The best trash cans for apartments

Buy the simplehuman 45L Slim Step Can if you want full 13-gallon-class capacity in a footprint narrow enough for a galley kitchen, and the simplehuman 30L Under-Counter Pull-Out if you can give up the cabinet under the sink. Apartment can shopping is a fit problem with two extra constraints attached: noise through the floor, and whether you are allowed to make holes.

#	Product	Best for	Price
01	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
02	simplehuman 30L Under-Counter Pull-Out CanThe single-bucket version, for a household that recycles elsewhere and wants all the cabinet volume for trash.	Best single-bucket pull-out	$99.99 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money
03	iTouchless 13 Gallon Oval Plastic Sensor CanThe plastic-bodied version of the same sensor can — lighter, cheaper, and immune to the two things that make steel cans look old.	Best lightweight touchless	$69.97 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money
04	Clorox Slim 2.6 Gallon Step Trash CanA seven-inch-wide steel step can with a soft-close lid and a liftable inner bucket, for the gap beside a desk or a vanity.	Best for a narrow gap	$29.99 · View on Amazon $34.99 · 14% off · Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money
05	Amazon Basics 13.2 Gallon (50 L) Soft-Close Step Trash CanThe cheapest way to get a genuinely damped lid: a 50-liter brushed stainless step can with a removable inner bucket.	Best cheap soft-close	$79.99 · View on Amazon $89.99 · 11% off · Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money

Everything in this list is sized for a kitchen where the can has to live somewhere specific, not wherever you like. That changes the ranking - a wide can with a beautiful pedal is no use if the only free floor is eight inches between the counter end and the radiator.

There is no spare floor

Apartment kitchens are laid out to a plan that assumed the trash would go in a cabinet. Whatever you buy has to fit the gap that is actually free, and that gap is usually narrow and deep rather than square. Narrow-and-deep is a shape, and it is the shape to shop for - a slim can of the same capacity as a semi-round one takes up roughly two-thirds of the floor width.

Sound travels through structure

In a building with shared walls and thin floors, a lid that bangs is not just annoying to you. A damped lid is the single feature worth paying for here, and it matters more at 11pm than any spec on the box. If you want it silent, the quietest option in the category is a touch-lid or sensor can, because nothing is spring-loaded.

You probably cannot drill

Most pull-out cans mount with screws into the cabinet floor or side. In a rental that is either not allowed or not worth the deposit argument, which is why the freestanding bucket-on-a-frame approach matters. Renter-friendly under-sink cans covers the no-drill options in detail, including the ones that use the existing cabinet shelf.

We have not lived with all five in an apartment. What we did was rank published dimensions against the gaps that apartment kitchens actually leave, then weight lid mechanism and noise above capacity, then eliminate anything that requires a permanent fixing. Methodology, disclosure.

One of the five is a plastic-bodied sensor can, which looks like an odd choice next to four stainless and steel cans. It is there for a specific apartment reason: plastic does not dent in a tight kitchen where the can gets knocked, it does not show fingerprints in a room with no natural light, and the sensor lid makes no mechanical noise at all.

We excluded cans over about 15 gallons, outdoor carts, and anything with a compactor. Capacity is not the apartment problem, and a compactor means a heavier bag to carry down a stairwell.

The number people get wrong is the small end. A 4-gallon can in a studio sounds right and then needs emptying nightly, which in a building with a single ground-floor dumpster is a real cost. If the carry is long, size up and empty less often; if the chute is close, size down and empty often - a can emptied daily smells better than a bigger one emptied every third day with the same waste in it.

The two shapes that fit the most apartment kitchens: a full-capacity slim can for a gap of about a foot, and a 6.5-inch-wide can for a gap you would not think could take a can at all.

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

Best for a narrow gap

Clorox Slim 2.6 Gallon Step Trash Can

A seven-inch-wide steel step can with a soft-close lid and a liftable inner bucket, for the gap beside a desk or a vanity.

$29.99 · View on Amazon

$34.99 · 14% off · Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money

Odor with no cross-ventilation

Apartment kitchens often have one window and an extractor that vents into the room. That means odor stays, and the can is the most concentrated source in the apartment. A can with a filter housing in the lid is worth more here than in a house. Carbon filters, assessed honestly.

Fruit flies arrive from the building, not your kitchen

In a multi-unit building the drains and the chute are shared, so you can get fruit flies from a neighbour's waste. A fully seating lid does more than a clean kitchen in that situation. Trash can fruit flies.

Recycling rules you do not control

Buildings vary from full single-stream pickup to nothing. If your building sorts, you need two streams in a kitchen with room for one, and a dual-compartment can is the only sane answer. Dual-compartment cans.

The can has to come with you

Apartments get moved out of. A can that is screwed into a cabinet is a can you leave behind or spend an afternoon removing. That is an argument for freestanding, and it is why the slim can rather than the pull-out is our top pick despite the pull-out being the better use of space.