Question about the footpedal: Is there any chance that the trash cabinet will hit your foot/ankle on its way out? I'm sure we'd hear about that if it was a problem, but just thought I'd ask.

Buehl, have your husband make meatloaf some night soon...then maybe he'll get it!

My vote doesn't count because I don't have either gadget...but I'd rather scrub "chicken yuck" off the faucet handle than off the trash cabinet pull.

I don't have either yet so maybe you don't want to hear my answer. :) But I am putting in trash pedal only. I've been successfully maneuvering faucet handles with my elbow, wrist, etc. for years. It's one reason why I"m getting one with a single handle. Also don't like the idea of _another_ possible failure point in the plumbing system.

The ONLY way I want to open a trash compartment is with my foot. I've had a foot-operated can since my last house (and kitchen remodel) and can't see living any other way (although this time it will be even better as a cab).

I vote for Tapmaster, I want one too! How expensive are they? =x

Down with yucky raw chicken fingers!!

I'm putting in a foot pedal, but am sorry I can't also have the soft close in there, too.

From Tapmaster site: $345 for foot pedal (#1750)
From Conservastore: $285 for same
From eBay: $295 for same

Foot Pedal (Hafele 502.15.113)
From Trash Cans & More: $35
From Kitchen Source (Cabinet Accessories Unlimited): $31.70
From CSN Supply: $35

If you get the right faucet you can turn it on with your wrist vs. fingers and avoid the chicken issue. I have a pedal for my trash/recyclables from Knape & Vogt, but it's no longer available for some reason. I love it! Don't always use it, but if my hands are gunky it's a godsend!

I just swiched from a step can--which I've always had--to a trash cabinet. Couldn't do a pedal, b/c it is inset. I was really worried about the switch. How on earth could I open the trash cab with mty hands?

But it hasn't been a problem at all. The cab glides open so easily, I can just give it a little tug with my pinky. Though I do make sure my hands are clean before I open it. Also, I should add, that in order to contain any smells or ick from, say, meat wrapper that must go in the trash, I always put them inside a plastic newspaper bag first (I keep the bag on the counter, and load it up as I'm cooking. Wash hands. tie bag off. Trash it.).

I don't have a tapmaster either. They do sound kinda fun, but I'm not a fan of the look. But they do sound fun....

The trash pedal is very cheap, compared to the tapmaster. Why can't you do it, if you can do the tapmaster? Does dh think it will be "too many pedals"?

LOL Francy...for once it's not the cost of the item...it's the fact that we'd lose the soft-close! He was all for it until I mentioned we'd have to disengage the soft-close...now he's against it!

With the soft-close, though, drawers and trash pullouts don't pull out as easily as those w/o. You have to give it a tug to get it open--not much, but definitely more than a regular drawer.

After a baking session of my DD's one day, I found batter on the cabinet around the handle of the trash pullout...dried! We cleaned it off, but as I pointed out to my DH it's only a matter of time b/f something mars the finish! (Oh, and we have birdcage pulls....I dread the day I find stuff caked in that pull!)

(Oh, and we have birdcage pulls....I dread the day I find stuff caked in that pull!)

Hang a towel from the pull and it'll become a non-issue. I used a special pull on the trash door just for that reason. Everything else in the kitchen is bin pulls and knobs.

I have been using the Tapmaster now for 2 months and love it! The Tapmaster foot plate is not even visible under my sink cabinet since I got it in the black version and it practically disappears against the cabinet toekick.

It took me a couple days to stop automatically reaching for the faucet and use my foot instead but now it is second nature and I use it all the time. I will admit that my first impression the day I installed it was that it was too expensive for the value, but now I find it is not just for "yucky chicken hands". I use it for anything in which both my hands are already occupied, whether it is filling up large pasta pots, rinsing off washed dishes, peeling potatoes or scraping garbage down the disposal. I feel it saves on water because I can instantly control the water without stopping to use my hands or leave it running, and can keep on moving with my work flow.

Thanks for you input everyone!

Foot Pedal...
A cloth in the pull is a great idea Natal (probably dishcloth for me since it's only 4")! Although, it might work against me in my arguments for the pedal!

So, if you had it to do over, would you put in the foot pedal? Why do you not use it all the time?

