Burning Question: Can It?
We’re back to take your pulse on another “controversial” interior design topic. Should kitchen trash cans be a public affair, or do you prefer a hidden trash can under your sink or in a pull out cabinet? There are some pretty fabulous looking cans these days (Simple Human anyone?), with convenient foot pedals to make ‘em easy to use and easy on the eyes. But is the convenience worth the exposure, or are trash cans better behind closed doors?
There’s no sign of a garbage can in the dream kitchen above, but we wanna know how you guys live. And if money (and storage) was no object, would you do anything differently? What about recycling? How do you keep your cans and cartons corralled? Let the great garbage debate begin…
Image courtesy of PointClickHome
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We recently renovated our kitchen and put in the pull out trash/recycling cabinet. I love love love it. There was never a good spot for the trash can and we had to walk out to the garage for the recycling so it tended to accumulate on the counter all day.It was definitely worth giving up a cabinet for the trash.
We have an Oscar the Grouch metal trash can (with lid) out for everyone to see. It’s not huge- it fits the normal “tall kitchen bags.”
I think it’s pretty cute.
Recycling is outside. Not ideal, but whatever.
I’m always afraid of my garbage “scents” getting locked up and commingling with stuff in nearby cabinets (probably irrational, I admit. But I think I’d be taking out the trash every time I put something in it!) so I keep the garbage cans out in open. Which I’m also not in love with. But I bought a matching bin for recycling and have convinced myself it’s a bit of a mini art installation or something – “A Study of Trash Binnery,” if you will. ;-)
both of our cans are hidden… which is good because my hubby has a bad habit of not taking it out as soon as he should. ;)
I just wanted to say how much inspiration your house projects have given me. I purchased a very dated 60 year old house. I’ve made some progress but you give me hope that I can pull it all together eventually.
As for the trash can debate… I have a galley kitchen. There’s no spot for a garbage can. It has to go under the sink. But if I had a choice, I’d prefer it out of sight. It seems more streamlined and less clutter to the eye.
I am not a fan of the can in the open – I grew up with the trash can under the sink, but had to have it out in all it’s rubbermaid glory when I was in my apt (not enough under cabinet space) and I hated it. I haven’t even closed on my house yet and I already have the under cabinet pull-out trash can system ready to go.
I don’t care how pretty it is, hide that trash away!
We currently have an exsposed trash can. I hate it. We are getting ready to start building our new house though, and in the cabinet design there will be a built in, pull out trash can. :) Better to hide it, IMO.
I like having my trash cans out, so that they don’t smell up a cabinet. Even with the pull out ones, you smell the odor every time you open the door, I guess because the smell is contained. I have a really pretty Rubbermaid white trash can with a swing lid, it sits in a corner of my kitchen, a nice study of trash binnery :-) I like the look of the metal cans, and had one once, but the finger prints drove me crazy.
We have a large stainless round trash can with a lid and a pedal. It is nice-looking enough but rather large and takes up a lot of space in our smallish kitchen. In a perfect world with unlimited space, I would definitely have a pull-out trash drawer. I can definitely see the fear of the trash smell infecting the other cabinets, but my parents keep their full-size trash in a pantry/closet with other things – cans, dry goods, etc.- and I don’t recall them having a problem with the odor transferring. Plus, when people keep their trash under the sink, it doesn’t affect the other cabinets. So I think I’ll stick to my dream kitchen including a pull-out can.
We have a Simple Human from Costco (fingerprint-free stainless with a foot pedal). I’m happy with it…looks ni ce for a trash can. If money and space were no object I’d have a pull out for trash/recyclables/redeemables built into our cabinets!
Our trash can is a pull out, and I love it that way. Love that you don’t have to look at the icky trash. Not exactly appetizing!
My can is opposite the island, so when you look in the kitchen from anywhere else it is hidden, but if you are in the kitchen it is accessible without opening any doors or drawers. When we first moved in we placed it in the pantry but I didn’t like having to open the doors with possibly icky hands to toss something away. Also, that’s where I store my food – didn’t want trash closed up in there too.
We have a simple human stainless steel one that’s out in the open… It’s kind of hidden in a corner though, but at least it doesn’t look too bad if someone does notice it! We keep a recycle bin in the garage to save room for now (not as convenient). I do love the pull out trash and recycle bins in a cabinet – maybe the next house!
I have a simple human garbage can in my mudroom, just around the corner from the kitchen. There is a recycling area in the same space. Not ideal, but I can’t give up the cabinet space for a built in.
The kitchen in the picture is absolutely beautiful. Can I ask where you found it?
