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Kitchen Trash Cans

The best kitchen trash cans for large families

Five cans from 55 to 80 liters, ranked on usable volume, throat width and bag economics. The top pick is the simplehuman 60L semi-round.

By Ryder M. · Last reviewed September 29, 2026

Family preparing food together in a busy home kitchen

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The short answer

Buy the simplehuman 60L Semi-Round Step Can if you want the most usable capacity that still sits flat against a wall, and the Ninestars 21 Gallon XL if you want a genuinely enormous can that opens hands-free. If half of what fills your can is recycling, buy a recycler instead and the capacity problem mostly disappears.

#ProductBest forPrice
01
Semi-round stainless steel step trash can with a flat back
simplehuman 60L Semi-Round Step Can with Liner RimA flat-backed can that takes the wall line seriously — the rounded front keeps a genuinely wide opening without pushing into the walkway.
Best large capacity
02
Extra-large stainless steel motion sensor kitchen trash can
Ninestars 21 Gallon XL Automatic Touchless Trash Can (80 L)The biggest sensor can most households will consider: 80 liters, a wide opening, and a manual mode that locks the lid open.
Best XL sensor can
03
Tall stainless steel rectangular kitchen step can
simplehuman 55L Rectangular Step CanThe 45L's bigger sibling: identical mechanism and liner pocket, sized for a household that fills a kitchen can every day rather than every three.
Best for big households
04
Dual compartment stainless steel recycling and trash can
simplehuman 58L Step RecyclerThe cleanest answer to trash-plus-recycling in one unit: two compartments behind a single lid and a single pedal.
Best dual-compartment overall
05
Tall vertical waste and recycling unit with separate compartments
Joseph Joseph Totem Max 60L Waste and Recycling UnitTrash, recycling and food waste in a single tower footprint, with replaceable carbon filters for the odor.
Best three-stream sorting

The mistake large households make is buying one more gallon of the same can. Going from 13 to 16 gallons buys you a couple of extra hours on a Sunday; going from a single bin to a sorted one, or from 13 to 21 gallons, changes the routine. Pick the jump, not the increment.

How we picked

We have not run these side by side in a real kitchen. What we did was pull each manufacturer's published capacity, mechanism and dimensions, and rank on how the capacity is actually delivered — upward, outward, or split across compartments. Methodology, disclosure.

The criteria: usable volume rather than nominal, because an inner bucket costs you liters; throat width, because a pizza box that has to be folded is the real daily friction in a big household; bag economics, since a bigger can means fewer bags but a more expensive one; lid damping, because a can opened thirty times a day is the loudest object in an open-plan kitchen; and footprint, because volume that goes outward takes walkway.

We did not weigh star ratings or review counts. They are not comparable across retailers and quoting them would imply we had verified them. Every can here is one we confirmed is currently sold.

The picks in full

Semi-round stainless steel step trash can with a flat back

01 — Best large capacity

simplehuman 60L Semi-Round Step Can with Liner Rim

A flat-backed can that takes the wall line seriously — the rounded front keeps a genuinely wide opening without pushing into the walkway.

Capacity
60 liters / 15.8 gallons
Back
Flat — designed to sit flush against a wall
Bag retention
Liner rim, not an inner bucket
Lid
Soft-close, damped

The semi-round shape is the most underrated in the category. A flat back means the can sits against the wall instead of two inches off it, and the curved front keeps the throat wide enough that a cereal box goes in without folding. The liner rim holds the bag by the lip rather than using an inner bucket, which is one fewer thing to wash.

What we'd flag: the liner rim only really works with simplehuman's own code liners. A generic bag sits on it, but loosely, and will slip down the inside over a day or two.

Extra-large stainless steel motion sensor kitchen trash can

02 — Best XL sensor can

Ninestars 21 Gallon XL Automatic Touchless Trash Can (80 L)

The biggest sensor can most households will consider: 80 liters, a wide opening, and a manual mode that locks the lid open.

Capacity
21 gallons / 80 liters
Opening
Infrared sensor, soft-close lid
Manual mode
Yes — holds the lid open
Power
3 x D batteries
Bag retention
Removable liner ring
Body
Fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, non-skid base

A large family fills a 13-gallon can before dinner is cleared, and the failure mode is a bag stacked beside the bin. Eighty liters ends that. The throat is wide enough for a pizza box or a gallon jug without folding anything, the infrared lid means nobody touches it with cooking hands, and a manual mode holds the lid open when you are clearing the fridge. A removable liner ring hides an oversized bag, which is the usual problem at this capacity.

What we'd flag: it runs on three D batteries and a can this size gets opened constantly, so expect to change them. It is also genuinely large — measure the floor and the lid swing before you commit.

Tall stainless steel rectangular kitchen step can

03 — Best for big households

simplehuman 55L Rectangular Step Can

The 45L's bigger sibling: identical mechanism and liner pocket, sized for a household that fills a kitchen can every day rather than every three.

Capacity
55 liters / 14.5 gallons
Lid
Soft-close, damped
Body
Stainless steel

If you empty a 13-gallon can daily, the extra ten liters buys you roughly another day between bag changes without widening the footprint much — the extra volume goes upward, not outward. Everything that makes the 45L good carries over: the liner pocket, the damped lid, the steel pedal.

