** ![Unlicensed\_Dremel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3be4f8/32.png) [@Unlicensed\_Dremel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unlicensed_Dremel)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/49 "2011-11-19T16:43:57Z")
Lol… I’m already at the very back. Tried that and ended up with poo brushing and catching on the back of the seat. It’s a real problem (presumably for a lot of people). Maybe it’s the anatomically-based angle of exit from the rectum - a genetic variance.. ?? Coincidentally, one of the funniest short articles ever written in the history of the universe… Clear the floor and prepare to roll on it… [http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000212.html](http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000212.html) Quite a welcome to the forum entrance topic.. Might even say I’m ‘making a splash’… lmao, sorry… > [@](#): > > You’ve got to be kidding… toilets can come in “biscuit”? And “almond”, and “chocolate” - yeah, I know, not the best names… ---
**Author:** ![Unlicensed\_Dremel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3be4f8/32.png) [@Unlicensed\_Dremel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unlicensed_Dremel)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/50 "2011-11-19T17:04:06Z")
OMG…make sure you read all the comments to that article; funniest thing ever. Poop and farts don’t stop staying funny when you hit middle age, evidently… With any luck, same will hold true in my geezer years. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/51 "2011-11-19T18:21:09Z")
Believe it or not, one of the main reasons my parents chose the house I grew up in was the yellow toilet/tub/sink in the front bathroom. This really impressed my mother as being so “modern”. The half-bathroom had a pink toilet and sink. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/52 "2011-11-19T18:54:19Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Mine is brown. It was white when we installed it though. :eek: :eek: :eek: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/53 "2011-11-20T18:56:52Z")
if the toilets are a darker color, then you wouldn’t how dirty it was. And that crap will be stained all over, causing a plethora of bacterial vermin and disease. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/54 "2011-11-20T19:38:22Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Why, then, is it always _white_ - the color that is positively the _worst_ at disguising the various shades of yellow and brown that eventually stain it? :eek: So, out of sight, out of mind is your preferred approach to sanitation? ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/55 "2011-11-21T07:39:47Z")
A doctor told me toilet bowls and sinks should be white, so you can identify blood where it’s not supposed to be. What I’m really looking for, though, is a splash proof toilet. Anyone seen one? ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/56 "2011-11-21T15:07:07Z")
For the same reason that hotel towels are all white\* - so that they can be clearly seen as clean or otherwise. \*yes, I’m sure you can find a hotel that does not have white towels, but I haven’t seen one since the 1970’s. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/57 "2011-11-21T18:14:21Z")
I quite like the stainless steel terlets you sometimes see in bars. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/58 "2011-11-21T18:42:25Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I quite like the stainless steel terlets you sometimes see in bars. And prisons ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/59 "2011-11-22T06:06:56Z")
Just want to point that the sense of “cleanliness” or “sanitaryness” was maintained in 19th century hospitals by the doctors’ wearing black. Blood, vomit, etc, would show far less than on any white material. I don’t know when that switched over to white smocks. That would be interesting to find out… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890/60 "2011-11-22T07:58:52Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > I believe that **porcelain is white** , and any colors involve an extra step (glazing, mixing pigment into the porcelain?), so it would be more expensive, I would guess. > [@sunacres](#): > > Jeez you guys. Toilets **are made from kaolin clay, which is white.** Any other color (and you can certainly get any other color you want) is an admixture, either to the glaze (otherwise clear) or to the clay. > > White is the unadulterated default. And for many reasons, in many but not all circumstances, preferred. But pick whatever you want! Bolding mine. So the answer to: \*\*Whose idiotic idea was it to make all toilets white? \*\* God. (Or your preferred alternative.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-idiotic-idea-was-it-to-make-all-toilets-white/516890.md?page=4)