Do you have a trash compactor?

[LexyLou]

We just moved into a house that has a trash compactor. We want to remove it and put in a wine fridge but my mom swears that people still use trash compactors and that they are totally useful.

I haven't seen a trash compactor in anyone's house and if there is one, they don't even use it.

So do any of you have one? Do you use it? Do you like it?

Thanks!

[KrisM]

My parents have one and it's great. I wish we had one. When we were all at home, thye still only ever had 1 bag of trash a week.

[MamaMolly]

I grew up with one. It was icky IMO. You shouldn't put wet garbage in it, but of course someone always did and it ended up being wet, smelly and attracting bugs. Sometimes the bags would come unhooked and get squished into the garbage, and pulling it out was a mess. Course this was at least 15 years ago, so the technology may have changed.

If you want/would use a wine chiller I'd just go ahead and put one in. Especially if you have a convenient place to put a regular trash can. HTH

[arivecchi]

We have one. It comes in handy living in the city since we have communal garbage containers. I put boxes, juice, milk cartons in it and it is great for that. However, if you don't think you would use it, get the wine fridge!

[HIU8]

I grew up with one. I'm very bummed that we don't have one. I love love love loved it! I actually went through withdrawl not having one and having to take the trash out numerous times a week. Man, I still really want one.

[michellerw]

I grew up with one and my mom has one. I love it and I really wish we had one. When we redo the kitchen I would love to put one in.

[Toba]

Never had one and always thought it would be a bigger mess than it was worth. I don't think I know anyone with one either. *shrugs* We didn't have a garbage disposal (the drain one) when I was growing up either, but when we completely redid our kitchen years ago, we installed one and I don't know how I ever lived without it. My sisters would come over (still lived home or were in college) and would marvel over it, and now they both have garbage disposals in their own homes too. LOL

[maestramommy]

We have one. It's probably almost if not as old as the house:p (39 years). It works really well, but it smells if we leave trash in there for more than a week. Which we could actually do because that sucker really crushes trash like I've never seen. But we empty it once a week now to keep the odors down. Emptying only once a week is key for us because we haul our own trash to the town dump.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

we don't have one, and personally don't see the need for one. we have a large rectangular stainless steel trash can we got from the Container Store that has a lid and only opens when the foot pedal is pressed, so any smells are contained. We use odor-absorbing trash can liners and it seems to work fine..we take out the trash once maybe twice a week.

I say if you dont' think you will use it, go ahead and remove it and put in the wine fridge.

[AshleyAnn]

My inlaws have one. I'm not sure sure if they actually compact trash in it or just use it in place of a trash can. I guess it depends on if you have to pay for trash service or if its provided by your city if its really useful to you. If you're charged a per bag rate then a compactor would be GREAT. If not, well I'd rather have a wine fridge myself.

We live in an apartment with a dumpster - the bags from our regular trash can are heavy to carry down the stairs and heave into the dumpster I'm glad DH can't find a way to cram more stuff in them.

[katydid1971]

I've lived in a house with one. I don't think they all that great. The only time I would consider one is if garbage was really expensive and you had lots and lots of it for some reason. FWIW A wine frig would be a big value add for reseale, the trash compactor isn't. :)

[Kyras mom]

We live in an area where we have to take care of our own trash. We rent a dumpster and have it emptied when it's full. When the price for a new, empty bin went way up, we purchased a trash compactor so we weren't paying to dispose of air. I do rinse some things to keep the odor down, and definately no styrofoam trays from meat/chicken. We empty it about once a week.

[fauve01]

there was one in our house when we moved in 7 years ago. it was as old as the house (1990) and seemed sort of dingy and old. we never used it, so last summer we replaced with a (stainless steel) wine refrigerator. DH *loves* the new wine fridge for his special wine he brought back from Italy!

My parents put in a trash compactor when they completely gutted and remodeled their kichen 12 years ago, and they like theirs. I don't know how often they empty it, etc, but i do know they only put dry stuff in it so it won't stink. They've visited us a few times since we got our wine fridge and my mom thinks my dad would like to switch too (my dad is not convinced).

HTH,
anne

[Cheburashka]

My parents have one, and it's a lifesaver when everyone is visiting. When everyone is at home, there's 9 people, 5 dogs, and 1 cat. The trash compactor is on the old side, and sometimes it sounds like it might be about to blast off into space while it's compacting, but not having to take out the trash everyday when everyone is at home is nice. It goes to about every other day then. When it's just my parents, my two sisters, and my younger sister's SO, the trash goes out twice a week or so.

If you don't think you're going to get much use out of it though, take it out.

[khalloc]

We had one growing up. It was OK. But I honestly dont think it would get much use now. We have about 1 bag of garbage a week now. but a TON of recycling. Most of our garabge is food and stuff that should not go into a trash compacter. All the stuff we used to throw out as kids now gets recycled.