A rimless toilet ditches the hollow rim that runs round the top of a normal pan and flushes from an open channel instead, so the water sweeps the whole bowl in one directed pass rather than dribbling out of a row of holes underneath. Do they splash? A touch more than a rimmed pan if the cistern is set too keen, but a flush that is set up right stays in the bowl where it belongs. The real reason to buy one is cleaning: there is no rim underside to scrub and no ring of hidden holes for muck and limescale to build up in.

Here is what a rimless pan actually is, how the flush works, the honest take on splashing, the cleaning payoff, and how to pick one without overpaying.

• What a rimless toilet actually is
• How the rimless flush works
• Do rimless toilets splash? The honest answer
• The cleaning payoff: what you stop scrubbing
• Close-coupled or back-to-wall: picking your rimless pan
• Best rimless toilet UK: our BP picks
• FAQ

What a rimless toilet actually is

Every standard toilet has a rim: a hollow lip that runs round the top inside edge of the bowl, fed by the cistern, with a line of small holes on the underside that the water escapes through when you flush. It is the bit you can never quite see and never properly clean. A rimless pan does away with it. The bowl is open right round the top, with a moulded channel or shelf instead of an enclosed rim, so nothing is boxed in and there are no holes for gunk to hide in.

That is the whole idea. It looks like an ordinary toilet from across the room, it bolts to the same soil pipe, and it takes a standard seat. The change is all in the top edge of the bowl and how the water gets round it. You will see the same feature described as a rimless toilet bowl, a rimless WC pan or a rimless close coupled toilet depending on who is selling it, but they all mean the one thing: no hollow rim.

How the rimless flush works

On a rimmed toilet the flush water drops from the cistern into that hollow rim, fills it, and pushes out through the holes underneath. Because the holes point in different directions the flow is a bit scattered, and the front of the rim on many pans barely gets any water at all, which is why you get that dry patch that never rinses.

A rimless pan flushes differently. The water enters the bowl at one point near the top, usually towards the back, and runs round an open channel built into the top edge so it travels the full way round the inside of the bowl in one directed sweep. Think of it as one strong flow chasing itself round the pan rather than lots of little jets. Done properly it rinses the whole bowl, front included, with less water wasted on the bits that do not need it. The dual flush cisterns on the close-coupled pans below (the Aura and the Belini) run at 3 litres for a short flush and 6 litres for a full one, so you are not paying for that cleaner rinse with a bigger water bill.

Do rimless toilets splash? The honest answer

This is the question that makes people hesitate, so here is the straight version. A rimless flush is faster and more directed than a rimmed one, and because the water is running round an open edge rather than tucked under a lip, a badly set-up flush can throw the odd drop higher up the bowl than you would like. That is the grain of truth behind the splashing stories.

What it is not is a design fault you are stuck with. Nine times out of ten a splash comes down to the cistern, not the pan. If the fill valve is set too high or the flush volume is turned up past what the bowl was designed for, you are simply sending more water round the channel than it can carry, and some of it jumps. Set the cistern to the level the pan is designed for, use the dual flush the way it is meant, and the water stays in the bowl. If you are fitting one yourself, get the cistern water level right before you decide the pan is a splasher, because that is almost always the culprit. Buy a quality pan with the flush geometry sorted from the factory and splashing is a non-issue in normal use.

The cleaning payoff: what you stop scrubbing

This is where a rimless pan earns its keep. On a rimmed toilet, the underside of the rim and that row of holes are where limescale, mould and general muck quietly build up, out of sight and out of reach of a normal wipe. You need an angled brush and a bit of determination to get at it, and most people never really do, which is why an old toilet can look clean and still smell.

Take the rim away and there is nothing hidden to scrub. You wipe round the smooth open top edge in seconds and you can actually see that it is clean. Less trapped mess also means fewer of the bacteria that hang about in a grubby rim, which is the hygiene point the makers are getting at when they call these pans easy-clean and low maintenance. If you go a step further and pick a back-to-wall or open-back design, you also lose the awkward gap and pipework behind the pan that a close-coupled toilet leaves you mopping around. For the wider anatomy of pans, cisterns and traps, our guide on all about toilets walks through how the whole lot fits together.

