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Compost pail in counter

olivertwistkitchen

11 years ago

I really want to do this. The blanco salon looks great. Not sure if rev a shelf is still selling one, it isn't on their website anymore. Anyway, my question is about size. My current pail under the sink is at least 2.5 L & we don't take it out more than once a week. Blanco's pail is 1.8 L. Do you think I could do a blanco salon system with a bigger pail?

Comments (21)

mgmsrk
11 years ago
The house I built 8 years ago I put in a double through the counter waste system. The concern I have for that one is it seems to have no gasket system to keep the smell from entering the kitchen. Mine was a Foster and it had rubber seals on the lid, and both ends of the tube. I did not matter how smelly the compost was you never smelled it unless you lifted the lid.

That's what mine looked like when the kitchen was new and almost finished.

{{!gwi}}
a2gemini
11 years ago
Olivertwist - I almost put the Blanco into my remodel, but decided it was just too big of a hole in the counter for the size of my kitchen.
The system looks great and should keep the smells out - and you can toss the whole thing into the DW to clean it.
I decided to go with a bag in the freezer - I just put the compost into the freezer - no smell, no clean up and no loss of precious counter or cabinet space.
A friend has the Franke - which is similar but no longer made - she loves it.
I put my first batch into our outside compost bin to see what happens. We live in the "city" - OK, A2 isn't the biggest city... but we do have the usual urban critters - skunks, raccoons, fox, coyote, ground hog but so far, no deer (although they are less than a mile from our house and I will know they are here when they start munching the deer candy - arborvitae)
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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)
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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.
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Okay, you twisted my arm. I've bought a new card reader for my camera and I'm posting some temp photos which will be deleted soon. I'm making supper here--chicken to work over (fat globs and other scraps go into trash), sad looking salad greens and peas (too hot outdoors and the lettuce has bolted), herbs to chop, veg and onion ready to be cut up. I usually sit at stool but DH stands here. Compost tray runs along side of blue drawer organizer (repurposed container we got with Alaskan shrimp in it). Remember--our top drawers were made shallow because of pull-out board. If I had it to do over, I'd make them just a big deeper by shortening the drawers and bins below--to prevent items from jamming drawers. I am grateful for 90 degree countertop edge because I can brush things into the trash or the pan so reliably and it cuts down the cleanup. If I did not have the pull-out board, I'd put the pan parallel to the countertop, as suggested above. Makes good sense. We used to put a big bowl or dishpan on a stool below the edge of our chopping surface when we needed to work over lots of veg or apples for freezing--same idea. I can put this pan into my top drawer under baking area pullout board also--can receive excess flour sprinkled on the countertop or the breadboard or dough scraps. You could do the same in any drawer next to a baking surface. I've extended the drawer far enough for you to see the pan within; usually we don't pull it out very far unless the front of the pan is already full or unless we're working with sloppy things like tomatoes. I put my eggshells into the pan when making breakfast--the drawer glides out so easily! I try to remember to crush them in my fist as I do this so the composting begins sooner and the shells get mixed with other items sooner. The compost bin is an Ikea item which I think has been discontinued; you buy taller ones now with the same footprint. This one has built-in handles. The boot below it allows me to roll it out with one hand. Lid is not tight and can be opened with one hand. The long compost tray is a bit awkward to handle when it's full and needs to be emptied--in an earlier moment in the evolution of the kitchen I used a different skinny pan and it was perfect to sling around, but it held a lot less. I'm used to this one now so it doesn't matter but at first I dumped it on the floor a few times when using one hand, aargh! The lesson is...don't put off emptying it when you're cleaning up the kitchen.
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mavmomma---to make you feel even surer. I knew someone 20 years ago that did something just like you were talking about. She and her dh were very committed to composting. They put a lot of work into their diy kitchen redo (her dh made all the beautiful cabinets from a mixture of woods.) I visited just after the redo and then several (approx 3) years later and I noticed the hole in the counter for the compost was patched over. I didn't ask why but I thought about this when I tried to come up with an alternative for the on-the-counter system we've been using for 20+ years. I love celticmoon's drawer! I wanted something similar when planning our kitchen 4 years ago. I thought the drawer over the trash would be perfect since it would be positioned in the veggie-prep area, between the fridge and prep sink. It didn't work out for 2 reasons: 1. our drawer seems too shallow (it's inset) and 2. it turns out I like doing all my prepping across the aisle on the opposite side of our peninsula...so the drawer wouldn't provide the quick sweep easy management of scraps that I had hoped for. A case where reality turned out different from the paper plans. My compost continues to be on the counter. I find taking the lid off the top really awkward when my hands are full of scraps. I hope to get around to experimenting with a trash pail that attaches to a sink cabinet door with a lid that rises away from it as the door is swung open. Here's a link to the idea. In fact, the price on this one is better than I've found before so I'm putting it in my cart and will hopefully finally order it. We have a charcoal filter in the lid of our current compost container but I just used a cheap stainless steel stock pot for many years. Odor problems were rare (usually only occurred when cleaning old stuff out of the fridge---which meant we dumped the compost right away. We don't compost meat scraps.) Here is a link that might be useful: pivot out trash
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melissastar
11 years ago
a2gemini: I chuckled at your characterization of skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes and ground hogs as "the usual urban critters". I'm thinking you live in a different sort of city from the one I live in. Here the usual critters are rats and bigger rats. (Yuck, I know....I'd rather have your critters).
a2gemini
11 years ago
LOL
Fortunately no rats that I have seen. When we moved in, we captured 13 skunks and 12 raccoons.
We have learned to make friends with them. The skunks are docile - and if you don't get too close, you are OK (but they do stink up the neighborhood)
A raccoon fight in the tree outside of our bedroom can be quite an alarm clock at a time that you don't want to wake up!

