Simplehuman vs Kohler

Kohler for most households. It gives you a metal pedal, a damped stay-open lid and a fingerprint-resistant finish built around the ordinary 13-gallon bag — so you get the premium feel without a permanent liner cost. Buy the simplehuman if bag overhang is specifically what bothers you, because only a fitted liner genuinely fixes it.

#	Product	Best for	Price
01	Kohler 13-Gallon Stainless Steel Step Trash Can (K-20940)The premium-feeling stainless can that does not lock you into proprietary liners — it is built around the standard 13-gallon bag.	Best value stainless	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money
02	simplehuman 45L Rectangular Step Can with Liner PocketThe kitchen can that solves bag fit properly, with a pedal rated for 150,000 steps and a liner pocket that ends the hunt for the box under the sink.	Best overall	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money

This is the closest comparison in the category and it is the one we get asked about most, because the two cans feel similar in a showroom and diverge entirely in ownership cost.

Two rows deserve attention. Kohler's stay-open lid is genuinely useful and simplehuman does not match it on the step cans — being able to leave the lid up with both hands free matters when you are clearing a counter. And simplehuman's 45 liters is slightly less than Kohler's 13 gallons, which is 49 liters, so Kohler is marginally the bigger can despite the smaller-sounding number.

We do not print prices, so here is the structure of the decision rather than a figure.

A standard 13-gallon bag is a commodity. Glad's tall kitchen drawstring is published at 24 by 27.38 inches; Hefty's at 23.75 by 27. Either fits Kohler's can and either overhangs the rim by three to five inches, which Kohler's interior ring largely hides. You can buy them anywhere, in any thickness, scented or not.

A simplehuman Code Q liner is cut to the can. No overhang, nothing to slip, and the liner pocket presents the next one automatically. It costs several times as much per bag, from one supplier, for as long as you own the can. Over a decade that is a substantial recurring sum, and it is the part people do not calculate before buying.

So the honest test is: does bag overhang actually bother you? If you have never thought about it, Kohler. If it is the reason you are reading a page like this, simplehuman. Why the overhang exists at all · fitted liners versus standard bags.

Kohler wins on

• Running cost. Supermarket bags, forever.
• The stay-open lid, which simplehuman's step cans do not offer.
• Finish. Kohler builds kitchen fixtures and it shows; the fingerprint-resistant stainless genuinely resists marks rather than showing every touch.
• Flexibility. Any bag thickness, any scent or none, from any shop.
• Slightly more capacity — 49 liters against 45.

simplehuman wins on

• Bag fit, completely and without qualification. Nothing else on the market solves it as cleanly.
• The liner pocket, which removes the hunt under the sink for the box of bags.
• A published pedal rating of 150,000 steps, where Kohler states a metal pedal but no figure.
• Range depth — if you later want a sensor version, a recycler or a different shape, the same liner code carries across.
• Optional odor control designed for the can, via the Odorsorb pod.

Notice that Kohler's wins are mostly about cost and convenience, and simplehuman's are mostly about one problem solved thoroughly. That is a fair summary of the whole comparison.

For the wider field, including the budget stainless option and the touch-top alternative, the kitchen roundup ranks all seven. If the premium question is really what you are weighing, we do that arithmetic properly here.