The 5 Best Countertop Compost Bins, Tested and Reviewed

If indoor composting is a priority, then you’ll love this effective and rapid composter as much as we do. The Reencle Home Composter is a true composter, not just a collection bin for food scraps. And it’s fast—we had rich, brown compost ready for the garden in just one day, although ideally, the recommended process takes longer. 

Note that this is a large indoor composter, measuring 13 inches wide, 12 inches deep, and 18.4 inches tall. Because of that, it’s not suited for small counters. Also, we found that it can be hard for shorter people to reach inside, and placing it on the floor might be a better option. We placed it on the floor for our tests. This is also not the type of bin that you carry outside to a garden; we recommend scooping out the mulch and putting it in another container to bring outside.

The device comes with a compost “starter,” which includes bacteria that break down food scraps quickly, including carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. It’s super easy to set the composter up and prepare it for work; we simply poured the compost starter and 7 cups of water into the machine and let it “cook” for 24 hours. After that, we were ready to add a variety of food scraps.

The device can handle most common foods, including meats, fish, pasta, cooked eggs, cheese, fruits and vegetables, and bread. However, you should not add bones, seafood shells, pits, or produce stickers.

You can add up to 2.2 pounds of food scraps per day, although 1.5 pounds is optimal. Once the scraps are added, the composter automatically begins to stir the contents. Even while the paddles were turning, we didn’t notice any noise; this machine is very quiet.

There are two ways to add scraps. You can open the small lid manually or wave your foot in front of the sensor to open it automatically. While this is handy, we found that the composter lid opened up a few times in response to our walking by. (You can turn this sensor off by holding down the “open” button for three seconds.)

Ideally, you should allow the composter to collect, stir, and “cook” the food waste for at least two weeks up to one month before removing the contents for further processing. However, we only waited 24 hours before opening the device and removing the compost for our testing purposes. We found it very moist and rich, with an earthy smell that wasn’t unpleasant. Only a bit of the melon rinds weren’t decomposed.

Once you remove the mulch from the container—always leaving some behind so that you don’t remove all of the helpful bacteria—you should mix the mulch with soil and leave it bagged for 3 weeks before adding it to your garden. 

The Reencle includes two filters, one mesh, and one carbon, that should last up to a year before needing to be replaced. These cut down on any chance of odor escaping the composter, but should you notice a smell, there’s a “Purify” function to cut down the stink. There’s also a “Dry” function if the contents become too wet. 

While this indoor composter is more expensive than the other options on our list and a bit more complicated to use, its very effective performance, lack of odor, quietness, and ease of cleaning make it well worth the splurge if you want to turn food waste into the most garden-nourishing compost.

_{Dimensions: 13 x 12 x 18.4 inches | Capacity: 2.2 pounds daily | Material: Plastic | Filter Type and Lifespan: Mesh filter and carbon filter, 1 year | Dishwasher safe: No}

Many people worry that a countertop composter will be stinky, but the Lomi Bloom eliminates odors with two carbon filters: one positioned near the scrap bucket and the other at the back of the composter. In our testing sessions, we noted no odors coming out of the composter while closed and only a rather pleasant fruity odor when opened. The filters can be refilled with carbon when necessary, generally after every 45 cycles or roughly every 3 months. 

Using the composter is easy: Just lift the lid, add scraps up to a 3-liter capacity, close the lid, and then push the button to choose one of three modes. We love that there’s a small window, which makes it easy to watch the composting process. 

The “Grow Mode” is the most effective for turning out compost that is ready to mix with soil and add to your garden. In this mode, the Lomi Bloom takes roughly a day to finish cycling. In the “Eco-Express Mode,” the process takes only around 5 hours, but the resulting compost is best suited to adding to your regular compost bin or your green waste bin in cities or states, including California, that require all food scraps to be recycled, rather than going right into your garden. Finally, the “Lomi Approved Mode,” which takes around 8 hours, breaks down certain non-food compostables, including certain bioplastics. The resulting compost is best added to your green waste bin.  

You can add fruit and vegetable scraps, meats and fish, dairy products, breads and grains, and coffee grounds and tea bags. Like most countertop composters, you shouldn’t toss in bones, fruit pits, popcorn kernels, cooking oils, very hard nutshells, or other items that don’t break down easily.

This is a countertop composter, but note that it should not be placed on a counter directly underneath cabinets and requires at least 6 inches of clearance all the way around. It’s best for kitchens with plenty of counter space.

After our initial testing, we continued to use the Lomi Bloom regularly and found that it produced plenty of dry, slightly stringy compost that we added to our herb garden and outdoor plants. Plus, we never noted any foul odors. And it’s easy to clean the Lomi Bloom between composting sessions. You can wash the inner bucket by hand or put it into the dishwasher. 

_{Dimensions: 16 x 13 x 12 inches | Capacity: 3 liters | Material: Plastic | Filter Type and Lifespan: Carbon filter, 3 months | Dishwasher safe: Yes}

Many countertop composters are quite large, making them impractical for small kitchens without ample counter space. The FoodCycler, while not a tiny appliance, is smaller than our other electric composters, making it a better choice if space is your primary concern. But that doesn’t mean it’s ineffective: In our testing sessions, it took around 10 hours to produce brown, crumbly compost that was ready to mix with soil for use in the garden or to toss into your green waste container if desired. 

