Before You Buy: The Best Cheap Kitchen Trash Can

A trash can is one of the few kitchen tools where spending less rarely hurts the cooking. It holds onion skins, lime rinds, corn husks and avocado pits whatever it cost. What changes as you move down a maker’s range is the pedal, the lid, the metal and the warranty, and those are the parts that decide whether a can lasts two years or ten.

This guide looks only at the entry tier of each maker’s kitchen trash can range, from simplehuman, Sterilite, Hefty, Glad, United Solutions, Umbra, iTouchless, mDesign and Amazon’s own brand. We do not quote prices, which change daily. Instead, each pick explains what you get, what you give up compared with the cans in our main best kitchen trash can guide, and what the maker says about bags and warranty.

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Quick verdict: the best cheap kitchen trash can for most homes

The table compares the five standouts, one for each kind of kitchen. All nine picks are reviewed in full below it.

Five budget kitchen trash cans compared

Opening, capacity and the main reason to buy each one, as the maker or Amazon listing states them.

Product images from Amazon. Capacities and bag sizes are as each maker or listing states them.

Our picks for the best cheap kitchen trash can

These nine cover the ways people save on a kitchen can: a plastic version of a premium design, plain touch-top and swing-lid cans that take ordinary bags, a big-capacity bin, an open-top can with nothing to break, and three steel cans from makers that sell mostly at the lower end. Each pick ends with one honest reason to skip it.

How to judge value in an inexpensive kitchen trash can

A trash can has few parts, so it is easy to see where the money goes. These are the points worth checking before you buy a budget can.

The opening mechanism

Pedals and hinges are what break. A maker that states a step rating or a warranty, as simplehuman does with its 150,000-step pedal and 5-year warranty, is telling you how long it expects the mechanism to last. If a listing says nothing, assume less. A can with no mechanism at all, like the open-top Umbra, avoids the problem entirely.

The bags it takes

The cheapest can is not always the cheapest to own. A can that takes standard 13-gallon bags, like the Sterilite, lets you buy whatever is on sale. A can designed around its maker’s own liners, like the simplehuman, costs more each month. A 23-gallon bin needs bigger bags but fewer of them. Work out which matters more to you before you choose.

Hands-free or not

In a kitchen that handles raw chicken, pork and masa, a step pedal is a real advantage, because you never touch the lid with dirty hands. Touch-top and swing lids are cheaper and simpler, but they need a hand or an elbow. Our main guide’s motion-sensor cans go further still at a higher cost.

Lid and odor

A lid that closes firmly holds smells in better than one that swings freely or is not there at all. Filters and odor-treated lids help, but the biggest factor is how often you empty the can. Our kitchen trash can for odor control guide covers filters, pods and sealing lids in detail.

Size and footprint

Measure the spot first. Thirteen gallons is the standard kitchen size; 8 gallons suits a small kitchen, and 16 to 23 gallons suits a big family or batch cooking. Slim cans fit gaps beside cabinets, while a semi-round can with a flat back sits neatly against a wall.

What you give up compared with our top picks

The cans in our main guide cost more for clear reasons: brushed stainless steel bodies, liner pockets that dispense a fresh bag, steel pedals rated for heavy use on every model, motion sensors, and, in one case, a pull-out frame that hides two bins inside a cabinet. Entry cans mostly swap those for plastic bodies, simpler lids and shorter or unstated warranties. You can close much of that gap with habits: take wet scraps out daily, rinse the can when a bag leaks, and keep food you want to save in good food storage containers so less of it ends up in the bin.

How we chose these nine trash cans

We started from each maker’s kitchen trash can range and picked the entry model, or a basic can near the bottom of the line, then checked that each one was in stock on Amazon when we wrote this. Specifications come from the makers’ Amazon listings, and we write “not stated” where a listing is silent. We did not repeat any can from our main kitchen trash can guide or its odor-control sister page, and we left out a Rubbermaid model that was out of stock and a Rubbermaid commercial can sold for medical waste. We also searched the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall notices for these brands. We did not use these cans for this guide, and we do not quote prices, which change constantly.

Budget trash can questions, answered

What is the best kitchen trash can on a budget?

For most kitchens, the simplehuman 50-Liter Semi-Round Plastic Step Can: a durable pedal, a slow-close lid and a 5-year warranty. If you want the simplest can that takes ordinary bags, the Sterilite 13-Gallon TouchTop.

Is an inexpensive kitchen trash can worth it?

Yes, if you choose for the parts that break. A plain can with no pedal, or a cheap can from a maker that states its pedal rating and warranty, will often outlast a fancier can with an untested mechanism.

What is the best value kitchen trash can for a big family?

The United Solutions 23-Gallon Highboy holds nearly twice a standard can in a narrow body. It needs 33-gallon bags, but you change them less often.

Do cheap trash cans take standard bags?

Many do. Sterilite says its TouchTop can takes standard 13-gallon liners. simplehuman designs its cans around its own Code P or other coded liners, and several listings here do not say, so check before you buy.

Is a step can better than a touch-top can in a kitchen?

For cooking, usually yes. A pedal lets you open the can without touching it, which matters when your hands have raw meat or masa on them. A touch-top can is simpler and has fewer parts to break.

How do I keep a cheap trash can from smelling?

Empty it often, especially after a day of cooking with meat, fish or fruit, wipe the inside when a bag leaks, and keep wet scraps in a lidded caddy. Filters and odor-treated lids help but do not replace a regular trip outside.

Our pick for a kitchen on a budget

Buy the simplehuman 50-Liter Semi-Round Plastic Step Can if you want premium parts in a cheaper body. Choose the Sterilite TouchTop for the simplest can and ordinary bags, the United Solutions Highboy for capacity, the Umbra Vento for an open top with nothing to break, and the Amazon Basics two-bin can for recycling. For stainless steel, sensors and pull-out systems, see our full best kitchen trash can guide.

And on the nights you would rather not make any kitchen trash at all, see Julia’s menu or call to order.