I had a countertop compost container and did have trouble with it. I wasn't able to empty it every day, and (for me) even leaving it for a few days did result in smell, fruit flies and even one really gross fly larvae incident. Seems like many people have no issues with them, but I certainly did. I ended up buying this compost collector that you store in your freezer and I couldn't be happier with it. It's probably a bit on the small size for a large family, but it works well for me: no flies, no smell, and if the plastic gets icky I can throw it in the dishwasher between compost loads. It even seems to me that freezing and thawing the food scraps helps them break down more quickly, although it's possible that's just my imagination. That said, you could probably use just about any freezer-safe container for compost storage rather than buying this particular item, if you wanted to go that route. Here is a link that might be useful: Freezer Compost Collector

Another fan of the Blanco Solon here. We've had it for a couple years now, and both spouse and I still love it. We empty ours once every few days, and haven't had any issues. As the other folks have implied, the lid keeps the smell out, and I often have no idea how full it is until I lift that lid :) The price did seem high to me, too, until I actually got one into my hands and realized that the build quality is exceptional. It feels much more like a commercial product than a residential one- they use a think stainless steel, and I have no doubt it will be one of the longest lasting components of our kitchen. One finer consideration you might want to think about is setback from the counter edge. Try to consider the container full of food (weighs a few pounds), and then picture trying to lift it up and out of its housing. The further away you get from the counter edge, the more you're leaning over and the greater the stress on your back. The same setback is important as you think about the beauty of being able to work directly above the compost bin. For example, peeling carrots with the peels falling directly into the bin. For both of these common tasks, the closer the placement to the edge of the countertop, the easier they will be. However, if you put it right at the close edge of the countertop, then you have to make other sacrifices (such as losing the utility of a drawer in front of the bin, which both oldbat2be and I have). If you're younger, you probably won't even notice these details, but as you age, you will notice them more and more. If you want to consider this detail, you can easily model different placements with some cutouts and/or bags of bulk foods. Enjoy your kitchen planning! Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Pictures (including Blanco Solon)

I had the Lee Valley green compost container for years. It was ok but it holds so much compost by the time it got emptied it was all pretty gross and then washing out the container was yucky.. Then there are the fruit flies. They drove me crazy in the summer. Now we use the disposable compost friendly paper bags and have a dedicated space in the freezer for the bag. Perfect solution all around. Nothing gets mushy and gross and absolutely no fruit flies. Love this solution!!

Ahhh... wow. Never know what you'll find when you google. There was a thread - many threads no doubt, on this subject but at least one to which I contributed a couple years back. I googled and found this on pinterest, which I've never even visited; it's my kitchen!: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/44543483788641019/ Let me report that a couple years forward I consider my long-standing compost issue a complete non-issue now. All those years buying expensive compost buckets that break, being given wacky devices with filters and odor soakers and the rest .... all nonsense. For me, the solution was simple in the end. I have two sinks. Next to one is built in an open shelf, into which I set a plastic square food-service type bin. They're cheap, about $5 for the container and the same for the cover. They are, therefore, easy to replace for little money, but being plastic and a heavy duty good quality plastic at that, just don't need replacing. I think I have replaced them once in a couple years? Or maybe I just thought about it ... I do find that the opaque and not clear bins are better. Having an open shelf for the bucket makes it easy to just stuff the container in there off the counter when I am overtaken with a rare fit of cleanliness. I usually grab it back out within 5 minutes, but it's easy when the shelf is open like that. I have three bins total, a 4qt one and 2 2qt ones. The 2 qt ones fit, end to end, in the space as pictured on pinterest. It's the top of a totally groovy, very expensive rev-a-shelf double bin trash pullout. The cans are stainless steel and hence worth their weight in gold, evidently. The small sizes work great for me, I think the small container is 10L and the larger is 20L. Here's the piece. On top of that plastic shelf you can make out above the section the bins pull out of, is where I set the two smaller food service bins. Wow, Look at all the products this company has. The bins are called Camsquares, but any food service store will carry them for cheap. My cabinet is taller than the pull out bins need so as to leave space up top on that plastic shelves to set the compost. Those go at the food cleanup sink, the larger bucket at the prep sink. I prefer smaller bins for all of the above and just to take it out more often. Smell is *never* a problem unless I forget that third container back there! Which is just as well, how else would you know there had been an oversight? Do search the archives on GW on this topic. The subject has been explored for years. Some folks have some pretty imaginative solutions, with drawers that have overlids, and inset circles into the counters, etc. For the long haul, I recommend simple=good. Grunge happens and builds up and I think it's better to have cheap, easy, replaceable with time. I scrub my bins every time they come back from a compost dump but still, eventually they get a little grubby. I have nothing invested in plastic tubs, so that's easy to just change out.