Yes, Instagram-worthy restrooms are now a thing — but that should come as no surprise. After all, restaurant guests today have a big appetite for recording and sharing images of just about anything that catches their fancy — even if it’s in the loo.
And while the consumer media typically keeps its focus squarely on food and front-of-house design, restrooms continue to generate significant buzz. Need proof — or maybe a little inspiration for your next restroom project? Here’s a sampling from a few recent, well-placed stories:
- “Floating somewhere between a utopian bath house and a museum display, the dimly lit room with substantial vessels we once knew as sinks offers a glorious backdrop for a moody post.” British Vogue, on the London Mandrake Hotel’s bathroom.
- “For the bathroom, which is unisex, that meant installing a 55-inch ‘selfie mirror’ in front of the sinks. The mirror also functions as a touchscreen. Tap it and a cartoon animation of owner Degel appears, goading you to pose for a photo. You can choose one to three frames on your photo strip, and the snaps are sent to your e-mail and printed in a slot (for free!) next to the sink.” New York Post, on Uncle Jack’s Meat House bathroom.
- “Juan Santa Cruz’s restaurant offers an individualized bathroom experience. Each stall — or room, rather — has its own unique De Gournay hand-painted wallpaper, so it might be worth freshening up more than a few times during your meal to see each one.” British Vogue, on the bathroom at Isabel restaurant in London.
- “The Vietnamese-influenced food and cocktails make this Southwest Detroit neighborhood spot a destination, but the restaurant’s bathrooms are also deserving of praise. Old fashioned projectors display a flipbook of photos on the restroom floor.” Eater Detroit, on Flowers of Vietnam’s bathrooms.
- “Everything about this restaurant screams Hollywood glam, and the bathroom is no different. From a velvet couch in the sitting area to large gold mirrors and a huge chandelier, take a break from your cocktail or house-made cacao e pepe to spend some time in the restroom.” People.com, on the ladies room at BLVD Chicago.
- “From their pink and blue flooring to their Cuban sandwich to their banana wallpaper in the bathroom, you’ll have an endless supply of photos after you visit.” People.com, on the bathroom at Media Noche in San Francisco.
Need more proof? Spend a few minutes on google, Instagram or Pinterest and you’ll get the idea. Restrooms can pack a big design punch and are a terrific place in which to exercise a little brand-appropriate creativity.
Just don’t forget that, while they can be fun and fabulous, restaurant restrooms and the finishes and equipment used within them, must be highly functional, easy to clean and maintain, nicely lit and ADA compliant. Without meeting those prerequisites, you could find guests taking photos for all the wrong reasons.
Touch-Free WashBar + Basin
WashBar with Undermount Basins offer basin customizations to various restroom designs. The units pair with the maker’s WashBar clean+rinse+dry technology with a selection of cast-formed undermount basins made of either Evero natural quartz or Terreon solid surface. Designers can create customized restroom decks in varying lengths, L-shapes, cutouts or even different countertop materials.
Bradley Corporation
bradleycorp.com
All-in-One-Place Sink System
The D|13 Sink System featuring the XLERATORsync Hand Dryer incorporates no-touch, high-efficiency fixtures on the sink deck, allowing users to wash, rinse and dry hands in a single process. Choose from a variety of materials, installation options and additional features.
D|13 Group
d13group.com
Hand-Sanitizing Innovation
OpenClean Technologies offers hand-sanitizing door handles for public restrooms. Two models, PullClean and TurnClean, help make guest and staff hand sanitizing easy and intuitive at the point of restroom exit. PullClean is a pull handle that fits push to enter, pull-to-exit multi-stall restroom doors and functions like a traditional hand-sanitizer dispenser. The TurnClean sanitizing unit fits around most turn door handle designs, dispensing hand sanitizer as the user pushes the integrated paddle. Both models use replaceable hand-sanitizer cartridges with approximately 500 applications per cartridge.
OpenClean Technologies
open-clean.com
The Providence Vanity
The Providence vanity console features a system that rigidly secures the legs to the stone apron that forms the skirt of the vanity top, concealing the basin and hardware below. The unit is custom sized and configured to meet specific restroom needs. Size it to accommodate single- or multi-sink configurations. Choose from 14 metal leg finish options.
Palmer Industries
sinklegs.com
Next-Gen Flushometer
The CX Flushometer is nearly 70 percent smaller than the industry standard for front-access wall panels, per the maker. This concealed flushometer requires no rear-access plumbing chase, and its 1.6 or 1.28 gpf (gallons per flush) for toilets and 0.5, 0.25 or 0.125 gpf for urinals may contribute to water savings.
Sloan
sloan.com
Smart, Low-Maintenance Hand Dryer
The redesigned VMax V2 dryer features a brushless DC motor which extends service life. The unit features a wide, vertical hands-in drying cavity and a tray to keep water from pooling on the floor. The smart LED display indicates when it’s time to empty the water tray and change the HEPA filter.
Zurn Industries
www.zurn.com