Tapmaster... Lmalm53..."saves water" That might be something I can use! We have a private well and we do try to conserve water since others in nearby neighborhoods have had their wells run dry in the past. We have two sinks...prep & main/cleanup. I'm trying to at least get one for the prep sink as I think it will be used the most there.

Oh, in my prep sink I have a pullout w/handle on top so using my wrist isn't that difficult...I guess I just want it all!

Definitely would put it in again. No real reason why I use my hand some of the time. Guess I just like the option.

Oh yes--the soft close. Sorry--I did read that. Must have spaced out.

How about this (I use this method with TheHusband alllllllll the time):

Get the tapmaster. Done. Settled.

Ok, now the trash pedal.

Weigh YOUR reasons for wanting it (YOU have to clean the gunk off the knob, YOU do most of the cooking and are the one throwing away chicken wrappers, etc.) against HIS reasons (looky at that neato soft close gadget! Isn't it cool the way the door just shuts itself after I put my beer cap in it?)

:-P

Ok, ok, maybe I was a bit unfair in the way I characterized that. But at least at my house, I get more votes on kitchen decisions because being in the kitchen is my life.

francy

The trash pedal is one of the best and most useful things in my kitchen. Lets use the chicken hands as an example: Yucky chicken hands don't touch the handle or cabinetry of trash when I use the pedal to open the trash pullout. I usually use the side of my ankle to knudge it closed afterwards, so when all is done, no ick gets transferred.

My faucets are single handed ones, so it is very easy to use my wrist to turn move the handle to turn the faucet on, thus protecting the faucet from ick as well. Until my wrist grows opposable thumbs, it's never going to open the pullout.

Another thing to keep in mind is the cumulative effect of cleaning up ick off the item with no pedal. With a trash pullout, it'll be hard not to get ick on both the handle or knob AND the cabinetry. A few years of cleaning ick off the cabinetry around the handle may take its toll. A faucet handle though...that finish is designed to stand up to water.

I have the trash pedal but not the tapmaster.
The ONLY way I want to open a trash compartment is with my foot... can't see living any other way
Ya, I agree with that. In fact, I wasn't even going to get a cabinet pull out trash till I found out about the foot pedal (on this forum!).

The soft close issue is one that seems to concern a lot of people. But believe me, you will get used to not having the soft close on the trash. It's no biggie. In the case of the drawer where I keep my glasses, for example, it's really nice to have the soft close and I'm used to it closing on its own as I push it. But in the case of the trash cab, I'm just used to shoving it all the way closed with my hip.

This is the truth: I've never closed the trash can thinking it had soft close and then realizing it didn't. But I have, many times, tried to push a non-existent pedal in other areas of my kitchen to open some other drawer.

Question about the footpedal: Is there any chance that the trash cabinet will hit your foot/ankle on its way out
This question comes up regularly. The answer is no. It doesn't come bounding out at a great speed. It just sort of slowly opens. I often stand directly in front of it on purpose, so that I can dump my trash in without looking as it hits my thigh. And by hits, I really mean, softly makes contact with my thigh.

As for the tapmaster, I know people rave about them and I considered getting one but never really seriously. I guess for me, it just felt like one more thing to deal with in the grand remodel and I think I'd reached my limit. I see it as one of those things you don't know you can't live without until you have it. So... I'm ok without it. Maybe one of these days I'll succumb.

But with the trash pedal, well, I was already used to no-hands, and to go back to using my hands would have been a step backward.

Thanks Natal, Francy, Alku, and Lowspark..

My DH actually spends a fair amount of time in the kitchen as he's the one who cleans up (we eat late b/c I have a long commute plus kids usually have too much homework and/or it's time for bed shortly after dinner).

He's actually been pretty good about most things, giving me the deciding "vote" in the majority of decisions....except Pet Center, Main Sink, & Induction vs "regular" electric cooktop!

I think I'm going to "fight" for the foot pedal for the Trash pullout this time around. In a year or two I might lobby for the Tapmaster, but of the two it really sounds like the trash pedal will give me the most "pay back" as well as being only $35 vs $300!

[Wait...in a year or two I'm lobbying for induction...Tapmaster may have to wait a little bit longer!]

Thanks for all your help!

