Kohler Highline K-3999 Toilet Review, Comments and pictures (2024)

Kohler Highline K-3999 Toilet Review, Comments and pictures

The Kohler Highline K-3999 comes with a taller comfort height bowl, elongated with a 1.28 GPF tank that meets the WaterSense requirements.

Kohler Highline.

Looking inside the K-4467 tank

The new handle of the plumber's version of the Highline.

Looking at the side of the K-4199 bowl.

Highline on the left, and Cimarron on the right

The tank attachments

Looking at the bottom of the k-4467tank.

Bottom of the K-4199 bowl

The fit and finish looks pretty good from here. Was there any notable defects or issues?
Would like to get my hands on one of these to test out but nobody but the big box sells Kohler in this area.

I also see they're using a PRO45 now.

gusherb94 said:

I also see they're using a PRO45 now.

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I'm not sure that the red cap necessarily means that it's a PRO45 anymore. See this link: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...d=fluidmaster+fill&storeId=10051#.UPIPQydtUj0

There you have a Gen-u-ine "Kohler"® OEM "Class 5® fill valve" with a red-ish cap for only 250-percent of the HD® price of a regular Fluidmaster® 400A®.

And what does the yellow cap mean on the Cimarron® K-3887? I'm sure Fluidmaster® would make Kohler® a Mauve fill valve cap with glitter if they wanted it. It's all marketing...

wjcandee said:

I'm not sure that the red cap necessarily means that it's a PRO45 anymore. See this link: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...d=fluidmaster+fill&storeId=10051#.UPIPQydtUj0

There you have a Gen-u-ine "Kohler"® OEM "Class 5® fill valve" with a red-ish cap for only 250-percent of the HD® price of a regular Fluidmaster® 400A®.

And what does the yellow cap mean on the Cimarron® K-3887? I'm sure Fluidmaster® would make Kohler® a Mauve fill valve cap with glitter if they wanted it. It's all marketing...

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After I saw the yellow cap on the Cimarron in the other post I thought that maybe it's really not a PRO45. Kohler is all about marketing and looking pretty. Makes sense why no supply house will carry them around here. I do like the way that Highline/Wellworth looks though.

I'm baffled with Kohler.......The Class 5 lacked in bowl wash, so they made the Class 6 which was a great improvement. Why have they now designed all their bowls with the Class 5 system instead of the Class 6? Why was the Class 6 only regulated for the Cimmaron toilets?

The tank to bowl contraption and flush tower for the Highline looks smaller now. I wonder if a generic standard flapper assembly can be substituted in its place?

Also, what was wrong with the Ingenium flush? It worked pretty well in my opinion and it totally rinsed the bowl. Yes, it did clog if you use a lot of TP, but if you use a lot of TP, you can clog any toilet.

Peterson said:

Also, what was wrong with the Ingenium flush? It worked pretty well in my opinion and it totally rinsed the bowl.

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Based on a unit that was nominal in all respects and properly-installed, it would clog on anything solid. Needed a plunger almost every time...liquid-only flushes were all that worked. Replacement Toto Drake in same location works flawlessly.

Peterson said:

I'm baffled with Kohler.......The Class 5 lacked in bowl wash, so they made the Class 6 which was a great improvement. Why have they now designed all their bowls with the Class 5 system instead of the Class 6? Why was the Class 6 only regulated for the Cimmaron toilets?

The tank to bowl contraption and flush tower for the Highline looks smaller now. I wonder if a generic standard flapper assembly can be substituted in its place?

Also, what was wrong with the Ingenium flush? It worked pretty well in my opinion and it totally rinsed the bowl. Yes, it did clog if you use a lot of TP, but if you use a lot of TP, you can clog any toilet.

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Class 5, Class 6. it's pretty much all the same, just used for marketing. If people saw the Wellworth had "Class 6" like the Cimarron they'd see no reason to "upgrade" to the Cimarron. The Cimarron and Wellworth/Highline do flush a little different but they both have a good bowl wash now from what I can tell.

Terry said:

The original Class Five® had a 3-1/4" flapper. The new class five® uses a smaller flush valve, a llittle smaller then 2"

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So is it correct, then, that the original Class 5® wouldn't take a generic 3" flapper and flush valve, because it was too big, and the new Class 5® won't take a generic 2" universal flapper and flush valve (too small)?

Thus forcing people to use Kohler® OEM parts. For no functional reason.

Gotta love the Kohler®s.

EDIT: I corrected the post above to eliminate the reference to the Korky universal 3" flush valve (5030BP), because I realized today that Korky says expressly that it does not fit Kohler. So I stand corrected. In a different thread, I muse whether it fits the Champion "4", and allow that I would be very interested to see how it performs in a Champion, because many folks are crying out for a replacement for the "Accelerator" once it starts leaking.

I just pulled this picture off my computer from 2011. My son James is second from the left, Kohler's engineer in the center and me on the right of him. (second from right) I wish I could remember the names now. The following week I went in for a major surgery and perhaps I lost a bit of time.
It was fun being in the lab, and we weren't supposed to take any pictures in there. Though we did pose for this picture. I really do need to learn how to smile for photos.
I didn't have anyone saying, "Smile Terry!"
We were getting a demonstration of the improved rinse on the Kohler Highline bowl.

TheUniversalDave1 said:

Terry, I'm very interested to know how you got permission to go in Kohler's test lab. In 2001, I saw a This Old House segment featuring Richard (their master plumber) meet with Mike Chandler at the lab, and my childhood dream has always been to go there and see how they test toilets. We still have that VHS tape from 2001, and I just watched it again yesterday.

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Normally there is a lot of red tape involved. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. We were looking at a new product design there. It was fun.

TheUniversalDave1 said:

I kind of suspected that there was some red tape. When I went to the factory several years ago, we had to give up our cameras until the end of the tour. Still, it would be fun to go see.

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They didn't want pictures inside the factory. I did shoot some really cool video of the Flushmate production line in Michigan though. I haven't shown it to anyone yet.

Here is their Numi toilet. It does everything you would want. Even a radio built in.

wjcandee said:

I hope Toto is giving you the red carpet that Kohler recently seems to have been giving you. You're America's Most Trusted Plumber, and if I were them I would be feeding you barbecue in Atlanta on a monthly basis, and showing you all the newest, niftiest things they have coming down the pipe. AND soliciting your input.

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That doesn't happen. TOTO has taken us to dinner a couple of times in Seattle, but that's it.

Here's a funny Kohler story though.
They had taken us to dinner on the Seattle waterfront, and Jamie and I offered them a ride to their hotel. I was going through an intersection when I realized that the light was red, and a taxi was driving through it. Without any sensation of stopping, I was able to stop the car within the intersection and not hit the taxi. The taxi driver got out mystified and looked at his fender and the front of my car. He laughed to see that there wasn't any contact. He was looking as baffled as I was feeling. I was going about 30 miles an hour and somehow we didn't hit.

The next year, the same rep from Kohler met us for dinner again, and golfing. He said to me.

"I've been thinking about that all year, why didn't we hit that taxi?

I just laughed, Yeah, you and me! I have no idea why it wasn't an accident. It didn't seem at all possible to not hit him.

One more picture.

Kohler Highline Arc
The Complete Solution® two-piece elongated 1.28 gpf chair height toilet with slow-close seat