I truly love this kitchen. There’s so much counter space, cabinets and the two ovens but there was NO place to put a trash can. Having the starving dachshund who loves to dig in the trash doesn’t help matters.
Even with lots of cabinets, almost all the lower cabinets have the pullout drawers so a trash can wouldn’t fit in there.
I bought a smaller trash can that fits under the sink but every time I open the cabinet door, Speck has his nose in the trash can.
Another issue is that the trash man will only pick up 10 – 12 of the 13 gallon bags each week. We have to be pretty conservative with our trash or we’ll go way over with batting scraps, and just the amount of garbage we generate.
This is the first place we’ve lived with a recycling center so we’ve been recycling cans, newspaper/magazines, cardboard, etc. and that’s helping to reduce the trash. If you walk out the breakfast room towards the garage, I have three trash cans set up for the recyclables.This weekend I had the bright idea that if I had a little countertop container, I could use grocery bags for liners, keep a regular 13 gallon kitchen can outside in the garage and just take the grocery bags out 2 or 3 times a day and that would solve my kitchen trash problem.
I began looking online for a small trash container and found one that was $50 . . has some kind of automatic eye and opens when your hand gets close to it. Yes, right . . that wouldn’t work long around my house. I figured I’d go to Wal-Mart later in the week and see what I could find.
As luck would have it (and I am the luckiest person I know!), our realtor came by this morning to bring us a gift. Everything was in this little red plastic container — the perfect size for what I need on my kitchen counter for trash. I’d rather have something besides red but now I know what to look for. I would have spent weeks looking in the trash can section and would never have found what I needed.
I can keep this little can or whatever one I end up with on my counter and can stick it under the kitchen sink when we have company coming or when I’m not doing a lot of cooking (like that’s ever going to happen!).
Doesn’t take much to make me happy, does it? 
Judy L.
Judy, I remember my Grandma doing the same thing. She used an empty milk carton – emptied that day – or some other container that was ‘just empty’. She was one of those women who lived through the Depression and she used up everything! Almost a little too much!
I have a great stainless steel pail with a lid from Lee Valley — I use mine for compost, but it’d work well for other garbage too…. it is not only good looking on the counter, it contains the odors and washes up like a breeze….
Chesty’s terrible about getting in the trash too. In Marietta, when we redid the kitchen we had a special cabinet installed for trash – it was wonderful. Here we have a tall can under the sink but he’s been trying to open that cabinet the last couple days so we may have to figure something else out.
I love the Stash challenge. I finished my top using my floral fabric and can’t wait to see what next month’s challenge will be.
California has had curbside recycling of paper,cans and bottles for years. When all that is removed, it is amazing how little is really left! Great job, Judy!
Judy, How about taking that container and covering it with a fabric that goes with your kitchen and then spray several coats of acrylic over it. You put the bag in it, anyway, so you wouldn’t have to worry about finishing the inside. And it would look like it belongs there!! Voila’
neen
Great idea! I also have no practical place for a garbage can in the kitchen. Might have to try this.
Your kitchen is gorgeous!
(Hugs)
It is always a challenge setting up in a new house – looks like you are making good progress! Your rug story is just tooo funny!
Cheers!
Evelyn
P.S. forgot to say – in Austria we recycle everything! All trash has to be in clear see-through bags so the trashmen can confirm that there are no recyclables in your bags – if they see them – your trash bag will be left behind so you can sort it the right way!
Cheers!
Evelyn