58 liter rectangular step can recycler

The thought of buying a $200 trash can kind of turned my stomach a bit but I was also tired of nice looking trash cans that wore out quickly or ugly dirty plastic ones that had no sense of style. Instead of having a nice dinner with the wife out on the town or buying some rare records I'd had my eye on, I used a bit of extra income to buy a really nice trash can. And I am thrilled with it!This review is actually for the SECOND can of this size I bought. Last year around this time I procured the can for our kitchen and just recently bought this one for my mother. It is great because it has a nice soft close lid that doesn't spring open when you don't want it to. It is brushed metal so it looks good in just about any kitchen. We live in a mid-century modern ranch with high ceilings and an open concept while my mother lives in an early 90's suburban home that has never been updated, and in neither location does this guy look out of place. It is quietly unassuming.Another feature I love is the built in bag holder for the trash. While it specifically houses Simplehuman-branded bags, I am a fan of these custom bags even though they cost a bit more. They fit the cans well and are exceptionally sturdy, so again, I feel I am getting value in quality even though I am paying a bit more. We are a house of two and only fill two bags a week, tops, and my mother is a widow who will probably only fill a bag every 10 days.The recycling tote is excellent. While we live in a city with mandated recycling and a dedicated recycling trash can we keep in our garage, we just fill it up and dump the recycling right into the rollout bin in the garage and do not use the blue bags, but the tote had a handle on it like a bucket so it is an easy process of removing and putting it back. I actually wish the recycling bin was larger as we fill that up every other day, so it is constantly full. My mother on the other hand, lives in a city where recycling is optional, so I got her the SImplehuman blue bags that fit this can and she likes it because it does not get too full or heavy for her to take out on trash night on her own, but likes that she is able to recycle with out it being a messy pain.Clearly this is a versatile trash can even in these two environments. I never thought I'd be telling friends and family to plop down $200 on a trash can, but over the past year, I continually have. It is a really well made and thought out product and worth the money!(Note: Picture is of my year old trashcan in my kitchen)

TL;DR: I bought this can ironically and ended up liking it. Whoops.So I bought this trash can, and I felt compelled to give my opinion about it, because I felt a little woozy after this purchase. We had a $10 rubbermaid from Walmart, and that thing was always so gross, had a rotating lid, never kept the smells at bay, you know the one.I like the trash can. Only had it a couple days so far, but it's cool. Aesthetically, it's pretty. The unit is pretty big, much bigger than I thought. However, the recycling and trash can are small(ish) but that's ok, since we recycle. My wife was worried about the trash side being smaller, but the downgrade from a 13 gallon trash can to the 9 gallon this is isn't so bad. Now, we just have to take the trash out more, instead of smashing more and more crap in an over-sized can until no one can lift the bag because it's too heavy.The finish is really nice, it matches the rest of our stainless steel appliances. It's designed to hide the trash bag, which is cool, didn't really care about that when I bought it, but it's a nice feature. The lid opens smoothly, but who cares about that really? What is cool is that the lid doesn't slam shut and kind of gently falls back into place.I noticed that the trash can does a really good job at masking smells, even though I don't think it's intended to. Not sure really, didn't really look to see if that was a "feature" when I bought it. One of the features that I rolled my eyes at was the storage space for the bags. I like it and is way more useful than I thought it would be. I also don't buy into "smudge proof" technology. I've never purchased a product based off a company saying "smudge proof" or "smudge resistant." I think those labels are scams, because everything smudges and so does this trash can. You need to clean your appliances, including your trash can, no matter what and frequently. Though, I can say, it doesn't smudge "as much," whatever.On a side note, the simplehuman bags are pricey, but really strong, I like them a lot.Conclusion: Do you really need to purchase a $200 trash can? No. You do not. But if you have the money, then sure why not. It's actually a really nice trash can. I can see this being good if you have pets that like to dig in your trash, or if you have company over often and want your kitchen to look a little nicer. I figure, if you have $5,000 - $10,000 worth of kitchen appliances, you might as well have a nice trash can to boot, just looks dumb if you have a cheap-o Walmart deal in the most visited room of the house. My 2 cents on that.