We went into this rewrite expecting to recommend a sensor trash can. Then we looked at the review data — including simplehuman’s own, hosted on simplehuman’s own product pages — and found something the marketing doesn’t mention:
Adding a motor and a sensor to the same brand’s same-year lid roughly triples the share of unhappy buyers. Adding a second compartment quadruples it again.
Here are the numbers, straight from the vendor’s own review widget:
| simplehuman model | Average | Reviews | 1★ + 2★ |
| 45L Butterfly Step Can (mechanical) | 4.87 | 397 | 2.3% |
| 45L Rectangular Step Can (mechanical) | 4.82 | 1,185 | 2.4% |
| 45L Semi-Round Sensor Can | 4.71 | 874 | 4.0% |
| 58L Rectangular Sensor Can | 4.61 | 2,107 | 5.9% |
| 58L Sensor Recycler (dual) | 4.48 | 1,091 | 8.8% |
That’s the friendliest possible sample — reviews curated onto the manufacturer’s own site. On Amazon, the same product families run harsher still, with 13% one-star ratings on the previous-generation sensor flagship.
This doesn’t mean never buy a sensor can. It means know what you’re paying for.
Our Top Kitchen Trash Cans
What Goes Wrong With Sensor Cans
The dominant complaint in simplehuman’s own negative reviews isn’t the lid failing to open. It’s the lid opening when nobody asked:
“Can opens and closes on its own all day, draining my battery.”
“For every one time we want it open it opens 10 times.”
“My can would open from the TV (which was nearby) a lot — like several times an hour.”
Set that against the marketing on the same product page, which promises a sensor “smart enough to adapt to you and the surrounding environment — no false triggers, no unexpected lid closures.”
The practical fix is an outlet. Every owner who plugs the can in reports no battery trouble; the ones running on batteries report drain caused by phantom triggering. A sensor can without a nearby outlet is a worse product than a step can. Full stop.
Voice control remains a dud six years after it launched: “I have to be directly over it within 10 inches for it to work”; “the voice command already is non functional.”
Wirecutter reached the same conclusion and top-picks a mechanical step can, rejecting the sensor category outright — its testers found sensors “inconsistent and often required using a second hand to get the lids to open.”
The Capacity Numbers Are Not What They Say
Thirteen US gallons is 49.2 litres, so a 50L can genuinely is about 13 gallons. The problems are further up the range:
- simplehuman’s 45L cans are 11.9 gallons, not 13 — despite retail listings that put “13 Gallon” in the title and 11.8 gallons in the spec table of the same page.
- The 58L Sensor Recycler is marketed at 15.3 gallons but splits 34L / 24L — so the trash side is 9 gallons, smaller than a $30 can.
- The 40L Butterfly dual is 10.6 gallons total, or 5.3 gallons per side.
Rule of thumb: on any dual-compartment can, halve the number on the box. Five gallons a side fills in about two days for a family of four.
The Best Kitchen Trash Cans in 2026
1. simplehuman 45L Rectangular Step Can — Best Overall
The best numbers in this entire guide: 4.82 out of 5 across 1,185 reviews with only 2.4% negative, and it’s mechanical, so there’s no motor to fail, no battery to drain and no sensor to trigger at the television.
About $150 in brushed steel, or $110 for the version with a plastic lid — the same can, the same mechanism, forty dollars cheaper. A liner pocket in the back holds the next bag. The lid closes slowly and quietly, which is the feature people actually notice daily.
Honest caveat, from Wirecutter’s testing: the handle cutout at the top rear “has the potential to leak smells and let in pests.”
Capacity is 45 litres, which is 11.9 gallons — not the 13 you’ll see in some listings.
Specifications:
- Capacity: 45L / 11.9 gallons
- Type: mechanical step pedal
- Liner code: M (or standard drawstring bags)
PROS:
- Lowest failure rate of any can we found data for
- No power, no batteries, nothing electronic
- Cheaper plastic-lid version available
CONS:
- Rear handle cutout can leak odor
- 11.9 gallons, despite what some listings claim
Conclusion
The one to buy. Wirecutter’s top pick, the best review data in the category, and no electronics to outlive.
2. Glad 13 Gallon Stainless Step Can — Best Budget
The durability surprise of this research: 4.2 stars from 24,152 Amazon ratings with only 3% one-star — the best reliability profile in the entire dataset, at a fraction of simplehuman money.
Twenty-four thousand ratings is a sample size no premium brand here comes close to, and 3% angry buyers beats every sensor can we looked at, including the $300 one. It takes standard 13-gallon bags with no proprietary anything.
Wirecutter’s counterpoint is fair and worth knowing: “thin metal arms that were ineffective at holding garbage bags in place” and “hard-to-clean grooves on the bottom.” You’re buying reliability, not refinement.
Specifications:
- Capacity: 13 gallons
- Type: mechanical step pedal
- Bags: standard 13-gallon drawstring
PROS:
- 3% one-star across 24,000 ratings
- No proprietary liners
CONS:
- Weak bag-retention arms
- Grooved base is fiddly to clean
Conclusion
If the simplehuman price makes no sense to you, this is the evidence-backed alternative. Target’s own Brightroom stainless step can at around $55 is another credible mid-market option that didn’t exist in 2017.
3. simplehuman 40L Butterfly Dual Compartment — Best Recycler
$180, and the butterfly lid exists to solve a specific real problem: it opens in two halves rather than swinging up, so the can fits under a wall cabinet or overhang where a normal lid would hit. The 45L butterfly is also the highest-rated can in simplehuman’s whole line at 4.87 with 2.3% negative — this mechanism works.
