I am having exactly the same problem, although mine just smells like garbage. The cans have lids and we also rinse out the recycling. I can't figure it out because I never had the problem with my simple human cans I used before the remodel.

I don't, and we often leave ours in all week unless it gets overfull too soon. Like you we don't put food scraps in it (except sometime banana peels). Everything else goes down the disposal.

We do rinse any microwave dinner cartons before putting them in, and I would never put cat food cans in there rinsed or not. I'm guessing, but just guessing mind you, that that's the culprit regardless.

Can you try a couple of weeks without the cat tins and see what happens? I also always spray some febreeze in the bins and into the enclosure behind the bins every garbage day as a preventative measure; figure it can't hurt.

Good luck!!

Are the bins new plastic ones? It could simply be ongoing off gassing.
If so, try using something else for a bit (get the containers out of the house and see if the smell goes away), even just paper bags, to see if it's the containers themselves which stink.
I'd not try to cover a chemical smell with another chemical.
If it smells offensive, trust your nose! Likely the scent is a red flag that it's something you may not want in your house.
You can also put the containers outside for a prolonged period of time with the hope they'll off gas.

If it isn't chemical, you might still want to leave the containers themselves outside for a bit as they may have absorbed a nasty odor. Arm and hammer, as well as charcoal briquettes, are great for absorbing odors.

Good luck!

Like taggie, no problem with bad smells from our pull out. Our bin is plastic. We don't rinse things before throwing them in there and we throw a variety of garbage in there such as coffe grounds, fruit peels, meat bones and yogurt containers. It often goes several days before being taken out. Recycling items go right to a bin in the garage and no real problems there either.
Hope you can find out what the problem is.

Take the bins out and leave them outside for a week or two to air out.

They are probably "outgassing" (the remnants of the volatiles from the manufacturing process are evaporating).

Oh! Badgergal's post got me thinking because we put a lot of coffee grounds in there too.

Is it possible that coffee grounds could help with odor absorption? If so, maybe you need to start drinking a lot more coffee joaniepoanie. You might get all twitchy and you won't sleep at night but you'll have great smelling garbage, lol.

We have been having the same problem. I washed the cans really well and then filled them about 4-6" with water and vinegar and set them outside. I emptied them later that day and let them sit outside another day. That helped. We're on a septic system, so the disposal for food scraps is out of the question. We were just tossing everything in the can as is (we did rinse out any cans or jars though). We stopped tossing everything in and use a gallon size baggie for food scraps--1 per day. A box of baking soda in the back of the cabinet helps too. I also bought scented trash bags--now I just have to deal with that concentrated flowery smell :-) I hope that's the end of the smelly garbage!

This is the reason I chose not to have one of these.

We had our kitchen remodeled over four years ago and until very recently have been dealing with the same problem.

We've always kept our trash in the cabinet under the sink. Since the new kitchen was completed we've had an annoying/gagging chemical smell. I've tried taking everything out of the cabinet for a week to no avail. I've used a number of products designed to rid/hide smells, again, without luck. Since we very seldom toss food into the trash, I determined it was probably chemicals from the new cabinet though we don't have the smell in any of our other cabs. Perhaps sitting next to a steamy dishwasher or maybe even the garbage disposer is to blame. The disposer is the only thing we did not buy new for the remodel since it still worked fine. Regardless, the smell has finally somewhat dissipated but it took over four years.

Jodi-

I'm not buying the idea that this is related to a pullout. Why would a pullout smell but a can wouldn't? You can get covers for pullout cans, too.

We used to have that issue with a the pullout trash in our last house. The kitchen was a few years old when we moved in...
It did not smell chemical-like but it did smell bad. I think the plastic garbage container and closed environment may have been a bad combo. I found it hard to clean thoroughly to the back of the cabinet. I'd pull out the entire thing, unclip the metal bin holders and try to reach all the way in the back and spray cleaner as best as I could.
In this kitchen, we knew without a shadow of doubt that we wanted a freestanding can. It is easier to keep clean and guests know where it is. Besides, we did not want to pay good money to put our garbage into a cabinet. It would have meant changing the eventual layout and I would not want any of the now existing cabs moved further from where they are or to have fewer cabs....

Does anyone put a closed can under a counter without a closure, rather than in a cabinet/drawer? Drawbacks?

are your pull outs next to the dw? could the heat from the dw be helping the smell along?

the only time my trash smells is if I've cooked chicken and stuff and bones are in it. I usually cook it at night and the trash goes out the next morning! otherwise my trash can hang around for several days with no smell. It does literally 'hang' around - it's a grocery bag hanging up high on a hook. If I didn't do that the dog would tear it apart. I thought I had to be the only one to do that until i stopped by a friend's house a few yrs back. His trash bag was hanging high up on a hook also. dogs again...

I was hoping that soon I could have it hidden behind a door.

I hope I don't have to devise something on a pulley in the new place!

I do have a plastic container for dog food that stinks and I no longer use it for that. It said on it that it was safe for food stuff - ha! I'll probably use it for trash in the bathroom in the new place. Maybe I'll soak it in water with baking soda in it for a few weeks.

If we have things we think will really smell, we use any plastic grocery bags we have and take them outside. We do not have a pullout, just a simple human stepcan and a Container store recycling bin.

Wow, maybe low-tech is the way to go after all. :) No pull-out for me, just a little plastic can under my sink with a lid that swings open, lined with a plastic bag. I generally don't rinse cans out, including cat food, which smells more like Dinty Moore than Fancy Feast anyway. Anything like raw meat (esp. chicken) I wrap up and put straight into the garbage can outside. That would be a recipe for disgust.