I've asked this before, but since this is a new thread . . . anyone know how to retrofit the trash pedal to work with an inset door? I e-mailed the company and they said it does not work with the inset door, but they don't know the creativity of the GardenWebers!!!

Someone posted a great tip on this forum to buy microfiber cloths in the automotive section of Target, etc. I could not cook without them now. I usually open cabinets and turn on faucets with one of them in my hand everytime I cook now unless my hands are clean and dry and use a fresh one every night.

As far as I know Jbrazmania, no one has managed to figure out a way to use it with inset doors...framed, yes, but inset...not yet anyway!

For those interested, the Häfele foot pedals are designed for frameless cabinets. However, our own MeToo2 figured out a way to use them w/framed cabinets. See below for MeToo2's instructions and links to pictures in the Gallery:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From the "Pull Out Trash" thread started by ColdTropics on Fri, Jul 20, 07 at 2:43

Posted by metoo2 (My Page) on Wed, Aug 15, 07 at 19:27

Front View when cabinet is shut:
Hafele Foot Pedal Door Opener view when door is shut. Face frame cabinets-full overlay.
.....http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/08/pull_out_trash_foot_pedal_fron.html?cat=kitchens

View of foot pedal when cabinet is open. Keep in mind this view will be hidden when trash cans are in the cabinet:
Hafele foot pedal door opener. Portion of the foot pedal attached to face frame bottom.
.....http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/08/pull_out_trash_foot_pedal_door.html?cat=kitchens

Metal plate mounted on bottom back of door. This is the plate that is 3.5" tall--to deal with a face framed cabinet:
Hafele foot pedal door opener. This is the metal plate that must be mounted on the inside bottom of the door. I had to make a plate 3.5" tall in order to work with a face frame cabinet.
.....http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/08/pull_out_trash_foot_pedal_meta.html?cat=kitchens

Finally, looking at the bottom of the cabinet. Glued a scrap of wood to the back of the face frame.
Hafele foot pedal door opener. View from the front bottom of the cabinet. Note that I glued a scrap piece of wood to the back of the face frame to reinforce the installation.
.....http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/08/pull_out_trash_foot_pedal_unde.html?cat=kitchens

Posted by metoo2 (My Page) on Wed, Aug 15, 07 at 20:01

muscat: The rails are always attached to the door-regardless of whether your trash cans hang from a rail, or your trash cans sit on a base. In your picture, the cans sit on a base.

I believe that my modifications will also work with your situation (cans sitting on a base). However, you will need to make one minor modification that I did not do. That modification has to do with the elastic cords that come with the pedal.

Elastic cords (ie, bungee cords) pull the door open when the pedal is kicked. You would have to alter where the front of the cords are mounted inside the cabinet. Very easy to do.

Earlier posts on this thread refer to a version of the Hafele pedal for trash cans which sit on a base. I have not seen this product. I suspect they use the identical pedal, but altered the instructions relative to the location where to mount the elastic cords.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hafele foot pedal (502.15.220) for bins hanging from rails (see bottom of page):
.....

I bought my Tapmaster about a month ago. I purchased it from the web site. The next day it arrived via ups. Wow talk about service. That eve DH installed it, we bought the new model (1775). DH has a few questions about the workings of the thing, so he called the 800 # listed, but they were closed. so I asked the questions on the co. blog. The next day there was the answer to my questions. I love my tapmaster its so easy to use, and I really think i'm saving water useage with it. Now I'm saving up for the 1770 model for the bathroom. This one doesn't lock (don't think I need that in this area).

uh ohhh ... I told my KD today not to put soft close on my trash pull-out because I plan to install a foot pedal. But I have inset cabinets, so I guess that's a no-go? Drat! Was really looking forward to that foot pedal ...

This is interesting.....way back in August I was the one who wrote:

The ONLY way I want to open a trash compartment is with my foot... can't see living any other way

My kitchen's not finished so maybe I'm still in camping mode, but I don't mind pulling out the trash cabinet. Especially now that it has an actual pull on it! I started looking at the foot pedals and couldn't figure out which one I was supposed to order. Didn't want to think about it nor the hacks I'd have to do to install, so I put it on the back burner.

My point? -- I don't really have one other than to say maybe you won't miss not having it in your inset cabs. It's kinda fun to pull on the nice pretty hardware.