For the first time in my life, I had to find cheap toilet bowls in Kuching.
This was due to an agreement I reached with the contractor of my house which we verbally agreed that I will buy certain items, which included a toilet bowl, or some say toilet basin.
How to find the perfect toilet bowl
Some people may think that buying a toilet bowl is a no brainer since you just need to get a toilet bowl which you can use.
For me, it’s more than that.
A toilet bowl is something that you likely won’t change for the rest of your life.
Therefore, it needs to be good, comfortable and sturdy. Aside from that, it also needs to be easy to maintain an clean.
Replacing a toilet bowl is not cheap and it is not easy. That’s why it is important to get one that is ‘perfect’.
Below are the criteria one needs to consider when buying the perfect toilet bowl.
- spare/replacement parts – Components of toilet bowls can get damaged over time so being able to replace them with original components is important to ensure these components fit nicely.
- water usage – Older toilet bowls use more water than newer ones. To save the environment, the less water your toilet bowl uses, the better.
- price – A toilet bowl that’s too expensive will burn a hole in the pocket, so you must set a budget which you should not exceed.
- comfort – while comfort in using a toilet bowl is subjective to the toilet seat, it is key to get one that you will like because toilet seats are rarely changed in the first few years.
- ease to clean – I noticed cheaper toilet bowls have a lot of curves on its design. The more curves, the more places for mould to grow and the more cleaning you need to do.
- S or P trap – If you are building a house like I am, it is likely you will be using an S trap. I’m not sure of the benefits of either trap, but you need to check with the contractor to be sure.
- sturdiness – I was informed that some brands tend to break faster, so getting well known brands may be best. Well known brands include Dicosa, Sorento, Toto etc.
- Bowl shape – There’s three shapes of toilet bowl, the round, elongated V, elongated U and square. I personally prefer the elongated V but the toilet seat for such bowl is hard to find, unless I look online.
Cheap toilets bowls in Kuching
Now this is probably how you found this post; To find cheap toilet bowls in Kuching.
I went to several hardware stores around Kuching, and each had a price they deemed fair as ‘promotion’. Here I will mention a description of each hardware store without mentioning the name.
There’s a big hardware store just beside the Kubah Market. They don’t have a wide range of toilet bowls but their prices are rather competitive. Due to the lack of options, I didn’t buy my toilet bowl here.
A big hardware store at the Kota Samarahan roundabout (opposite Salcra) had fair pricing, but their staff was rather clueless when I asked about spare parts or the toilet bowl options. He gave me the ‘tidak tahu’ answer to everything.
I went to another shop which is located in between Hock Lee Centre and ICOM Square. The shop is classy but they had a promotion in which a toilet bowl was sold with a sink at just RM570.
However, when we entered the store, nobody entertained us after 30 minutes, and even when we managed to call for some sort of assistance, we were then left alone again minute again. The customer service was a huge turn off and so my wife and I left.
I also visited another well known hardware store in third mile, which is not far from Timberland Hospital. Here, the workers were eager to entertain us and I really appreciated that. In fact, I even found a toilet bowl I liked, but they had no stock and were unsure when I could get it. Bummer.
Another store, well known for being orange in colour, located around 4th Mile Kuching-Serian road was having a promotion. They were offering toilet bowls at almost half price. However, I soon noted that their pricing isn’t actually far from what I could find from Shopee, inclusive of delivery to Kuching.
I only knew after I bought two toilet bowls from them, and I do regret my purchase to some extend. You can check toilet bowls in Shopee here.
The fourth major shop I checked was at 4th Mile as well. I checked this shop out of curiosity and despite the fact I already bought my toilet bowls. You can easily find this store because it has a huge orang utang sitting on a toilet bowl outside the shop.
Here, prices seem reasonable and their promotion seemed genuine. In fact, there was a couple of pretty nice toilet bowls on promotion which were sold below that ‘orange hardware’ shop although I’ve never heard of the brand of the toilet bowl.
Regardless, I personally regretted not going here first because I felt they really offered cheap toilet bowls in Kuching.
So what toilet bowl did I buy?
If you are wondering, I bough two of the same type of toilet bowls for the house I am building. The toilet bowl is from Sorento, which I believe has a good reputation when it comes to bathroom ware.
The toilet bowl I choose is one piece and seems easy to maintain in the future.
I bought it at RM635/piece after an initial price of RM1,200/piece. Interestingly, buying it on Shopee at this link will see you get the bowl at RM609 with delivery to Kuching. You can see it in the picture below, the first toilet bowl in the photo.
The toilet bowl I bought wasn’t cheap, but it isn’t expensive as well. I however thought looked rather classy.
cheap toilet bowls in Kuching conclusion
Finding the perfect and cheap toilet bowl in Kuching is indeed an experience.
While I admit it was rather stressful because I wanted to find the best, it was also exciting.
Faster updates on the house will can be seen on my Instagram, but if you want detailed information, it’s on this blog under the tag ‘Kampung House‘.