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Can't do soft close w/ foot pedal on pullout trash?

13 years ago

I recently saw where someone (?buehl?) posted that they had not yet installed their foot pedal for their pullout trashcan because their dh didn't want to give up the soft close... Did I understand that correctly? Can someone explain this a bit more? Thanks!

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Comments (4)

Fori
13 years ago
The foot pedal disengages a magnet enabling the bungee cords to take over and shoot the pullout out. The pedal only starts the process and probably doesn't have the pullout go far enough to get past the self-closing feature of the soft close.

It's still soft with just the foot pedal, at least mine is, but not self closing. I bet you could sit on the floor and tweak until you could have both features.

I think.
Buehl
13 years ago
If anyone figures out how to have the self/soft-close AND the foot pedal, please let us all know! (Yes, it's my DH that is balking at losing the self/soft-close on the trash pullout.)
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Having just gotten off the phone with Hafele, I can assure you that they do not specify that the pedal can work with any system. I first installed this about 7 years ago when we did our kitchen remodel. The pedal worked GREAT until last summer. A little plastic piece snapped off one morning and the magnet would not longer engage. After several phone calls I was told that I had to purchase an entirely new foot pedal unit (and they now looked a bit different than what I originally had). Fast forward six months, and today I had the same thing happen (same plastic piece snapped out). Hafele has kindly offered to replace the foot pedal under warranty but has warned me that this is only to be used with specific pullouts (mine is not one of them) and that I cannot expect it to work with a generic (non-Hafele) trash cabinet. The next time this happens, I will not be given a replacement. He said he was surprised it had lasted so long the first time. At this rate, the trash pedals are going to run about $150-$200 a year. I'm going to be looking for another solution, I think. After all this time, I'm surprised there are not more options on the market. Has anyone else out there had their pedal break like mine?
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Rev-a-shelf offers several trash/recycling pull-outs. The one I have has soft open and soft close. I'm sorry I don't have the model number of the one I picked, but it was in the catalog that my cabinet maker had me look at. It is wood with double bins. I really like the soft CLOSE part of the pull-out, however, the soft OPEN feature took some getting used to. It takes a bit more effort to open it. I am used to it now, but I'm not sure I would chose the soft open feature again. If you are trying to keep very young children out of the garbage it could be a good thing since I don't think it opens easily enough. My 4-year old can open it with some effort though. Not sure if Rev-a-shelf offers one with JUST the soft close or not. I tried to look on their website, but it doesn't offer much detailed information.
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I have the Hafele pedal and every once in a while it won't stay closed. This used to happen more frequently when I first installed it but now only happens once in a great while. What I've found is that the reason it won't stay closed is because the magnet isn't making good contact with the steel plate. I have to just scoot the magnet which is attached to the underside of the cabinet up a fraction of an inch. I think as I kick the pedal sometimes, the magnet can sort of get kicked back. For some reason I'm not able to tighten the screws which attach it to the cabinet - probably need to get someone with some muscle to do it. But like I said, it happens so infrequently that it's just easier to scoot it forward with my hands. I'm not sure if that is your problem, and I've never dealt with Hafele customer service so I can't help there. I've had my pedal for about 4.5 years and cannot live without it. I've gotten so used to it, I found myself trying to push an imaginary pedal in other spots in my kitchen! As for the soft close, I have that on all my drawers as well, and it WOULD be cool to have it on the trash, but for me, it's MUCH cooler to have hands-free opening on the trash. There are so many times my hands are wet/dirty/grimy, etc. from handling food and the foot pedal is indispensable.
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I've had my haefele foot pedal on the trash drawer for 4 1/2+ years now. It took me a while to get used to using the pedal so I used the pull a bunch of times at the beginning. And yes, guests usually just use the pull too. I've not yet had a problem (knock on wood). I do think that using the pedal is preferrable. I've read that comment about it being bad to use the pull here several times, but I think that would only really hurt it if you did it habitually as opposed to occasionally when guests do it. Tam, I would try to get your family to use it. I'm not sure how tight you have the bungee cord attached, but my drawer doesn't come bounding out with any great force. It opens to about half way so that the trash can is fully exposed and the back recycle bin is only about an inch exposed. I often stand in front of it deliberatly as it is opening so that it hits my leg, so I can throw something away without looking, and it just gently taps my leg. If I want to get out of the way as it's opening, it's not like I have to quickly leap away to avoid getting hit. It seems like your daughter could learn to get out of the way, I think.
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lowspark
13 years ago
I just don't see how it could possibly work.

The way the foot pedal works is that the bungee is stretched out so always trying to relax. If it relaxes, the door opens. When closing the door, the bungee is stretched.

The foot pedal magnet holds the bungee at a stretch when the door is closed.

So, in order to close the door, you have to push it till the magnet catches. You have to follow through because if you let go before the magnet catches, the bungee will relax, thus opening the door.

The soft close catches the drawer just before it closes and pulls the door the remaining inch or so till it shuts. It's pulling the drawer shut s-l-o-w-l-y.

So what you would have is the soft close trying to pull the trash door shut while the bungee is trying to relax and open the door.

Who's gonna win? My money is on the bungee. Because if you have soft close, you know that in the process of the drawer closing, you can always grab it and open it back up. The soft close is not going to fight you.

As far as I can tell, ya gotta pick one or the other.

My kitchen is now over 5.5 years old and has the soft close on all the drawers except the trash pull out where I have the pedal. I'm used to it. I don't think of my trash cabinet as the same as the other drawers. It's become second nature to me to just push it all the way shut, often times with my hip.

You know, in the almost six years since the kitchen was completed, I don't think I've ever thought the trash was going to soft close, but I've many times thought there was a foot pedal on another drawer!! LOL.
tracey_b
13 years ago
In my previous house, I could open the trash drawer with my foot (some shoes I wore were better than others at enabling this); I hope I can in our new house too because I don't want to lose the soft close either. I might rig up a small strip of wood or metal (or whatever) extended underneath/backside bottom of the drawer--just enough that my foot can hook it and pull open the drawer. Probably wouldn't be seen unless you're looking for it.

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