Household Essentials Trash Compactor Trash Can, 50 Liter / 13 Gallon, Manual Compactor with Foot Pedal, Black Stainless Steel, Excellent for Large Kitchens

This makes motorized compactors look really dumb. If you've ever owned an electric motorized trash compactor, you might know what I'm talking about. I've never found them to be worth much because they're so expensive, need special bags, and I've had bad luck with them breaking. They also don't work like regular trash cans. Not the case with this!I was really surprised at how much you can compact trash just by hand. Maybe not as much as a motorized one, but VERY close and for a lot less money. This trash can is very well-designed without being too gimmicky. There's another one I saw that looked good, but you needed to buy special bags and this was available at a better price (open box). There's smart touches like high-density foam underneath the handle on the top, where your knuckles might otherwise get bruised. It's very well thought-through. It's also just a well-designed step can, crushing aside. I was afraid the lid might be too heavy, but everything works great. It's also very nice-looking, as trash cans go. I think it's a great value; it's as nice as fancy stainless trash cans people regularly pay $100 that are JUST step cans. It looks and feels like a quality step can, so you can use it just like you would any other durable step can this size.You can definitely just use regular kitchen trash bags with this. It might be a good idea to get bags that are a little heavier weight (pushing the trash around is going to stress the bag more), but I haven't had much trouble with using good quality drawstring bags (nothing special).I bought this open-box/returned, and it was dented in the front (I knew this when buying it). With that being said, it must've gone through something crazy because I wouldn't say it's easy to dent, at all. All of the materials are heavy gauge; it's sturdier than I was expecting it to be, even if I had paid full price. I've had it for a month or two and it feels like the kind of thing that's not going to break easily.My only complaint is that the inner can that holds the trash bag in place is a bit flimsy. That was damaged in my open-box unit as well, and unlike the dent in the front, I could definitely see why that happened. The plastic on these parts is a bit too thin and whoever had it before me had broken it. It still works to hold the bag, though, so that's a bit impressive, in a way. It's the only part of it I think would be likely to break under normal circumstances, and if it does it still works just fine!All in all, this is great. It's really surprising how much room you can save just by manually compacting the trash, and it's a really good trash can, those qualities aside.

For cost, the can is quite sturdy, easy to empty and replace bags. We throw about half the bag volume of trash than we did without compacting it. Looks nice in our kitchen. Should last quite awhile. But even if we need to replace it every couple of years, it is much cheaper than powered compactors, doesn't have to be placed in an undesirable location in order to run power to it, and does the job needed.

The Household Essentials Trash Krusher is a fantastic solution for reducing trash volume without needing an electric compactor. It’s sturdy, easy to use, and has significantly cut down the number of trash bags we go through.The manual compaction feature works really well — the Krusher plate is strong and effective at packing down the trash, making it super convenient. The overall design is sleek and fits nicely in the kitchen without taking up too much space.The only issue I’ve had is with the lid. It’s on the heavier side, and when closing it, the weight tends to make it drop into the trash more often than I’d like. It’s a minor annoyance but something to be aware of.Overall, it’s still a great product that does its job well. If the lid design were a bit lighter or had a slower-close mechanism, it’d be perfect. Highly recommended for anyone looking to reduce waste and save on trash bags!

I did love this, but after only a few months, the hinge that holds the lid broke.For the price, I do expect that it should function for more than a few months.Great idea but poor build quality.

Looks very nice along with other stainless steel appliances. Would have rather have had an automatic trash compactor but $600 or more was a little pricey. This works quite well. Can get twice the trash in one bag. Fits well under the end of our counter. Compact and yet holds quite a bit. Wouldn’t recommend for an elderly person as it does take a little strength to push trash down. Ok my first review was in January of this year and it’s now a year since our purchase. Still quite happy! This trash can works almost as well as a compactor. It’s held up greatly and the magnetic part of the lid still works. Still highly recommend this product.😊

I liked this trash can when I got it, and continued to like it over the weeks.The "compactor" portion of the lid has magnets, but they're pretty much ineffective. You have to snap the compactor into the lid to keep it secure, but it's easy and no hassle to do so.Those who complained about getting food waste on their arms when they compacted must not be doing it right, or at least not carefully. I've compacted trash all the way (even with a lot of trash in the can) and have never gotten stuff on my arms.In fact, I like everything about this can, except...After 6 weeks, the small hydraulic plunger that soft-closes the lid just completely failed internally. Everything I can see (even taking the little cover off of the mechanism at the bottom-rear) seems to be fine, but the plunger has NO resistance to it at all. Given that the lid is rather heavy with the compacting section attached, the lid can close pretty hard if you don't slowly lower it. And given that heavy compactor section, it sometimes come loose when the lid bangs closed and falls into the can.I really wanted to like this. I really DID like it, but now that the slow-closer is broken it's... usable... but not effective.