Appliances & Kitchen Gadgets

It's quirky all right.

(Credit: quirky)

Ever sit around with your friends talking about how great the world would be if only someone would invent your supercool and totally useful widget? The community at quirky is based on the idea that everyone has a product idea. It's a social product development company. Would-be inventors submit ideas, the community works on them, voting, making suggestions, and so on, and one product each week is chosen to move onto development.

During the development phase, community members continue to exert their influence, and eventually products are offered for presale. When a product has a certain number of committed buyers, it's moved into production, credit cards are charged, and the product ships.

The latest community collaboration is the StashCan, a kitchen garbage bin with a built-in storage compartment that holds a supply of trash bags.

Step on the foot pedal to open the lid, and toss your trash. When the bag is full, remove it--along with the lightweight, plastic liner if necessary. Then--and this is the part you're paying the big bucks for--replace the bag from a spare located in the separate (but attached) trash bag compartment.

How much would you pay for such a bin? $8? $10? Well, if you order it from quirky, you can pay $54--and maybe the design will go into production and you'll actually get one. You won't be charged unless the product is built and shipped, but I think I'll just stick to my under-the-sink bag storage solution.

(Credit: Maintenance Supplies Magazine)

Nothing bugs me more on garbage day than digging my hands into the sides of my trash can, searching in vain for the bag that was so clearly at the top when I first began to fill it. I have a tall trash can, and the corner store sells bags that are perpetually too short, so the first time I throw a heavy ball of waste into the can, I can say "bye-bye" to the bag until it's time to dig it out for disposal.

This is something I've come to accept as a necessary evil of keeping a clean kitchen, but with this Trash Bag Cinch, maybe it's not so necessary after all.

The Trash Bag Cinch sits on the outside of your trash can. When you insert a bag, pulling one corner of it through the Cinch keeps it in place, much like the top lid of a tube of wet wipes keeps the next one conveniently peeking out. It's a simple concept, but a lifesaver on garbage day.

Keeping your hands clean isn't the only contribution this gadget makes to your kitchen cleanliness: if you buy the lemon-scented variety, your kitchen will smell fresh and clean.

Don't trash your compost!

(Credit: Brabantia)

The idea of recycling appeals to most of us, but it's not always easy to get from the idea to the reality. Set yourself up for success by making it as easy as possible to recycle things. The Twin Bin from Brabantia is a brilliant or matte stainless steel trash can that's split into two compartments: a 23-liter everyday bin, and a 10-liter area for compostable waste.

Keep your organic matter ready for easy composting without having to keep a second trash can in the kitchen with a single can that looks good enough to be on display.

The sturdy plastic base won't scratch or damage your floors, and the entire unit is easy to lift--even when full--and simple to clean. Ventilation holes in the larger unit let excess air escape and prevent a vacuum when removing the bin. If you want to take the idea of recycling and make it your reality, this trash can makes it easier.

In my house, the kitchen trashcan seems to fill to overflowing multiple times a day. I'm forever shoving the trash down in the bag to fit in just a little bit more before I take the bag outside to our two large garbage cans. And I'm still stuck on trash day, furtively sneaking an extra bag into my neighbor's half-empty bin.

Nothing trashy about this compactor.

(Credit: Viking)

If this scenario sounds familiar, a trash compactor may be a useful addition to your kitchen. The go-to appliance in the late '70s, the trash compactor is often overlooked in modern kitchen design, but it shouldn't be. It can help meet our new-fangled desire to take up less of the planet's room with our junk.

Viking dubs its professional series VUC "the most powerful home trash compactor available." And with 3,000 trash-crushing pounds and the largest capacity trash drawer on the market, they might be right.

The breakaway trash basket is easy to remove, empty, and clean out and can be used with or without bags. The built-in small litter area lets you load in small trash items without opening the large drawer. The whole unit claims to easily hold the weekly trash of a family of four.

This compactor will get the job done, and the activated charcoal filter and fan ensure your kitchen never smells like garbage. But if you're worried that a trash compactor will kill your kitchen aesthetic, consider that this one comes in 24 different color finishes--so it really won't look...trashy.

NatureMill's automated composter can fit in a regular kitchen cabinet.

(Credit: NatureMill)

The quest to make kitchens around the country more eco-friendly just got a little easier. NatureMill, a San Francisco-based company founded by an MIT grad in 2004, is adding to its lineup of indoor automatic composters.

NatureMill's composters speed up the process of composting by heating, mixing, and aerating the waste that gets put into it. After two weeks, fresh food waste can be turned into nutrient-rich fertilizer for the garden, according to the company. They're small enough to fit into a regular kitchen cabinet (20 inches long by 12 inches wide by 20 inches high), and to reduce the stink, air is forced through a carbon filter when it gets sucked in to oxygenate the waste.

The regular "Plus" model will run you $299 and can process up to 120 pounds of waste per month. And although it's small enough that it could probably fit in a smaller apartment kitchen, it's only useful if you've got a yard in which to use the compost you make. One batch of compost is good for 10 - 40 square feet, according to the company, so you'll need to have a big enough yard to accommodate a fair amount of fertilizer. For people considering setting up a more traditional compost bin, though, the NatureMill system can be kept inside the house to reduce the need to take out kitchen waste so often; used outside, it works faster than passive composting and doesn't require the same kind of attention to acidity, temperature, and aeration that so-called managed composting does. And the company says the composters will hold up in the rain and snow.

Don't look so guilty, little one. One pup's trash is another man's tulips.

(Credit: NatureMill)

NatureMill also makes a professional version that's intended for heavier use. It comes with a foot pedal for hands-free operation, has components made of stainless steel, and can be switched into vacation mode for times when the kitchen is closed. There's even a version for pet owners, which can accept pet and kitchen waste. The pet-friendly composter has its limits though; NatureMill does not recommend it for use with horses or other large animals. Both of those models go for $399.

For those wondering about the trade-off in power usage, the company says it consumes less energy than a standard night-light and costs about 50 cents per month to run.