Oliver - let us know your decision - basically if you have lots of room - go for it!
olivertwistkitchen
Original Author
11 years ago
Why the two holes mgmsrk? And what missing gasket?

Just found the rev a shelf one and one by hafele that are big. Like 3L. Maybe those are my answers?
oldbat2be
11 years ago
Olivertwist - we really like the Solon. I posted pictures in a2's thread (see link).

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to pictures of our setup
mgmsrk
11 years ago
Why the two holes mgmsrk? And what missing gasket?

We had two separate bins under with a large pull out that had 4 containers to separate items. We had a more advanced waste management system that ran in the area then most have. We used one chute for compost and one for "waste"(everything that could not be recycled or composted in the Province).

I could only find a picture of the system you described on Amazon and it looked like just a SS chute with a cover for the top that fed into the pail. Does it have any seals? Could be the one photo just did not show. If you will be taking things out every few days it wonÃ¯Â¿Â½t matter but things can get stinky fast(we did also compost meat and bone) and I was always glad to have the gaskets. About 2 years ago one of my lids broke and it took about a month to order in a new one, the top part was ok and sat in the chute but the smell difference was incredible. I had to empty every day but I could go a week with the gasket in place
jsceva
11 years ago
mgmsrk - I think you saw a pick of an older Blanco product...the Solon is a removable stainless pail that sits in the counter. The lid seals tight.

It looks really, really nice, and I really wanted one...but we couldn't fit a big enough hole in our counter in any reasonable way. 7.5" diameter is actually pretty big in a small kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blanco Solon video
jsceva
11 years ago
I meant "pic," of course... apparently I need more coffee before I can type
christyks
11 years ago
I grew up composting food waste and have continued it. My goal with my new kitchen is to get it completely off my counter, out of my sink and out of sight, but easily accessible. I wish someone made one of the garbage bin drawers that also had a compost bin. I'm already planning on the servo opening trash drawer and am now trying to design a compost container to fit there as well. I like to recycle a bread bag to line the container.
olivertwistkitchen
Original Author
11 years ago
I definitely like the style of the Blanco one better, but honestly I will never take out the compost more than once a week, so I need something bigger. Seems like the Rev-a-Shelf or Hafele are better options since they are bigger (even though the lid isn't as stylish, and the bucket itself is plastic). Although I'm not sure the Hafele one has a handle.
MichelleDT
11 years ago
A few other ideas in this thread...I like the "hotel tray" in a drawer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost Bins in Kitchen
mgmsrk
11 years ago
jsceva,

Thanks for the link. It looks much better then the random photos I looked at that made it look like a smell problem waiting to happen.

olivertwist,

When I was building I came across systems that went directly outside, generally to a waste bin but it could be to a compost unit. They used wall openings and piping on the outside. I thought about those, would be super convenient to just have the waste and compost out of the house ASAP. I was not sure that I wanted to deal with cleaning the tubes though so nixed the idea.
a2gemini
11 years ago
Oliver - I think you will want to get rid of the compost more frequently - remember this is compost and not all garbage and trash.
The Blanco is pretty darn nifty! The system is sound and should have the least amount of problems.
If my kitchen could have supported it, I would have done it...
olivertwistkitchen
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for all the tips everyone.
To clarify, I already compost, and keep it under the sink.
And I do not take it out more than once a week.
No problems.
Thanks.
a2gemini
11 years ago
Hope I didn't offend you - how do you keep it from smelling? Glad you are composting!!
olivertwistkitchen
Original Author
11 years ago
No, not at all! It's under the sink. I guess if you remove the lid and stick your head in, yes, it's smelly. But it sure doesn't smell up the whole kitchen!
a2gemini
11 years ago
Thanks - I might buy one for under the sink downstream but for now, using the freezer trick.
Another friend uses and old blender on the counter and munches things up and then throws the whole thing in the DW
formerlyflorantha
11 years ago
there are a number of other old threads on this topic also...anyone willing to dig them out?
alvmusick
11 years ago
I also wanted a larger compost pail and one that didn't take up counter space - I wanted to be able to move it around my small galley kitchen but also store it out-of-sight. Since I couldn't find a ready-made solution my husband and I created a DIY system using our 2-can 15" rev- a-shelf trash pull-out and a 1 gallon compost pail (3.7+ liters) from Williams-Sonoma. I measured the pail - he sawed the trash can then bolted the bottom into the top to fit the pail. We love it! No smell at all. Definitely not beautiful, but functional and out-of-sight.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost Pail Williams-Sonoma
a2gemini
11 years ago
Love it! Best of both worlds!!

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