The world's most expensive homewares

Money can’t buy taste, but it can sure buy a whole lot of heart-stoppingly expensive household items.

So if Ikea isn’t cutting it and your bank accidentally gave you an unlimited overdraft*, here are a few trinkets to add to your shopping list.

Lixil Swarovski crystal toilet

$170,000

Flush with cash? Splash out on a luxury loo, like this blinged-up little number designed by Japanese jeweller Ginza Tanaka for sanitary fixtures company Lixil. Encrusted with 72,000 Swarovski crystals, the toilet is anything but bog standard. It was priced at £84,000 ($170,000) last year. That’s a bargain compared with the most expensive crapper on record, a $5 million-plus solid gold toilet created by Hong Kong jeweller Hang Fung in 2001.

Photo: Getty, The Asahi Shimbun

Molteni Range Cooker

$194,000

Hand-made to order in the French village of St Vallier, Molteni stoves are the Rolls-Royce of ranges. Buyers can select from a variety of inclusions, such as pasta cookers, fryers, sinks and heated or refrigerated cupboards. The Wall Street Journal last year quoted distributor Michael Poulos saying he had seen residential models cost as much as $US140,000 ($194,000). Basic models start at about $US50,000.

Photo: Molteni/Electrolux

Caijou Le Grand Queen bathtub

$2.4 million

The Caijou Le Grand Queen bathtub was many years in the making. Like 180 million years. It’s made of caijou stone – a combination of fossilised wood, petrified wood and semi-precious stones mined from a volcanic region of Indonesia. The company says it takes hundreds of working hours to find and excavate a slab of the material big enough to be cut, milled and polished into a two-person bath. At the Dubai International Jewellery Festival in 2011, a mystery buyer paid $US1.74 million ($2.4 million) for one of the top-shelf tubs.

Photo: Caijou

Gold Iron Dog No.5 Huraxdax fireplace

$5.5 million

Is it getting hot in here, or is that just the feeling of your money going up in smoke? German fireplace manufacturer Iron Dog collaborated with sculptor Joseph Michael Neustifter to create this special-edition fireplace, available in solid gold, silver or cast iron. It’s emblazoned with the word Huraxdax, which is Bavarian for “a wellspring of happiness”. Or should that be “consumer vertigo”? Each No.5 takes about two months to manufacture and weighs close to 250 kilograms. The gold version reportedly comes with a $US4 million ($5.5 million) price tag. Smokin’ hot.

Photo: Iron Dog

Meneghini Cambusa refrigerator

$58,000

Described by Italian luxury goods manufacturer Meneghini as “an exclusive unit that blends seamlessly with any interior”, this is no everyday Esky. The refrigerator comes in two- or three-door models, with or without porthole, in a “virtually endless” variety of finishes and colours. The internal layout can be fully customised to incorporate TV screens, coffee machines, pantry space and, one would hope, a very deep drawer for your beluga caviar. The top-of-the-range model retails for about $US41,500 ($58,000).

Photo: Meneghini Arredamenti

Marc Newson Lockheed Lounge

$4,690,000

Built more for style than comfort, Australian designer Marc Newson’s Lockheed Lounge set the record for the world’s most expensive couch in April 2015 when one sold at auction for £2,434,500 ($4,689,585 at the time, to be precise). Made of riveted aluminium and fibreglass, the chaise lounge was named after the American aircraft manufacturer whose planes inspired the design.

Photo: Marc Newson

Baldacchino Supreme bed

$8.15 million

Make like a princess and rest your wealthy weary bones in this regal bed. A collaboration between English designer Stuart Hughes and Hebanon by Fratelli Basile Interiors of Nocera Superiore, the Baldacchino Supreme is hand-made from materials including 107 kilograms of solid gold, ash and cherry wood and Italian silk. The headboard can be customised with diamond buttons. According to the designer’s website, only two of the beds will ever be made – yours for a princely sum of about £4 million ($8.15 million).

Photo: Stuart Hughes

Kalamazoo K1000HS Hybrid Fire Grill

$34,800

BeefEater fired up a record for the world’s most expensive barbecue in the early 2000s, creating a gold-plated grill that was displayed at home shows around the world. For the home connoisseur, it’s hard to go past US-made Kalamazoo’s K1000HS Hybrid Fire freestanding grill with side burner, a four-burner barbecue featuring a primary grilling area of 2570 square centimetres. It cooks with any combination of charcoal, wood and gas – and retails for a sizzling $US25,195 ($34,800).

Photo: Kalamazoo Gourmet

* Domain does not condone illegal activity but does occasionally enjoy fantasising about it.