The German ‘shelf’ toilet

Not all the toilets are the same

Everybody knows that there are different types of toilets: the classic sitting toilet, the squat toilet, the urinal. Although their use can easily be understood, it is certainly not so for some curious variations of some of them, whose small but significant differences hide a very specific explanation that is more than just a design quirk.

That’s the case of German toilets or a few other countries that use it, in which the flush hole is placed more forward than the classic toilet bowls we are used to, and which are hardly seen elsewhere. German toilets are therefore different and are called ‘shelf toilets’ or ‘shelf shitter’, and if you look inside the bowl the reason for this name will be self-explicative.

Reportedly, this particular type of design deals with health. Unlike other toilets, ‘shelf’ toilets actually feature a sort of wider shelf on which the poop lays instead of falling into the hole with the water. This allows you to easily examine your poop to check for consistency and signs of probable health diseases. And as soon as the user finds a problem, it’s easy to take a picture and send it promptly to the Doctor as Germans usually do.

Besides, another advantage of this type of toilet is water-saving, as less water is needed for flushing, just as less is present inside the siphon.

Of course, one of the benefits of more water inside the bowl is definitely the reduction of smell and easier cleaning. In this sense, the German toilet is certainly one of those that leave the greatest mark (in the sense of odor) but has the advantage of not having the annoying problem of splashing.

By making a simple comparison, we can therefore say that American bathrooms are the ones that use more water in the bowl, Europe is somehow in between, whereas German bathrooms use less water than the others.