Kitchen Trash Cans

The best tall kitchen trash cans

A tall can buys you capacity without buying floor space, and it costs you two things nobody mentions: reach to the bottom, and clearance when the lid swings up. These five get the trade right.

By Ryder M. · Last reviewed October 10, 2026

A compact kitchen with full-height wood cabinetry

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The short answer

Buy the simplehuman 55L Rectangular Step Can. It is the tall version of the best kitchen can made: the same footprint discipline and the same damped lid as the 45L, with ten extra liters gained upward rather than sideways. If you need genuinely more than that, the Ninestars 21 Gallon XL is 80 liters with a wide throat and a sensor lid. Before you buy either, measure the clearance above where the can will stand - a tall can with the lid open is taller than you think, and a countertop overhang will stop the lid dead.

#	Product	Best for	Price
01	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	$199.98 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money
02	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	$89.99 · View on Amazon $99.99 · 10% off · Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money
03	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	$259.99 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money
04	simplehuman 45L Slim Step CanFull kitchen capacity in a can narrow enough to live in the gap beside a fridge or at the end of a run of cabinets.	Best narrow full-size can	$109.00 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money
05	Umbra Vento Open Top Kitchen Trash Can, 16.5 GallonA 16.5-gallon open-top bin for a utility room, workshop or garage, where volume beats containment.	Best large open can	$50.00 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money

One terminology note, because it causes real confusion: "tall kitchen" on a box of bags does not mean a tall can. It is the industry name for the standard 13-gallon bag size, and a 13-gallon can is not tall. This page is about cans that are physically tall.

What tall actually buys and costs

Volume in a trash can is height times footprint, and footprint is the scarce resource in a kitchen. Going up is almost always the better trade - until it is not.

Going taller	What you gain	What you give up
45 L to 55 L	Roughly another day between bag changes	A few inches of height; slightly harder reach
55 L to 60 L vertical stack	Two or three waste streams in one footprint	The lower compartment sits at floor level
55 L to 80 L	A big family's day in one can	Real bulk; battery drain on a sensor lid
Any can, taller and narrower	Fits a slot beside a fridge or cabinet run	Tips more easily when the lid is open

Measure the lid-open height, not the can height. A pedal can's lid swings back and up, and the open figure is often six to ten inches more than the closed one. Under a counter overhang or a wall cabinet, that is the measurement that decides whether the can works at all.
Reach matters more as the can gets taller. A bag at the bottom of a 55-liter can is a long way down, and lifting a full one straight up out of a deep body is the awkward part of bag day.
A tall, narrow body tips. Push it against a wall rather than leaving it free-standing, especially one with the lid open and a hand leaning on it.
Bag fit gets harder, not easier. A 55 or 58-liter can lands in the gap where no standard bag fits properly. The liters-to-gallons chart shows exactly where that gap is.

The picks in full

01 — 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.

$199.98 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money

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.

$89.99 · View on Amazon

$99.99 · 10% off · Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money

03 — 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.

$259.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money

04 — Best narrow full-size can

simplehuman 45L Slim Step Can

Full kitchen capacity in a can narrow enough to live in the gap beside a fridge or at the end of a run of cabinets.

Capacity: 45 liters / 11.9 gallons
Shape: Slim — deep rather than wide
Lid: Soft-close

The trick is that the volume goes back rather than sideways — it is deep, not wide. If the only free floor space in your kitchen is a narrow slot, this is one of very few cans that gives you a genuine 45 liters there rather than forcing you down to a 30-liter bin.

What we'd flag: a narrow, deep can tips more easily than a wide one when the lid is open and you lean on it. Push it against a wall rather than leaving it free-standing.

$109.00 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money

05 — Best large open can

Umbra Vento Open Top Kitchen Trash Can, 16.5 Gallon

A 16.5-gallon open-top bin for a utility room, workshop or garage, where volume beats containment.

Capacity: 16.5 gallons / 62 liters
Dimensions: 14.6" L x 14.6" W x 30" H
Lid: None — open top
Bag: Integrated neck ring conceals the liner
Material: BPA-free polypropylene with brushed metal accents

Open cans get a bad press because people put food in them. Put packaging, offcuts or yard waste in one and the lack of a lid is purely an advantage — nothing to lift, nothing to break, and you can drop things in one-handed from across the room.

What we'd flag: 16.5 gallons is bigger than a standard 13-gallon bag. You will need oversized liners, and this trips people up constantly.

$50.00 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money

How we picked

We have not measured these cans in a kitchen. What we compared is the published capacity against the published footprint, the body shape, the lid mechanism and its open clearance where the manufacturer states it, the bag retention system, and the material. The ranking is on capacity per square inch of floor, moderated by how livable the can is at that height. Methodology, disclosure.