Have you tried the odor shield garbage bags? Just a thought.

Thanks everyone..im trying process of elimination....recycling can is airing out in garage and recycling with cat food cans In plastic bag also in garage for now. I'll see if just garbage produces the same chemical smell in a few days. I'll keep you posted!

We experienced nasty off-gassing with our plastic rev-a-shelf trash pullout, but haven't had a problem since except when DH was putting DD's wet (not poopy) diapers in it. In an enclosed space, those smell horrid!

I hope you cure your stink. My trash pullout is one of my fave things in the new kitchen.

I don't have pullouts yet, but my recycling can is in a cupboard. I keep it lined with a plastic bag to keep the can clean. But I also (and I do this with my regular trash can too) take a section of the newspaper, fold it in half and it fits perfectly in the bottom of the can. I think it helps absorb some odors and also if a bag leaks in the can, it can soak them up (to an extent, obviously) and keep the can itself cleaner. Every once in a while I change out the newspaper whether it needs it or not. With the stinky complaints, I would maybe try tossing some charcoal briquettes in the bottom of the can as well.

Good idea, Nicole! I'll have to try that! I'm betting it's the plastic cans off-gassing as breezy mentioned.

Use plastic garbage bag in the cans also.

It at least keeps the inside of the can clean.

We use paper grocery bags inside our plastic waste bin which is inside the two-bin pullout. I've noticed that if there is something stinky, it is definitely stinky. In our house, that's smoked fish wrappings especially. The smoky oily smell just zings out at me. Meat and bone refuse can get a little ripe also. I agree that it may be because there is no air passage in there so when opened, the stink has a chance to whoosh out, free at last. Refuse from the cabbage family also stinks, in the covered compost under sink, but not as bad.

The smell is a reminder to empty the bin more often. Then it can really fester in my garbage dumpster, sitting in the sun outside. Since DH got a smoker for Christmas, I suspect the whole neighborhood's gonna have odiferous adventures.

"We use paper grocery bags inside our plastic waste bin which is inside the two-bin pullout."

That is very likely to smell.

Paper bags are not waterproof.

Wow, just another thing to consider with the kitchen planning! I was so excited about the trash can pull out drawer. Right now our trash is out in the open without a lid. It rarely gets smelly, and we throw everything in there, without rinsing things out. For those people that said their trash cans were in the cupboard AND had lids on, how did you open them? Do you just lift the lid off? Doesn't that get in the way when you have icky stuff in your hands to throw away?

What brand of cans are we talking about? Maybe it's one particular manufacturer with the smelly cans? Could everyone chime in?

We had a trash pull out for years and it was a big tall one. Totally enclosed on all sides and never any smell unless raw meat trimmings/bones sat in it for a day or so. Never a chemical smell that's for sure.

I'm doing a new build and would go out of my way to stay away from a known smelly brand, so lets see if there is a common element in the smelly cans!

Gbsim--Mine, referenced above as one sans smells, is a plastic Rev-a-shelf double can.

Penny--The lids for my two cans are hanging out in the garage still in their boxes. The lids seemed silly to me for the same reasons you mentioned. As for opening the cab, when I start a big meal prep I open it a few inches so I can just drop in without opening/closing. Saves me time and aggravation.

I think I've said this previously. My trash pullout is one of the things I like most in my new kitchen!

Wow - I have never had a problem with odors and we put everything in our 2-bin pullout - and it sometimes sits for days until it's full.

We do lightly rinse the recyclables (per our County's request), but we don't heavily rinse them. We put food scraps (meat, bones, etc.) in the trash bin all the time! [Since we are on septic we do try to limit what we put in the GD somewhat.]

We've been using ours for almost 4 years now (I can't believe it's been that long since we remodeled!)

The trash pullout is one of the many "best things" about our kitchen - no more dogs getting into the trash, no more trash in the open, etc. (Our standard poodles quickly learned how to "step on the pedal" to open our trash can in our old kitchen!)

Hmmmm....I've been following this thread and trying some of the suggestions. The trashcans have been in about 15 months, and for the first 7-8 months were fine. Beyond the cleaning of the cans I have tried with no success, Bounce dryer sheets, Glade stickups, Febreez, daily removal of the trash even tho it doesn't smell. And I still have the stinky smell. The old kitchen had a trash pullout and I never in 20+ yrs had an issue. Seeing Breezy's comment on rev-a-shelf cans makes me wonder...I have them as well. I think maybe my next step is buying a different brand trash cans to see if that fixes it.

Pupeez--I think RAS makes metal cans also. Aliris has metal cans, and I'm almost positive hers are RAS. They weren't cheap, she said. I'm not sure if the metal cans would fit within the same frame as for the plastic ones, but worth checking. Good luck! Hope I'm not in your boat at 15 months in....

I am glad I am reading this since I really need the cabinet space and I am thinking that maybe I like my stainless can and using the big can in the garage for recyclables. I throw out the tall kitchen bag every other day in the garage and my stainless steel trash can with the lid never smells and neither does my kitchen. I am still trying to find a place in my home office for a stainless steel trash can for recyclables labeled so my clients do not throw
trash in the same trash can. But maybe I should just keep doing what I am doing. I was looking forward to a pull-out trash and recyclable bin one day but I am highly sensitive to plastic out-gassing so I guess I better stick to my stainless steel trash can.

...I also have Rev-A-Shelf plastic cans...

My pullout is rev-a-shelf within a plastic bin. There is no offensive smell from it.

Yeah I had that experience