What we'd flag: it is noticeably taller, and a taller can is harder to reach into at the bottom. If your counter overhangs where the can lives, measure the lid-open height before you buy.

Dual compartment stainless steel recycling and trash can

04 — Best dual-compartment overall

simplehuman 58L Step Recycler

The cleanest answer to trash-plus-recycling in one unit: two compartments behind a single lid and a single pedal.

Total capacity
58 liters / 15.3 gallons
Compartments
Two, behind a single lid
Lid
Soft-close, damped

Most dual-compartment cans make you choose which side to open. This one opens both at once, which sounds trivial until you are holding a rinsed can in one hand and a wrapper in the other. The split is asymmetric on some configurations, which is correct — most households generate more recycling than trash, not an even fifty-fifty.

What we'd flag: two compartments means two liners, and the compartments take different liner codes. Read the code letters molded inside before you order bags, or you will buy the wrong size twice.

Tall vertical waste and recycling unit with separate compartments

05 — Best three-stream sorting

Joseph Joseph Totem Max 60L Waste and Recycling Unit

Trash, recycling and food waste in a single tower footprint, with replaceable carbon filters for the odor.

Total capacity
60 liters / 15.9 gallons
Compartments
2 x 30 L plus a 3 L removable food caddy
Odor control
Replaceable activated carbon filters
Layout
Vertically stacked

The second-generation Totem arranges its two 30-liter compartments vertically, so a unit handling three waste streams takes the floor space of one can. The removable 3-liter food caddy is the piece most recyclers get wrong — scraps are what actually smells, and here they sit in a small container you can carry straight to the outside bin. The integrated carbon filters are replaceable rather than sealed in.

What we'd flag: a vertical stack means the lower compartment is at floor level. If you have a bad back, emptying the bottom bucket is a genuine consideration, not a detail.

How to size a can for a big household

Count bag changes, not people

Household size is a poor predictor. What predicts the right capacity is how often you currently change the bag: if it is more than once a day, go up a size bracket; if it is every two days, your can is already right and the problem is something else. Six people who compost and recycle can fill less landfill waste than four who do not.

Sort before you supersize

In most large households a majority of the volume in the kitchen can is packaging — cardboard, plastic bottles, cans. Those are bulky and light, which means they fill a bin without weighing anything. A dual-compartment recycler removes that fraction into a stream you can crush, and the landfill side suddenly lasts three days.

Throat width is the daily annoyance

A big can with a narrow opening is worse than a medium can with a wide one, because every box gets folded by hand before it goes in. Look at the opening dimension rather than the capacity figure if your household generates a lot of packaging.

Big cans need big bags

Anything over about 15 gallons is past the standard tall-kitchen bag, and a 13-gallon bag stretched over a 21-gallon can will slip down the inside within a day. Budget for oversized liners or a can with a proper retaining ring. What actually fits what.

Which one for which household

If this is youBuyWhy
You want maximum volume against a wallsimplehuman 60L Semi-Round Step CanFlat back, wide throat, liner rim
You want the biggest hands-free can there isNinestars 21 Gallon XL80 liters, sensor lid, removable liner ring
You want 45L quality with more roomsimplehuman 55L Rectangular Step CanSame mechanism and liner pocket, ten more liters
Most of your volume is packagingsimplehuman 58L Step RecyclerTwo compartments, one pedal, one footprint
You sort three streamsJoseph Joseph Totem Max 60LThree-way sorting in one vertical unit

If none of those fit, the honest answer for many large households is two cans rather than one enormous one: a normal can where the cooking happens, and a second in the utility room or garage for packaging. Two cans are also easier to carry than one very heavy bag.

Common questions

What size kitchen trash can do I need for a family of six?

Usually 15 to 21 gallons if you do not sort recycling, and 13 gallons is often still enough if you do. Count how often you currently change the bag rather than counting people - more than once a day means go up a bracket.

Is a 21 gallon trash can too big for a kitchen?

It is big, but the footprint is not as bad as the number suggests because most of the extra volume goes upward. Measure the floor space and the lid clearance above it, and check that a full bag is something you can actually lift out.

Do large trash cans smell more?

Yes, in practice, because people empty them less often. Odor is driven by time and temperature rather than volume, so a bigger can that sits for three days smells worse than a smaller one emptied daily.

What bags fit a 21 gallon kitchen can?

Not standard tall-kitchen bags. You need oversized liners, typically in the 20 to 30 gallon range, or a can with a retaining ring that grips whatever you fit. A 13-gallon bag will slip down inside within a day.

Is a recycler better than a bigger trash can?

For most large households, yes. The bulk in a kitchen can is packaging, and moving that into a separate stream typically doubles how long the landfill side lasts without needing a bigger footprint.

Two medium cans or one large one?

Two is often better. A single 21-gallon bag is genuinely heavy when full, two cans let you put waste where it is generated, and you are not carrying the whole household's trash in one trip.

Sources

Every specification on this page traces to one of these, checked at the time of writing. Where a manufacturer does not publish a figure, the page says so rather than estimating it.

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The author

Ryder M.

Owner and editor of Lid & Liner, published by Magoo Media Group. He started the site after getting tired of the same problem everyone has: every “best trash can” article covers ten products and none of them tells you whether a 13-gallon bag actually fits a 13-gallon can. Lid & Liner covers one category and tries to cover it completely.

Last reviewed September 29, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it and note the correction.