Hee! This reminded me that my son always says he wishes he lived at Peet's (coffee shop), because he just LOVES those garbage holes in the counter.

But on that note, I wonder if it seems a little coffee shopish? It would be convenient, as long as you have the counter space for it. I don't think I've ever seen one in a residential setting...

Anyone?

:-)

francy

A pull out with a foot pedal makes tossing the teabag a one handed operation. The trash hole will probably be covered, making it a 2 hand operation.

I first saw Candice Olson do a trash hole on Divine Design, and thought it looked really cool.

Until my elderly mother came in the room and said 'Gosh, it looks like a combination kitchen and outhouse'.

With a garbage hole, you don't have the option to have a drawer above your pull-out trash. Without a hole, there is room for a nice wide drawer -- my drawer is perfect for foil, wax paper, parchment paper, baggies and plastic wrap. I LOVE my drawer. It's so convenient to have everything right by where I prep and clean up. And I just pull out the trash and wipe any crumbs or prep debris from my cutting board right into the trash.

Thanks for all the great responses! I never considered the drawer above the trash, of the ergonomics of hole versus step-operated trash. And the line about kitchen / outhouse -- hilarious!

Well, that really made the decision easy. Bye bye garbage hole.

I may do a cutout in my butcher block like this except with a lid. I would leave the lid off during food prep.

{{!gwi}}

A friend of mine had a garbage hole in her (former) beach house. It was in a huge cabinet, though, and had a large trash can underneath (similar to a fast food restaurant). Her thinking was that when covered, the cabinet could be used for counterspace (though it was higher than the usual 36"). And when they had lots of weekend guests and big parties, where they typically used lots of paper plates, cups, etc., the hole was useful, and they wouldn't have to keep emptying trash during the party. It seemed like a cool thing to have in that setting. But when the house was knocked down by a tropical storm and they rebuilt, I don't think they added that feature to the new house.

Love the "outhouse" comment...definitely something to watch out for at those big weekend parties!!

My Mum had something similar, but it was incorporated into the drainer on the side of the sink (Blanco multibox), it had a metal chute and got gunky, rusty and was a major pain in the bum to clean. You can see something similar in the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garbage Hole

A friend did a garbage hole in her butcher block island much to the dismay of her builder. She LOVES it!

I think this would potentially be a good idea for compost, adjacent to the prep sink. It would definitely need a lid to keep down odors, and a way to seal the container beneath as well. Right now our compost container is a plastic container that held frozen cream puffs from Costco. It's a good size and seals well. I'd be extremely happy with a way to brush scraps right into an appropriate container.