Picture a toilet.

I know, I know, it’s kind of gross. But we all use them. They’re a part of all of our houses, our workplaces, almost every public place because they’re a necessity.

Sometimes you just don’t know when you’re going to have to go, so it’s comforting to know that there’s almost always one just around the corner.

But one thing is for sure: generally, the toilet you find will look pretty consistent.

It will have a handle or a button to flush, it will usually have a seat (unless vandals have gotten there first), and it will have toilet paper – if you’re lucky, that is.

And most of all: it will almost always be white.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why that is?

Unless you’ve remodelled your bathroom recently, the chances are the answer to that question is a resounding no.

However, Eleanor Higgs, a content creator at IFLScience, wondered just that.

In her article she concluded that white toilets are generally an aesthetic choice, giving the illusion of cleanliness and helping small bathrooms to look that bit bigger.

Of course, white toilets have not always been the norm; they are more of a modern trend than anything.

This trend is borne out of practicality as much as it is aesthetics.

According to toilet experts The Portland Loo, vitreous china (the stuff that our toilets are made from) actually becomes that clean white color when it is shaped.

Unlike the wooden planks of the old toilets we see at castles or in historical ruins, we now make our toilets with a specific, purpose-made technique.

The process of creating the toilet is much like glass blowing; the material is exposed to extremely high temperatures which – as well as shaping it – results in a clear, white color of ceramic.

That’s not to say that other colors of toilet don’t exist. Of course they do – you just have to pay a premium price for them.

Back in the 70s and 80s when cast iron bathroomware was all the rage, our toilets, baths, and sinks would come in various hues of pink, green and blue, with the most stylish homeowners choosing one of these shades to impress their guests.

However, years of dazzling your guests with a particularly opulent shade of toilet is long gone. Nowadays, there isn’t too much interest in making this functional part of the home unique.

Occasionally one might enhance their white toilet with a fancy toilet seat, but given that flashed ceramic comes in white as standard, most people choose to go with the default shade and splash the remainder of their cash elsewhere.

At least for the most part. There are absolutely people in the world whose wealth is such that they choose to invest in toilets, baths and sinks made of gold – and good for them. But for most of us, a white throne is all we need.

And, more than anything, why is this?

Because it looks clean.

Your gold lavatory may look pretty smashing, but can we really tell at a glance whether you’ve cleaned it this week?

Though white ceramic doesn’t guarantee that the toilet you’re about to use is clean (they might have just bleached it without a thought to the general cleanliness, after all) it does give you peace of mind.

There are also unmissable warning signs on a white toilet if it hasn’t been paid much attention, so you can decide if it’s up to your own individual standards of hygiene.

While limescale build up can be a pain when it comes to cleaning our toilets, we can rest assured that a white surface is devoid of any of the nasties that other shades could be covering up. Any lingering dirt or other detritus (human or otherwise) will show up clearly on the shiny white surface.

This also means that when you do clean your loo, you can see that sparkling white surface staring back at you as a kind of reward for your efforts.

It can be fun to try novel, different toilets – and the world certainly holds plenty, from squatters to heated seats – but when it comes to doing your business, what’s normal to you is usually a comforting thing.

And that is the case with color too. While colorful toilets aren’t unheard of, white is the standard for good reason.

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