Keep Your Home Stylish and Spotless With These Top-Rated Trash Cans

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You may not initially give much thought to a bin that holds your garbage, but a well-considered trash can can keep your place tidy while also adding to the room. Whether it sneakily slides out of sight or serves as a tasteful accent to the room’s aesthetic, quality trash cans take the form and design you need without diminishing the flow of the rooms they inhabit.

There are so many styles and features available that will make trash day more convenient and won’t be something you loathe looking at whenever you’re in your kitchen or bathroom. If you’re not sure where to start, check out our top picks below, including several we actually use in our own homes.

For more great tools to keep your space tidy, check out our picks for the best kitchen trash cans, bathroom trash cans, and trash compactors.

The Best Trash Cans

• Best Overall: Simplehuman Semi Round Trashcan

• Best Value: Rubbermaid Open Trashcan

• Best for Odor Control: iTouchless 13.2-Gallon Step Trash Can with Odor Filter System

• Best Contemporary Option: Safco Products Company 12.5-Gallon Trash Can

• Best Compact Option: Subekyu Hanging Trash Can

What to Consider

Size

In choosing the size, you should first consider what room you’ll be using the trash can in, as well as how much trash you accumulate in that space. A small trash can won’t suit a kitchen in a multi-person household and you probably don’t want a 12-gallon trash can hogging up bathroom space when you’re trying to get ready. Generally speaking, a 12-gallon can can hold a few days’ worth of trash for a family or up to a week for a single person—or you can make your waste smaller and fit more with a trash compactor.

Opening

The opening of the trash can might have an opening mechanism, or simply a lid you can remove to put things inside. Most of the lidded trash cans we recommend have pedals at the base, so they open hands-free.

Others have a swivel-door on the lid where you push your trash through. Some people want the hands-free option for sanitary purposes, while some don’t want to fuss with lids and want to be able to shoot trash into a can from across the room. Keep in mind that a lid keeps odors contained and hides your trash from view.

Features

Trash cans have different features that strive to clean up a product that’s inherently dirty business—hands-free opening-mechanisms, odor-absorbing filters, and liner hooks to keep bags in place are just some of the design elements that can make your life more convenient.

How We Selected

To find the best trash cans on the market, we considered the most useful models for home use and how large a model you might need for different rooms. We checked out the different features and scoured customer reviews to make sure products held up well over time and delivered on what they said they’d do. Many of the choices on our list are trash cans that we use in our own homes. These picks will suit a variety of needs at different price points.

Semi Round Trashcan

This trash can is the all-around best option for a busy household: It has a large capacity, a pedal-opening lid that doesn’t break easily, and it locks shut so you don’t have to worry about pets or kids knocking it over.

The dent-proof plastic is highly durable, and the space-saving design allows you to put it up against the wall in a high-traffic area; integrated handles make it easy to lift and transport when the can gets full.

The slow close lid won’t snap shut on you if you’re cooking or baking and going back and forth with eggshells or wrappers.

Open Trashcan for Kitchen, Home, or Office

This traditional open trash can from Rubbermaid is a simple option if you just need something that is durable and a good value. Open trash cans are helpful for outside or spaces like a workshop, where you won’t have to put much food waste in the bin.

For this can, bags are held in place by the liner lock system, and integrated handles make it easy to transport. The simple design won’t win any beauty contests, but the sturdy plastic and lightweight feel offer long-term value without the cumbersome weight that similarly durable options have.

13.2-Gallon Step Trash Can with Odor Filter System

This sophisticated trash can has the functionality you’d want—pedal opening, silent-closing lid, removable inner bucket—and it includes the major bonus of built-in odor control. It has an AbsorbX filter located on the underside of the lid that absorbs trash odors and customers insist the odor control isn’t just marketing hype.

These filters last up to three months and replacements can be purchased from Amazon. That being said, if you don’t want the extra filters, the trash can works just fine without it.

12.5-Gallon Trash Can

A contemporary design keeps this large-capacity trash can flush against the wall, allowing it to blend into any space and décor for a clean look. It comes with three lids so you can customize it for trash, cans and bottles, or paper recycling, and it includes an inner liner canister.

The slim frame and flat back make this trash can ideal for fitting in hallways or against a wall. The interior of the can is also quite easy to clean thanks to the inner liner canister.

Hanging Trash Can

This trash can will quickly and easily free up floor space by hanging from a mount that’s easily installed onto any cabinet using either the included adhesive or the over-the-door hook.

It’s also well-suited for home chefs since you can hang it near your cooking station to easily scrape veggie peelings, shells, and other messes off the counter and into the trash. The included mounting tools are very easy to use and the lid does a good job of locking in odors once fixed on top of the can.

While the compact design won’t hold a lot, its size makes it easy to store inside cabinets and out of sight. If you want a minimalist solution, this is a great pick.

30 Liter / 8 Gallon Round Step Trash Can

With a stainless steel exterior and a pedal rated for up to 150,000 presses, this trash can might be the last one you ever need. The eight-gallon size is large enough to handle trash in high volume areas like the living room and the kitchen without filling up too quickly.

While many steel lid trash cans bang close once you lift your foot off the pedal, this can has a silent close feature that slowly lowers the lid without a sound. The cylindrical shape can prevent you from filling up your bags all the way, but pulling it out and redistributing the trash with a shake can help you get a bit more mileage out of each bag.

10 Liter / 2.6 Gallon In-Cabinet Trash Can

For small kitchens, this space-saving trash can from Simplehuman is a must. The compact design comes with a central hook that fixes onto your cabinets. The steel exterior frame gives enough sturdiness to handle being banged up a little and the interior plastic bin makes it easy to remove trash.

You can also buy custom fit liners that are designed by the company specifically for this trash can. However, an old shopping bag will work just as well.

13.2 Gallons Trash Can

Stop touching trash can lids forever. This trash can from AllModern is a contactless option designed for hands-free use without an open top. The built-in motion sensor automatically opens the bin as you bring trash over to toss in.

Once you’ve put your trash inside, the lid automatically shut itself without making a sound. The ring-style liner holds trash bags in place, and is easily removed once your can is full. Each trash can also comes with a two-year warranty.

10 Liter Rectangular Plastic Trash Can Wastebasket

With a slim frame and a hatch lid, this trash can fits into small spaces inconspicuously. The modern design seamlessly blends in whether it’s placed in your living room or slid in right next to your toilet in the bathroom.

The plastic exterior is also a major plus, making cleaning as easy as wiping it down with a paper towel. The hatched lid reduces odor from any discarded items and the easy press opening makes it perfect for slim spaces where you can’t reach down to manually lift the lid up.

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