It must be because I’m clumsy, but when I’m in the kitchen of somebody with a garbage can under the sink or in a pantry I feel like I always dribble garbage juice down the front of the cabinet or end up washing the pantry door after I get something slimy all over it.
I LOVE the idea of it being in the island, and thus invisible to non-cooks but right-at-hand for those doing the work! When I get an island (hahahahahaha) I’m going to do that!
Oh, also, I have to confess that when I saw Keva’s comment “I have a simple human garbage can in my mudroom” I thought “I wonder who it is? An out-of-favor brother in law?” Luckily Sarah’s comment (I was reading in reverse order) straightened me out.
I like the idea, though. “Hey, Jerry! Hungry?” *toss*
*evil grin*
Right now our trash can is under the built-in desk in the kitchen (which we don’t use as a desk, so it’s pretty much wasted empty space under there). Our recycling is in the garage.
When we remodel the kitchen, the trash can will either go in the pantry or in the adjacent laundry room. I don’t like having it out and visible.
MaryB, you have such a morbid sense of humor! I like it!
Our trash can is exposed only because we don’t have room in a cabinet for a smaller can. But ours, like most everyone else who commented, is stainless, so it looks fairly nice. I don’t really like the idea of keeping a trash can in the pantry where my food is, anyway. We have a woven basket in our bonus room that houses our recyclables.
Ours is out in the open. We used to have a pretty ugly white plastic one, but on a recent interior “makover” my wife and I bought a SimpleHuman one from Target that’s way too nice to hide away.
We are also renovating our kitchen and it will have the pull out cabinet for the garbage so it’s hidden. I grew up with it like that and will never have a garbage can out in the open.
We have a simple human pull-out can in one of our cabinets. It is great to have it hidden away, but we do dribble and spill on the cabinet door frequently. That’s actually ok b/c we wipe the lower cabinets down frequently b/c of the dogs and my tendency to spill anyway. Recycling is a huge issue for us b/c we don’t have the space for pull out bins, and we like to keep them in the kitchen for ease of use. Right now, we have one Ikea metal bin with lid that works okay, but we would prefer two nice looking bins so we could sort our items. We also fill our bin up quickly, so it ends up with a stack of boxes full of stuff on top of it…Not exactly attractive. What do y’all think of these bins from the Container Store? http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=70653&PRODID=10018971
I’ve had my eye on them for awhile but they seem pretty pricey. Does anyone know of a cheaper version or something else that might work?
I think MaryB’s interpretation of a simple human trash can is the best – we should all just have garbage butlers. :)
And Keva, the picture is from PointClickHome.
Sherry and I have had our trash both ways. In our old kitchen we had a nice, tall white metal version with a foot pedal. I loved the no hands approach but it had to go in a corner far away from the countertop so it wasn’t the most convenient when cooking.
Now we’ve got one tucked in a regular cabinet under the sink, mainly because there’s no easy place for it out in the open. Opening the cabinet is sometimes annoying and I kind of wish we could fit a larger capacity can under there, but I like the convenience of it being right there. And since it’s concealed I like that we can use a cheap plastic version and nobody’s the wiser.
Our recycling lives under there too, so our under sink cabinet is basically one big junk recepticle. If we had an attached garage, I would totally put the recycling directly out there like I did growing up. That was the life.
Thanks for the input everyone!
-John
We have a visible trash can…. as in VERY VISIBLE. She’s hot bubble gum pink, retro style w/ a foot pedal. She goes with NOTHING in the place ( a leftover from my single gal apartment) I grew up with a visible can, so I’m hardwired that way. Plus it’s convenient when your hands are all mucky with meat or whatever cause you just push the pedal and don’t have to get the handle for a cupboard all gross.
However, sadly, the pedal went last month on the can, so I am torn as to what I should do… get it fixed or buy something new? I spent a ridiculous amount on it, so I feel guilty lol.
Cindy, if you love it – fix it!
Sounds like Simple Human is making some buck$ brainwashing us to think even our trash cans should be designer!
We have the pull out cabinet variety which suits us just fine. I’m not a fan of having the trash can visible in a kitchen, but I have seen nice stainless or chrome ones that seem to fit with a certain style kitchen …
Wow, these comments have been a real eye-opener. My family started composting when I was very young, and emptying the canister was always a stinky job. Now our city has a mandatory composting program, and we just keep our paper bag of scraps in the freezer (yay, no smells!) until it’s time to take them to the big compostainer outside. The garbage is under the sink, but it’s exclusively plastics that can’t be recycled here, so we don’t even fill one bag every two weeks (though it’s just the two of us). Push your municipalities for composting, everyone! No more decomposing bits anywhere in the kitchen!