If the word "Toto" immediately provokes you to think, "we're not in Kansas anymore," you'd be speaking more truth than you know. When it comes to millennial technology in the bathroom, the Japanese company with the name Americans associate with a little dog is leagues away from the U.S.A.

This doesn't mean that Kansans-or denizens of any of our fabulous 50-don't have a thing or two to learn from products like Toto's NC Series/S Counter Cabinet. The stand-alone vanity/counter/washbasin instructs us to turn tradition on its head, or, better said, turn it inside out.

NC Series/S Counter Cabinet. Designed by TOTO.

Rather than sporting the conventional array of under-vanity drawers and/or cabinetry, the NC Series wears its storage on its sleeve, so to speak. Its pedestal base rises up and between alternating tiers, thus hiding the plumbing while creating NC's unique open-shelving system. The design makes great use of space while keeping bathroom essentials "hiding in plain sight"- my rotating toothbrush, for one, would camouflage nicely against the glossy white. If, however, you prefer to showcase your daily grooming accoutrements, choose facing in wenge or oak veneer. The third option is to just hide everything in the NC Series' nifty upper drawer (each of which hides, in its turn, a convenient power outlet) and use the shelf space to show off beloved trinkets and knick-knacks… or just relish in the clean and spare geometric contours.

We've heard a lot from Toto lately. Last April, we looked at the hygienic functionality of Washlet, and about a month after that, we examined their luminous Luminist Sink. The manufacturer is recognizable for its distinctive aesthetic, but they've also made a name for themselves as purveyors of "Clean Technology." Never more crucial than in the bathroom, the notion builds upon the excellent hygiene of Toto's products to reach towards an environmental cleanliness that could be a guide for us all: "Other eco-friendly effects are achieved with our products–our custom ceramic surfaces require fewer chemicals for cleaning; one of our technologies breaks down pollutants in the air, similar to the way a tree breaks down carbon; and some of our fixtures are powered by water pressure alone. All of these features are sustainable."