Glad 13 Gallon Stainless Steel Step Can review

A 13-gallon brushed stainless step can with two things most rivals at the price do not have: a compartment molded into the back of the body that holds a roll of liners, and a lid that stays open while you change the bag instead of dropping on your wrist. It takes ordinary 13-gallon supermarket bags. It suits the buyer replacing a working can with a better one - not the buyer trying to solve an unusual problem.

#	Product	Best for	Price
01	Glad 13 Gallon Stainless Steel Step Trash Can with Clorox Odor Protection (GLD-74525)The Glad can to buy if you only buy one: a 13-gallon brushed stainless step can with the odor treatment on the lid and a rear compartment that stores the bag roll.	Best Glad overall	$79.99 · View on Amazon Price as of October 17, 2026.  #ad How we make money

The model number matters when you shop: this is the GLD-74525. The 20-gallon version is the GLD-74507 and needs different liners, and there are plastic step cans in the same line at a much lower price. Getting the number right is the difference between buying this can and buying a different one.

That last row is the honest gap in the spec sheet. simplehuman and EKO both publish pedal cycle ratings; Glad publishes none for this line, and we are not going to invent one. Treat it as a mid-market can with an undisclosed cycle life, which is also true of most cans at this price.

The bag compartment

A slot molded into the back of the body holds a roll of liners. It sounds like a gimmick until the first time you pull a full bag out and the next one is at the can instead of under the sink behind the cleaning bottles. It is the kind of feature that changes a thirty-second job into a five-second one, several hundred times a year, and no other mid-market can we looked at has it.

The stay-open lid

Press the lid back after stepping and it holds up. Again: small, and it matters precisely when your hands are full of a bag you want to tie. The alternative on most cans is a lid that falls back onto your forearm, which is how bags tear at the top.

Both of these are molded into the body rather than bolted on, which also means they are features that cannot break off - relevant on a can with no spare-parts path behind it. Glad trash can replacement parts is the full picture there, and it is the main argument against the brand.

This is the feature the box leads with, so it is worth being precise. It is an antimicrobial treatment in the lid and the lid frame that inhibits the growth of odor-causing bacteria on those surfaces. Those are the right two surfaces to treat: the underside of a lid and the frame it seats on are where the film that genuinely smells collects.

So: a useful, maintenance-free feature on the surfaces that matter, and not an odor system. If smell is the main thing you are shopping for, the top of the best trash cans for odor control is built differently, and trash can carbon filters explains which cans take an actual cartridge.

• No published pedal rating. The part most likely to fail is the part with no stated cycle life.
• No spare parts. Glad's own support site covers bags and food storage, not cans. A cracked lid means a retailer conversation, not a $12 part.
• The lid does not latch. A dog can nose it open. If that is your problem, the best dog-proof trash cans is the right page.
• It is a wide can. About 17.75 inches across and 17.25 deep - fine against a wall, awkward in a narrow gap. The best slim and narrow trash cans covers tight spaces.
• Brushed stainless still shows fingerprints. Fingerprint-resistant is not fingerprint-proof, and the shadow collects around the pedal. A matte finish hides it better.

If the bag compartment is not the feature you care about, two cans at roughly this level solve different parts of the same problem - one with a longer-lived finish and a metal pedal, one with a published pedal rating.

Kohler's K-20940 for a slow-close, stay-open lid on standard bags with a metal pedal; EKO's Madison if a published 200,000-step pedal rating is what you want in writing.

Best value stainless

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.

$160.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 17, 2026.  #ad How we make money

Best budget stainless

EKO Madison 13.2 Gallon Step Trash Can

The stainless step can that competes on the one spec that actually predicts lifespan — pedal cycles — without the premium-brand markup.

$89.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 17, 2026.  #ad How we make money

The whole Glad line, including the 20-gallon and the plastic cans, is compared in the best Glad trash cans. For the category as a whole, the best 13-gallon trash cans is where this can gets ranked against everything else at its size.

Worth buying if you want a conventional stainless step can and the two molded-in conveniences appeal - and if you accept that at this price you are buying a can rather than a ten-year relationship with a parts department. Not worth buying if you need a latching lid, a narrow footprint, or a published cycle rating you can hold someone to.

One habit extends its life more than anything else: step on the pedal and release it, rather than standing on it while you scrape a plate. A loaded foot held down is what bends a linkage rod, and that is the repair with no part behind it. Trash can pedal not working covers the fix if it happens anyway.