ᐅ Bidet / Shower Toilet up to €500: Attachment or "Taharet" (...and with or without an instant water heater?)

Good morning,

After quietly reading along for a while, I finally felt the need to register here in hopes of learning more. Thanks for having me.

We are renovating our bathroom, and I would like to install a simple, affordable shower toilet (dusch-WC).

A premium shower toilet is definitely out of budget, as we have already allocated most of our funds elsewhere. So please don’t suggest just spending twice as much.
Also, a separate bidet is not an option due to space constraints.

After some research, I'm still undecided. Here is my current status:

1. Option A: Shower toilet seat attachment

1.1. Basic model: cold water only, e.g., Mewatec Nevada / N series
Advantages: very affordable, fewer parts that can break, only requires a water connection
Disadvantages: no warm water (for me the only relevant downside), no extra features

1.2. Warm water model: with an instant water heater (tank-type heaters are excluded for hygiene and performance reasons), e.g., from Leeventus (German company, German service, with products from South Korea and budget lines from China) or Horow (directly from China). These models often come with many additional features that I don’t really need right now – dryer, heated seat, night light, many detailed settings. Costs start at around 300 €.

My thoughts on the seat attachments:

Pros:
- Affordable
- Nice features like built-in instant water heater, dryer, heated seat, lighting, and more
- Can be installed or replaced without a plumbing professional
- Around 120 € for a simple cold-water rear and feminine wash
- Around 300 € for many features of a premium shower toilet

Cons:
- Unattractive visible water tubing
- Warm water models also require a visible power cable and outlet
- Bulky shape, not very appealing, reminds me of toilets designed for seniors
- More features mean more potential points of failure

2. Option B: Complete shower toilet / "Taharet" from the lower price range

There seem to be about a thousand options from various unknown suppliers, many of which look nearly identical. So most likely, as is often the case, they come from a few Chinese factories and are sold under many different brand names and models.

There are complete (!!) toilets with cold water spray starting at 120 €. Regarding craftsmanship, installation, sealing, jet strength, hygiene... I can’t imagine they are any good.

IF I were to choose this, I would buy it locally from a hardware store where I can return it directly if needed. For example, at stores like OBI or Hornbach, there are many “Taharets” ranging from 120 to 300 €.

A model with integrated thermostat does not seem to exist in the lower price range. I haven’t seen any even around the 400 or 500 € mark.

Only the slightly more expensive Taharets have both hot and cold water connections with a mixing valve. But in practice, this is tricky—depending on the time of day, you might wait 5 to 10 seconds for warm water and end up mostly using cold water anyway.

So, I am really only convinced by a small instant water heater.
That means even with the Taharet, you would have to discreetly install a small instant water heater near the toilet. This again requires an electrical connection near the toilet, adding 100-200 € in costs—and it’s not very attractive visually.

Current status: despite the mentioned aesthetic downsides, I am leaning towards a seat attachment. The toilet with the concealed cistern should be a "serious," durable, and watertight branded toilet. My current favorite is the L-MSC403-L from Leeventus. According to the manufacturer, this is the cheaper model produced in China with an instant water heater. The model DIB J-850 R, made in South Korea, is supposedly of higher quality and has a longer warranty, but costs about twice as much.

We would have electricity and hot water lines installed so that one day we might easily upgrade to a complete premium shower toilet.

What do you think?
What are your experiences?

Please also share your thoughts on cold versus warm water. Do you get used to a cold-water bidet quickly? Who recommends paying more for warm water?
I would be glad if some useful information could be gathered here. I can’t imagine I am the only one feeling at a loss here -.-

From my practical experience, I would suggest approaching the question in a less emotional way: The actual cleaning benefit is technically quite similar among shower toilets, bidet attachments, or handheld bidet sprays. The large price difference mainly comes from comfort features (warm water at the push of a button, air dryer, heated seat, automatic functions), not from fundamentally better hygiene.

In many countries – including those in Southeast Asia – very simple solutions have been used for decades, such as a handheld bidet spray next to the toilet. This is mechanically simple, inexpensive, almost maintenance-free, and reliably serves its purpose. If you can do without comfort features, this is an absolutely valid technical solution.

From my point of view, what matters less is whether it’s an attachment, a simple Taharet, or a handheld bidet spray, and more that the installation is done properly (backflow preventer, secure mounting, watertightness, sensible hose routing). I would pay special attention to this, especially with inexpensive complete solutions.

Whether the extra cost for warm water is worth it is ultimately a matter of comfort. Many manage well with cold water, while others do not want to miss warm water after a short time. Technically, it is not absolutely necessary.

Thanks @Phil1991x for your reply.

True, these bidet hand showers are available, but so far I haven’t really considered them. They aren’t exactly a visual highlight, and there’s the same issue with cold water, mixed water, or an additional instant water heater. Also, I think that when the device is used, it drips a bit on the floor when you hang it back on the wall. Plus, it adds more material to clean in the bathroom every week...

Sealing and durability are, of course, absolutely important to us. Our specialist is supposed to and allowed to absolutely avoid any experiments or shortcuts 😉 We will look at and plan everything very carefully.

Since we are also renewing the toilet and the wall-hung frame system, I would install a power outlet directly below or next to the toilet, so that there won’t be a long cable hanging around. Of course, you might have to shorten the device cable if necessary, which would void the warranty. So ideally, the outlet would be right under the toilet so any excess cable can be tucked away there. This depends on the toilet model, of course.

On the other side, we would also lay a pipe very close to the toilet for the water line to the shower toilet function, so that the hose can run directly from the toilet up to the seat. This is how I envision it to look at least somewhat visually acceptable.

Warm water 269 € (Leeventus MSC403) or cold water 118 € (Mewatec N) – my wife will decide. I’m already leaning a bit towards the fancy model. In any case, we will make sure to have electricity installed.

Are there any more opinions or experiences?

When building our new home, we had a water connection installed directly to the toilet. I love the bidet function, and it works perfectly for "front and back." We do have warm water available, but I often use just the cold water. I don't find it unattractive at all. It’s also great for keeping the toilet clean. Best regards

Thanks, Steffi, it really does look quite nice at your place. However, I imagine it to be somehow more complicated and prone to dripping compared to an integrated solution. On the other hand, it will definitely last a long time, and with the toilet and toilet seat, you have complete freedom. I’ll also show this to my wife – maybe it will come up as a third option after all...

Has anyone here already connected one of the more affordable "Taharets" / bidet toilets to a small instant water heater?

That could be an option... We could discreetly install the instant water heater under the washbasin next to the toilet. This means the device would be accessible from the outside, while the water supply and drain hoses would disappear back into the wall and connect to the toilet from behind.

You could set the desired temperature on the instant water heater – so that a simple on-off valve at the toilet would be sufficient.