The Confusing State of Touchless Bathrooms

The state of touchless bathrooms is absolutely confusing to me. On one hand, you have public restrooms... the people who should be investing in touchless bathroom solutions. Many times when people add public restrooms to their facilities they don't spend the extra money to make it touchless. On the other hand, you have home owners who are increasingly more interested in buying touchless solutions. Home owners tend to keep their bathrooms clean anyways, so it really seems kind of opposite. Let's look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of touchless technology.

The Good

On the bright side, touchless technology is stronger than it ever has been before. Provided you have a solid touchless bathroom and a little bit of innovation, you can leave the bathroom with minimal germ interaction. Here's a quick list of the best functioning touchless bathroom components:

• Sensor Operated Faucets
• Sensor Operated Soap Dispensers
• Automatic Flush Valves
• Motion Activated Paper Towel Dispensers

These additions to a public restroom can make the difference between my relieving myself at a gas station or uncomfortably holding it until I get home. As for residential bathrooms, it's great that people want to be germ free, but sometimes germaphobes can take things a little bit too far.

The Bad

Even though we have this great touchless technology we don't even put it to good use where we need it the most: public bathrooms. You are a stingy business owner if you skimp on your bathrooms. Yes, touchless bathrooms will run you a higher bill to set up, but your customer satisfaction will be higher if you go touchless. You're talking about touching virtually nothing to touching virtually everything (that everyone else has already touched). On the other hand, home owners are going bananas over Kohler's new touchless line of toilets. I can't tell if it's great marketing or if it's actually a big deal to flush the toilet without touching it. The main argument of home owners in regards to their precious touchless toilets is that it makes your bathroom more germ free. I understand where they are coming from, but this is where public bathrooms differ from home bathrooms: bathrooms in your house should be cleaned regularly. But that's crazy talk! Not really. I don't see why you need to invest in a more expensive, over-hyped touchless toilet when germs in your house bathrooms should not be a big deal anyways, provided you clean every so often.

The Ugly

Let's talk about the ugly, where touchless bathrooms have gone too far. I saw one product on Google+ that claimed to make bathroom stalls touchless. Watch the video below, come up with your own opinion, and then you can read mine below.

So that's that. I certainly don't mean to rip on anyone's product, because it boils down to if you can sell it.... but really? It would take a balancing act of epic proportions for me to operate that thing. Is this what touchless bathrooms are headed toward? Has the craze only just begun? Let us know your opinions on this touchless bathroom topic in the comment section below.