The 55L simplehuman leads because it is the honest sweet spot: meaningfully more volume than the category standard, in a body that is still a normal kitchen can. The Ninestars XL is second on pure capacity - 80 liters is a different class of can and solves a problem the others cannot. The Joseph Joseph Totem Max earns third for doing something none of the rest do, which is stack three waste streams into one footprint. The simplehuman 45L Slim is here for the narrow-slot case, and the Umbra Vento is the budget answer for a utility room where a lid is not needed.

Tall versus wide, for the same volume

Two cans can hold the same 50 liters and behave completely differently, and the deciding factor is what you actually throw away.

Your trash is mostly	Buy	Why
Food scraps and small packaging	Tall	Volume fills from the bottom; throat width is irrelevant
Boxes, cartons and clamshells	Wide	A tall narrow throat makes you fold everything
A mix, in a galley kitchen	Tall	Floor along the wall is the constraint, not the opening
A mix, in an open kitchen with space	Wide	Easier to use, easier to reach the bottom

If width is what you actually need, the better page is the best 13 gallon trash cans or kitchen cans for large families. If the constraint is a narrow slot rather than total volume, that is slim and narrow cans.

The two shapes of tall: the 55L for capacity in a normal footprint, and the 45L Slim for full capacity in a narrow slot.

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.

$199.98 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money

Best narrow full-size can

simplehuman 45L Slim Step Can

Full kitchen capacity in a can narrow enough to live in the gap beside a fridge or at the end of a run of cabinets.

$109.00 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 16, 2026. #ad How we make money

Living with a tall can

Buy the longest bag you can find, not the strongest

A deep can needs length more than it needs thickness. Published 13-gallon bags run from about 27 to 31 inches long, and on a 55-liter body the difference between those two is whether the bag reaches the bottom or hangs halfway down. The measured bag dimensions.

Expect to lift the bag higher

Bag day on a tall can is a vertical lift rather than a tilt, and a full 55-liter bag is heavy. Cans with a removable inner bucket are noticeably easier here, because you lift the bucket and then the bag.

Watch the lid against the wall behind it

On a pedal can the lid swings backward as it rises. Against a plastered wall that is a mark within a month; against a tiled backsplash it is a chip. Leave an inch of clearance or buy a can whose lid lifts rather than swings.

A taller can smells more, not less

More volume means more headspace above the trash and more surface area holding residue, and it usually means the bag sits longer before it is full enough to change. A carbon filter is a reasonable add here. What carbon filters do. And if height alone is not getting you the capacity you need, the next step up is a wider body: the best 20 and 21 gallon trash cans.

Common questions

What is the best tall kitchen trash can?

The simplehuman 55L Rectangular Step Can. It is 14.5 gallons gained upward rather than outward, keeps the damped Lid Shox lid and the liner pocket, and is still a normal-footprint kitchen can.

What does tall kitchen trash can mean?

Two different things. On a bag box, tall kitchen is the industry name for the standard 13-gallon size. On a can, tall means physically tall - more capacity for the same floor space.

How tall is a tall kitchen trash can?

Most 45 to 58-liter kitchen cans stand between about 24 and 31 inches closed. The number that matters more is the lid-open height, which can be six to ten inches greater on a pedal can.

What is the largest kitchen trash can?

In mainstream kitchen cans, around 80 liters or 21 gallons - the Ninestars XL sensor can is at that ceiling. Above that you are into outdoor carts rather than kitchen cans.

Is a tall or wide trash can better?

Tall if your trash is food waste and small packaging and floor space is tight. Wide if you throw away boxes and cartons, because a narrow throat means folding everything before it goes in.

What size bag fits a 55 litre trash can?

A long 13-gallon bag, which at 14.5 gallons is technically undersized - 55 liters lands in the gap where no standard bag fits properly. Use the manufacturer's coded liner if the can has one, or the longest 13-gallon bag you can buy.

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.

The short answer

What tall actually buys and costs

The picks in full

simplehuman 55L Rectangular Step Can

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

Joseph Joseph Totem Max 60L Waste and Recycling Unit

simplehuman 45L Slim Step Can

Umbra Vento Open Top Kitchen Trash Can, 16.5 Gallon

How we picked

Tall versus wide, for the same volume

simplehuman 55L Rectangular Step Can

simplehuman 45L Slim Step Can

Living with a tall can

Buy the longest bag you can find, not the strongest

Expect to lift the bag higher

Watch the lid against the wall behind it

A taller can smells more, not less

Common questions

What is the best tall kitchen trash can?

What does tall kitchen trash can mean?

How tall is a tall kitchen trash can?

What is the largest kitchen trash can?

Is a tall or wide trash can better?

What size bag fits a 55 litre trash can?

Sources

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