20 gallon trash can dimensions

A kitchen-style 20-gallon step can is typically 29 to 32 inches tall, 14 to 17 inches wide and 15 to 17 inches deep - it gets the extra volume over a 13-gallon can mostly from height, not from floor space. A round 20-gallon utility container is the opposite shape: about 22 to 23 inches tall and 19 to 22 inches across. Either way it needs 20-gallon liners; a 13-gallon bag will not reach the rim.

The pattern is worth internalizing: between 13 and 20 gallons the can grows upward, and after 20 gallons it starts growing outward instead. That is why 20 gallons is the last size that fits in a normal kitchen slot, and why the jump from 20 to 32 is a bigger change to your floor plan than the jump from 13 to 20. 13 vs 20 gallon trash cans works through the decision, and the trash can size chart has the full ladder in gallons, liters and quarts.

Twenty-gallon liners, or a 20-30 gallon bag. This is the part that catches people out at this size, and it is worth hearing before you buy rather than after: the 13-gallon bags already in your cupboard are too short. They will not reach the rim of a 29-inch can, so they slip into the body under the first load.

• Buy a bag with film to spare. A liner rated exactly 20 gallons often has no excess to fold over the rim. A 20-30 gallon bag gives you the overhang the rings or the ring liner need.
• Expect a smaller box and a higher price per bag. Twenty-gallon liners sell in smaller counts than 13-gallon ones and cost more each. Over a year that is a real running cost, and it belongs in the decision.
• Gauge matters more at this size. Twenty gallons of waste is heavy, and a thin bag splits at the side seam on the lift rather than at the bottom.
• Check whether your can has a ring. A liner ring or bag rings hide the overhang; a plain rim does not, and the bag edge will show.

The three 20-gallon cans we have specified: two kitchen step cans that find the volume in height, and the round commercial container for a garage.

Best 20 gallon overall

Glad 20 Gallon Extra Capacity Stainless Steel Step Trash Can (GLD-74507)

The most normal-looking way to put 20 gallons in a kitchen: a soft-close stainless step can that gets its volume from height rather than width.

$99.99 · View on Amazon

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

Best soft-close at this size

EKO Hudson 75L / 20 Gallon Step Trash Can

A 20-gallon stainless step can with a genuinely damped lid and a rear compartment that holds the bag roll — the feature cans at this size almost always drop.

$109.99 · View on Amazon

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

Best cheap garage can

Rubbermaid Commercial BRUTE 20 Gallon Vented Container

The small BRUTE: a 20-gallon round container built to be dragged, with the venting channels that make bag day survivable.

$47.52 · View on Amazon

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

If you want the models compared rather than measured, that is the best 20 and 21 gallon trash cans. For the bag-sizing logic across every size, trash bag sizes explained is the reference, and why your trash bag doesn't fit covers the overhang maths.

That rounding explains most of the confusion in listings at this size: 75 L, 75.5 L and 20 gal all describe the same can, and a can sold as 21 gallons (80 L) is one step up rather than a different measurement of the same thing. Trash can liters to gallons has the full conversion table if you are comparing an imported listing.

• Yes if you are a household of four or more, you cannot get to the curb more than once a week, or you are tying off a 13-gallon bag before dinner is cleared.
• Yes if the can lives at the end of a cabinet run or against a pantry wall, where height is free and width is not.
• No if the lift is the problem. A full 20-gallon bag is heavy, and that is the real limit of this size rather than anything about the can.
• No if you have an under-counter slot. Pull-outs top out well below this - the best under-sink pull-out trash cans explains the ceiling.
• Consider a second can instead. Two 13-gallon cans split trash and recycling and each stays liftable. What size trash can for a family of 4 runs that comparison.