The FoodCycler’s basket holds up to .66 gallons of food scraps. We loaded the basket with bread, fruit peels, and vegetable scraps. Once we pushed the “Start” button, the machine did the rest, running through drying, grinding, and cooling cycles. We noticed no odors during the process, and the composter was quiet. 

However, the final amount of compost was quite small. We started with a full .66-gallon basket, and at the cycle’s end, we had just 1 cup of compost. While that’s plenty for use with houseplants, small herb gardens, or topping individual garden plants’ soil, it’s not enough to fill your garden beds or large outdoor containers. If you need a composter that produces a larger amount of compost, our best overall pick might be a better option. 

The FoodCycler has two carbon filters that very effectively subdue odors. Depending on the frequency of use and the types of food scraps composted, you’ll need to change the filters every three or four months. Cleaning the composter is easy: Wash the basket in your dishwasher and wipe down the rest of the device with a damp cloth.

We do wish this composter had a clear lid that allowed viewing of the contents, but otherwise, we feel it’s a very easy and effective way for anyone who wants to reduce food waste to accomplish that goal (and nourish a few plants), even if they don’t have much kitchen counter space to spare. 

_{Dimensions: 12.6 x 11 x 14.2 inches | Capacity: .66 gallon | Material: Plastic | Filter Type and Lifespan: Carbon filter, 3 months | Dishwasher safe: Yes}

If you haven’t composted before or even collected food scraps, you might want to start with a simple compost bin, like this attractive option from Bamboozle. While not a true composter, this is a well-designed and sleek-appearing container for food scraps that can later be added to your green waste barrel or to a regular outdoor composter or compost pile.

The bin is made of bamboo fiber and is fully biodegradable, so if you decide to move on to outdoor composting at some point, you can add the Bamboozle itself to your compost heap. The 1-gallon container has a charcoal filter in the lid that effectively prevents odors; we noticed no bad smells during our eight months of testing. Nor did it attract insects—not even fruit flies.

The lid fits tightly, but we still found it easy to remove when adding scraps. Once it’s full, there’s a wooden handle for carrying the bin to your green waste bin or compost heap. If desired, you can line the bin with a biodegradable bag to make it even easier to dispose of the contents, but we tested it on its own. 

For best results, avoid adding too much meat, dairy, or oily ingredients to the bin. Instead, stick with mostly vegetable or fruit peels and scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, bread, and other materials that aren’t too liquidy, fatty, or smelly. While it’s best to empty the contents every few days, we left it unemptied for almost a month at one point and still didn’t notice any odors.

We love how easy it is to clean; you can put the bin right into the dishwasher. Even after we forgot to empty it, it still came out clean and looked good. The bin comes with an extra filter, so you’ll have a replacement on hand. The filter should be replaced every two months or so. 

We tested the saffron yellow bin, but there are several other colors to choose from, including navy, pomegranate, wisteria, graphite, and fog. 

_{Dimensions: 8 x 6.25 x 9 inches | Capacity: 1 gallon | Material: Bamboo fiber | Filter Type and Lifespan: Charcoal filter, 2 months | Dishwasher safe: Yes}

Another simple and affordable way of collecting your food scraps without taking up valuable floor or counter space is this bin from Epica. Made of stainless steel, it held up without the slightest signs of damage during months of real-world testing in our kitchen and generated no odors with the lid closed. The sleekly contemporary bin holds up to 1.3 gallons of scraps.

We put it to work, regularly loading it with coffee grounds, eggshells, onions, garlic, cantaloupe rinds, and other fruit and vegetable scraps. Despite the considerable amounts of onions and garlic, the charcoal filter in the lid kept the bin odor-free. We didn’t notice any smell until we opened it, and even then, it wasn’t too bad. Nor did we have any problems with pests such as ants, roaches, or fruit flies.

We emptied the countertop bin into our outdoor composter every few days. It has a handle that makes it easy to carry, and while the lid fits with an airtight seal, it wasn’t too difficult to remove it to add scraps or dump the contents. 

Each time we dumped the contents, we hosed the bin out and let it dry in the sun. Once every few weeks, we washed it in the sink with warm, soapy water. You could cut down even further on cleaning needs by using a biodegradable liner bag inside the bin, but we felt no need to do so. Just keep in mind that it is not dishwasher-safe.

Replace the charcoal filter every six months or so, and you’ll have very little need for maintenance with this countertop bin. Our testing model had a silver finish, but it’s also available in white, gray, gold, and bronze. All are very attractive, making this a compost bin you won’t have to hide to keep your kitchen presentable. Although slightly larger in capacity, this bin is very similar in features and cost to our best for beginners pick, so it’s mostly a matter of design preferences.

_{Dimensions: 7.16 x 11 x 7.16 inches | Capacity: 1.3 gallon | Material: Stainless steel | Filter Type and Lifespan: Charcoal filter, 6 months | Dishwasher safe: No}