Close-coupled or back-to-wall: picking your rimless pan

Rimless is a feature, not a shape, so you still choose the same way you would with any toilet: close-coupled or back-to-wall. A close-coupled toilet has the cistern sitting straight on the back of the pan. It is the standard British loo, it is the cheapest to buy and fit, and it drops straight onto an existing soil pipe with a pan connector, so it is the easy swap. A back-to-wall toilet hides the cistern inside furniture or a stud wall and pushes the pan flat against the wall, which looks tidier and, handily, kills the cleaning gap behind the pan as well.

Price-wise, rimless does not mean dear. A solid rimless close-coupled like the Litchfield Aura Rimless Close Coupled Toilet with Dual Flush Cistern at £139 gets you the whole point of a rimless pan, made from durable white vitreous china with an easy-clean design and a 3 litre / 6 litre dual flush cistern, for the price of a plain rimmed one. If you want the built-in look, the Porto Rimless Back-To-Wall Toilet and Soft-Close Seat at £139 comes in gloss white with a quiet wrap-over soft-close seat, a pan fixing kit in the box and a lifetime guarantee, so there is no slamming lid and nothing else to buy to fit it. If you have not settled on pan type at all yet, our choose a toilet guide runs through close-coupled versus back-to-wall in full, and the wider toilets range shows what else is about.

Best rimless toilet UK: our BP picks

There is no single best rimless toilet, because best depends on your budget and whether you want a standard loo or a built-in one. These are our picks at three price points. Treat them as a shortlist to start from, not a verdict.

• Best cheap rimless swap: the Litchfield Aura Rimless Close Coupled Toilet at £139. A no-nonsense close-coupled in white vitreous china with a 3 litre / 6 litre dual flush and an easy-clean design. If you just want a rimless loo that fits where the old one was, this is the one.
• Best built-in look: the Porto Rimless Back-To-Wall Toilet and Soft-Close Seat at £139. Gloss white, a wrap-over soft-close seat and a pan fixing kit included, backed by a lifetime guarantee. The tidy choice if you are boxing the cistern in.
• Best step-up: the Belini Rimless Close Coupled Toilet with Soft Close Seat and Open Back Design at £279. An open-back design so there is no boxed-in trap to wipe round behind the pan, a soft-close quick-release seat that lifts off for cleaning, dual flush and durable white vitreous china. Worth the jump if hygiene is the whole reason you are going rimless.

FAQ

Are rimless toilets better?

For most people, yes. You lose the hollow rim that traps muck and limescale, so the bowl is far easier to keep genuinely clean, and a good rimless flush rinses the whole pan rather than leaving a dry patch at the front. The one caveat is to buy a decent pan and set the cistern up properly, which sorts the splashing worry.

Do rimless toilets splash?

Not if the flush is set up right. The flow is faster and more directed than a rimmed pan, so a cistern set too high can throw the odd drop up the bowl, but that is a setup issue, not a design flaw. Get the cistern water level to what the pan is designed for and use the dual flush as intended and the water stays in the bowl.

Is there such a thing as a rimless toilet seat?

Rimless refers to the pan, not the seat. The seat is a standard toilet seat that fits the pan in the normal way, so you do not need a special rimless seat. Several of our rimless pans, like the Porto and the Belini, come with a soft-close seat included, so check the listing and you may not need to buy one separately at all.

How do you clean a rimless toilet?

Quickly, is the short answer. With no rim underside and no ring of holes, you wipe round the smooth open top edge and down the bowl with your usual cleaner and that is it. There is no hidden channel to attack with an angled brush, and an open-back pan removes the gap behind the toilet too, so there is far less scrubbing all round.

What is the best rimless toilet in the UK?

It depends on your budget and whether you want a standard or built-in loo, so there is no one answer. As a starting point we would point a tight budget at the Litchfield Aura close-coupled, anyone boxing in the cistern at the Porto back-to-wall, and anyone chasing the easiest clean at the open-back Belini. All three are rimless.

Sorting your new loo

Rimless is the easy call on a new toilet: a cleaner bowl for the same money, with the splashing worry down to setup rather than the pan itself. Pick your shape first, close-coupled for the simple swap or back-to-wall for the built-in look, then browse the toilets range for the pan that fits. If you are still weighing up types, our choose a toilet and all about toilets guides cover the rest of the decision.