The compartments are the caveat we flagged above: 40 litres total means 5.3 gallons per side. For a household that generates a lot of recycling, that fills fast. Measure your weekly volume before assuming a dual can replaces two separate bins.
Specifications:
- Capacity: 40L total — 5.3 gallons per compartment
- Type: mechanical step, butterfly lid
- Liner code: D
PROS:
- Fits under overhead cabinets
- Mechanical — the most reliable format here
CONS:
- Each side holds about two days for a family of four
Conclusion
The right dual-compartment can, provided you go in with the real per-side capacity in mind.
4. simplehuman 58L Sensor Can — Best Sensor, If You Want One
If hands-free matters more to you than failure rates — and with greasy hands mid-cooking, that’s a legitimate position — this is the sensor can to buy: $300, 58 litres (a genuine 15.3 gallons), a five-year warranty, and an AC adapter included so you’re not living on six AA batteries.
Use the adapter. That single decision removes most of what people complain about.
Buying note that matters for anyone shopping from older reviews: the widely-linked previous generation is discontinued and shows as unavailable. The current models are ST2047, ST2048, ST2049 and ST2055 — and the flagship price rose roughly 50% between generations.
Wirecutter’s criticisms stand: “it occasionally opens unintentionally, requires an outlet or batteries, and lacks an inner bucket” — and if you don’t keep the rear liner pocket stocked, you’re left with a hole in the back of the can.
Specifications:
- Capacity: 58L / 15.3 gallons
- Power: AC adapter included, or 6 AA
- Warranty: 5 years
- Liner code: Q
PROS:
- Genuine hands-free operation with dirty hands
- Five-year warranty; mains power included
CONS:
- Roughly triple the negative-review rate of the step cans
- $300, up about 50% from the previous generation
Conclusion
The best sensor can made. Just understand you’re trading measurable reliability for convenience, and plug it in.
5. iTouchless 13 Gallon Sensor Can — Best Budget Sensor
About $83, and its headline feature is a direct shot at simplehuman: “standard 13-gallon bags — no custom liners required.” That positioning didn’t exist in 2017 and it tells you where the competitive pressure is.
It also includes an odor filter in the lid, which is the one thing a kitchen can genuinely benefits from and which most cans at any price omit.
The honest warnings: Wirecutter rejected it, finding the sensors inconsistent and reporting that “battery life seems to vary between six months and three years.” It takes four D batteries, not included, and the AC adapter is sold separately. Amazon’s aggregated review summary is blunt about durability — motor failures within the first year.
Specifications:
- Capacity: 50L / 13 gallons
- Power: 4 D batteries (not included); adapter sold separately
- Bags: standard 13-gallon
PROS:
- A quarter the price of the simplehuman sensor can
- No proprietary liners; odor filter included
CONS:
- Inconsistent sensor performance in independent testing
- Reports of motor failure inside the first year
Conclusion
The sensible way to test whether you actually want a sensor can before spending $300 to find out.
Are Custom-Fit Liners a Rip-Off? We Did the Arithmetic
This is the most-asked question about simplehuman cans, and the answer is more boring than the internet suggests.
It isn’t vendor lock-in. The letter codes are a shape standard, not a lock — third-party compatible liners are sold at Home Depot, Target, Walmart and Amazon.
Third-party liners barely undercut the originals. Holding one vendor constant so quality doesn’t confound things: their Code Q compatible liners work out to about 30.8 cents each in a 200-pack, while simplehuman’s own official Code Q liners are 30 cents. The knock-off costs more. Only the 300-count bulk box reaches 20 cents.
The real premium is the custom shape: roughly 50%. Thirty cents versus twenty for the same 1.2-mil plastic from the same seller. At two bags a week that’s about $10-11 a year. Real, but not a scandal.
The practical advice: on step cans, skip custom liners entirely — Wirecutter confirms standard 10-13 gallon drawstring bags fit well. Buy them for the 58L sensor cans, where the built-in liner rim and dispensing pocket make generic bags a tight, ugly fit.
Trash Can FAQ
Sensor, step, or butterfly?
Step is most reliable and cheapest to own. Butterfly solves one real problem — vertical clearance under a wall cabinet — and posts the best reliability numbers of all. Sensor buys hands-free operation and costs you a motor, a power dependency, and a meaningfully higher chance of a bad outcome.
How big should a kitchen can be?
Thirteen gallons suits most households, which is why bag manufacturers standardized there. Remember that a 45L can is under 12 gallons, and that dual-compartment capacity is per-side, not total.
Do odor filters work?
The activated carbon cartridges help with the smell in the can, not the smell of what’s in the bag. They need replacing every few months, which is a recurring cost most buyers don’t anticipate. Emptying more often works better and costs nothing.
Have any of these been recalled?
Essentially no. A full sweep of the CPSC recall database turns up exactly one kitchen trash can recall ever — an EKO sensor can in 2015, for a laceration hazard. Nothing for simplehuman, iTouchless, Ninestars, Rubbermaid or Glad.
Is a $300 can ever worth it?
For the step cans, arguably yes — the lid mechanisms genuinely last, the warranties run five to ten years, and the failure data backs it. For the sensor cans it’s a comfort purchase, and you should price it as one.
Summary
Buy the simplehuman 45L step can — best reliability data in the category, and Wirecutter’s pick too. On a budget, Glad’s stainless step can has a better one-star rate than anything else here across 24,000 ratings. Recycling: the 40L Butterfly, remembering it’s 5.3 gallons a side. And if you want hands-free, the simplehuman 58L sensor can is the best of them — plug it into the wall, and accept that a motor is a thing that can break.
The pattern across every dataset we looked at is the same: in trash cans, the fewer moving parts, the happier the owner.
