Walk into almost any bathroom in Italy, Portugal or France and you will find a bidet sitting beside the toilet. In Canada the fixture is still uncommon, but interest is growing fast as homeowners renovate with hygiene, wellness and aging in place in mind. Duravit, the German manufacturer with more than a century of ceramic sanitaryware behind it, builds some of the most refined bidets available in North America. This guide explains how Duravit bidets are configured, what the plumbing actually involves in a Canadian home, and how to decide honestly between a classic ceramic bidet and a washlet style seat.
The European tradition, translated for Canadian bathrooms
A bidet is a dedicated ceramic basin mounted at roughly toilet height, with its own faucet and its own drain. It is used after the toilet for washing with water rather than relying on paper alone. Southern Europe never gave the fixture up, and in much of the world it is considered basic hygiene equipment rather than a luxury.
For Canadian buyers the appeal usually comes down to three things: noticeably better cleanliness, reduced toilet paper use, and real comfort for anyone dealing with mobility limitations, postpartum recovery or medical conditions that make washing preferable to wiping. Because a bidet is a simple ceramic fixture served by a faucet, there is also nothing electronic to fail.
Floor-standing or wall-hung: the two Duravit formats
Duravit builds its bidets in the same two formats as its toilets, and the trade-offs mirror each other closely.
- Floor-standing bidets sit directly on the floor and connect to a conventional drain rough-in. They are the more familiar format, the simpler installation, and generally the easier choice when your renovation keeps the existing wall and floor structure intact.
- Wall-hung bidets mount to a concealed steel carrier hidden inside the wall, exactly like a wall-hung toilet. The bowl appears to float, the floor beneath stays completely clear for cleaning, and the mounting height can be set during rough-in to suit the household. The cost is complexity: the wall needs enough framing depth for the carrier, and the plumbing must be planned before drywall goes up.
As a rule of thumb, wall-hung suits new builds and full gut renovations where the walls are open anyway, while floor-standing suits projects where you want the fixture without rebuilding the wall behind it.
Pairing a bidet with a matching toilet
The strongest argument for buying a Duravit bidet specifically is that Duravit designs its bidets as part of complete series, so the bidet and the toilet share the same bowl geometry, rim styling and overall design language. A mismatched pair is a detail you notice forever once you have seen it.
Well-established Duravit series such as Starck 3, ME by Starck, DuraStyle, D-Neo, Happy D.2 and Vero Air all include companion bidets alongside their toilets. The design characters differ: the Starck programs lean minimalist, Happy D.2 is soft and rounded-rectangular, Vero Air is crisp and architectural, and DuraStyle and D-Neo sit in accessible contemporary territory. Whichever direction you take, choose the toilet and bidet from the same series at the same time, and match the format too: a wall-hung toilet next to a floor-standing bidet rarely looks deliberate. You can compare the current range of one-piece, two-piece and wall-hung models in our toilets collection.
One more planning note: a bidet needs its own faucet, called a bidet fitting, which is usually specified separately. Confirm it is on the order before you finalize anything.
Plumbing planning for a Canadian home
This is where a bidet differs most from a washlet seat, so plan it early with your contractor.
- Supply lines. A bidet needs both hot and cold water, unlike a toilet, which uses cold only. That usually means running a new hot line to the fixture location.
- A dedicated drain. The bidet drains like a small basin, so it requires its own trapped drain and venting. This is straightforward during a renovation and considerably more invasive as a standalone retrofit, especially on a slab or above a finished ceiling.
- Clearances. Comfortable practice calls for generous side clearance between the bidet, the toilet and any adjacent wall or vanity. The National Plumbing Code and provincial and municipal amendments govern the specifics, and they vary, so have your plumber confirm required clearances with the local authority before you commit to a layout.
- Certification. Look for CSA or cUPC certified fittings and confirm your plumber pulls the appropriate permit. Inspections are a feature, not a nuisance, on work like this.
- Cold-climate routing. From the Prairies to rural Nova Scotia, keep supply lines out of poorly insulated exterior walls. This is standard Canadian practice for any fixture, but wall-hung installations tempt people to bury plumbing wherever the carrier lands, so raise it explicitly with your contractor.
Who genuinely wants a bidet, and who wants a washlet seat
Honest answer: for many Canadian bathrooms, a washlet style seat is the more practical route. It bolts onto a compatible toilet, needs no extra floor space and no second drain, and adds warm-water washing, a heated seat and warm-air drying in one device. Its main requirement is a grounded electrical outlet near the toilet. If your bathroom is on the smaller side, or you are not opening walls and floors, start by browsing smart toilets and washlet-ready options instead.
A dedicated ceramic bidet earns its place when:
- You have the floor space and the walls are already open, so the plumbing cost is incremental rather than a standalone project.
- You prefer a fixture with no electronics, no remote and nothing to service over decades of use.
- You are designing a principal ensuite or a high-end bath where the matched toilet and bidet pair is part of the architecture.
- Household members actively prefer the European washing posture and ritual, which a seat does not fully replicate.
Plenty of well-planned homes end up with both approaches: a full bidet in the principal ensuite and a washlet seat in the family bathroom. For help sequencing decisions like these across a whole renovation, our bathroom and kitchen buying guides cover toilets, tubs, showers and more.
Frequently asked questions
Can I add a bidet to an existing Canadian bathroom?
Yes, but treat it as a plumbing project, not an accessory purchase. The fixture needs hot and cold supply plus its own trapped, vented drain, so the practical moment to add one is during a renovation. As a standalone retrofit, a washlet seat is usually the more sensible spend.
Does a bidet use hot water?
Yes. A bidet fitting mixes hot and cold like a basin faucet, which is a large part of why the experience is comfortable year-round in a Canadian climate. This is also the key rough-in difference from a toilet, which needs only a cold supply.
Is a wall-hung bidet sturdy enough for daily use?
When installed correctly, yes. Wall-hung bidets mount to an engineered in-wall carrier that transfers the load to the floor and framing, the same system used for wall-hung toilets. The critical part is following the manufacturer's carrier instructions exactly, which is another reason this format belongs in professionally executed renovations.
Do I have to buy the bidet and toilet from the same series?
Nothing forces you to, but it is strongly recommended. Duravit designs each series so the toilet and bidet share proportions and styling, and a matched pair is most of the aesthetic payoff of installing a bidet at all. At minimum, keep the two fixtures in the same format, either both floor-standing or both wall-hung.
