I can't answer your technical question about cab heights, but I can give a warning. I used to have a regular plastic kitchen garbage can under the sink. Like you, I was loath to give up any of my limited cupboard space for the trash pull-out. But about two weeks before demo was due to start I realized how very, very much it annoyed me when my DH would need to get to the garbage can while I was at the sink (this happened pretty much every day). He would nudge me to get me to step aside for him to open the door. I realized that it would be cheaper to pay for a trash pull-out than for a defense attorney when I beaned him with the skillet I was washing. So I quickly changed up the neighboring cabs to insert a 15" wide trash pull-out right next to the sink base. My paper towel cubby is on top. I love that pull-out, even for my own use when I'm at the sink, so I don't have to step back, open the door, and bend over. If you're used to the pull-out, you may not realize how much of an improvement it is over the garbage-under-the-sink model. In fact, just having the garbage in a drawer-type thing instead of behind a door makes it more efficient.Of course, if no one else is nudging you all the time,it doesn't matter as much.

It would probably work to have recycling under the sink, because other people would be less likely to need to get to it while you were at the sink.

@Ginny,

That's a very useful observation that the recycling stuff is less likely to create conflicts than the trash can if under the sink. And even if another person wanted to put something in the recycling at an inconvenient time, it could be temporarily set aside, unlike garbage which usually needs to be deposited post haste.

The other barrier I have for a trash in the cabinet is the ick factor - don't want that stuff in a cab with my clean utensils and food. I am choosing a rolling step-can, instead. The recycling in the cabinet doesn't bother me because it all must be washed anyway.

L.

Re: the ick factor
When the can would get close to full, people would keep tossing things under there without looking, and they'd sail over the top and behind the can. I would end up with popsicle wrappers and used paper towels in among the lesser-used cleaning supplies. I'd go to get oven cleaner and find a cache of old garbage that had fallen down there. Lovely!

I had trash in the sink cab and had the same annoying experience of Ginny's. I really wanted a separate pull-out but didn't think I had the room. I went with a 27 inch sink base, a 24 inch sink, and a 12 inch trash pull-out, which holds a 13 gallon can.

I got a double pull out for trash at Container Store. The cans are 14" tall, I think, so they fit in my 17" high cabinet under the apron sink. It is not installed yet, surprize, surprize!!

Nancy

I remember that hard to deny yearning when I was holding the cast iron frying pan and being nudged aside! We have a very small kitchen, but I was going to have SOME sort of trash pullout in the new layout. It's small, fits in a 12" cabinet, but it is truly one of my favorite parts of the kitchen! We have trash and recycling cans from Rev a Shelf. We cook every day and have to empty every two days if not everyday, but that is what I did anyway because I don't like having garbage sitting around.

Here is a link that might be useful: 27 gallon trash/recycling

Good thread but dang. I was putting my garbage and compost in a pull-out under the sink. Now I'm rethinking it but really don't know where it could go in my small kitchen.

A timely thread. I am trying to decide whether to give up a 15 inch drawer unit in favor of a 'garage' under the counter. I like the idea of having a trash can on wheels and moving it to where I am working. The place I'm thinking of would only be visible to someone in the kitchen working.

I don't want a fixed-in-place pull out since we'll have 2 sinks in different places - where most trash will be generated. If we don't leave a space under the counter to park the trash can then we'll put a container under both sinks.

Despite this thread, there have been a lot of previous posts from people on GW who put their trash pullout under the sink and liked it fine. One big issue might be the size of the sink, and whether you can get the trash over on one side so that you still have room to stand and work at the sink while the pullout is extended.

Good point about the trash being available to all your prep spaces. I forget that most people have bigger spaces than I do :-) I prep in the 42" between my sink and range and that's where the pullout is. I thought about doing a pullout under my sink, but since the SB is only 27" with 24" sink, I figured I'd still have to get out of the way a lot.

Oh wait. My DH never throws anything away. He just sets it on the counter above the trash anyway. I think he's afraid of the garbage can but doesn't want to admit it.

I tell you though, if he asks me to move so he can throw something away when I have the pull-out..... *hand to face*...

I think I'm going with a pull-out. I think.

I had my trash under the sink in my previous kitchen and I liked it very much. The reason I liked it was because I would use smaller trash bags and take out the trash on a daily basis. Right now we are using a large stepcan and it takes a few days to fill it up which is kind of gross.

I think it's important to figure out how much trash your household produces. Maybe you really will need the dedicated trash cabinet if your family generates a lot of trash.

We have always had the trash under the sink; the recycling lived in another room. For the reno, I was planning to use a separate 18" cab for a recycling pullout, and keep the trash under the sink; to make enough room for the 18 cab, however, I had to go down to a 27" sink cab. GW posters convinced me that a better use of space would be to use a 36" sink cab, and put both trash and recycling under that cab. To that end, I got a corner drain. The trash lives in front of the GD, and the recycling pull out will (eventually) go in the open space on the left.

As far as getting nudged while at the sink, well, that happens to us, too. Rather than get annoyed, however, we have a saying: "Quit your b1tchin', it's the law of the kitchen!"

I'm in the group who loves my trash pullout under the sink. My kitchen is too small to give up any cabinet space to a separate trash pullout. In a 27" sink base have a 7 1/2" deep D bowl sink with the drain in the rear. The left side has room for a simple human trash pullout, the right side has the plumbing in the rear and a small IKEA recycling container in front of it for cans and bottles. The setup works great for me. It doesn't take much effort to take one step aside if needed.

Here is a link that might be useful: simple human trash pullout

Trying to plan the trash and recycling has been a huge thing for me. Not only do I need to separate these but I also do major composting (big veggie garden), which needs a separate container. And now, our municipality is starting household waste recycling (meat scraps, bread scraps, bones, etc. (everything we don't put in the compost bin). So now I will need compost, household waste, recycling and trash bins.(the trash is everything that is left after all the rest is recycled! Where will it all go?!

I want a recycling for under our sink the size of a grocery paper bag: approx 16" H x 6" W x 12" deep. Any ideas other than to keep using the grocery bags?