Ours is located in the garage, which is conveniently located right off the kitchen. I can see how it would be more of a chore if we had to traipse through the house, but right now it takes all of 30 seconds to pull the kitchen bag out of the can and take it to the "big bin".

Just outside the garage door-- as close to the kitchen as it can be without being right next to the dinner table on the patio.

Ours are right outside the garage door, too. Just a few steps away through the mud room. DH usually does this for me.

I'm having trashy thoughts, too.

Presently the compost goes from kitchen counter to compost bucket on the back porch, en route to compost pile, or next spring, to the hens.

We have single stream recycling, so everything except true trash goes out in one can. Right now our kitchen is adjacent to the wood-storage room where the recycling bin lives. Food containers must be rinsed, but otherwise we just dump them in until a bin is full and then we carry the bin out to the trash-house until pick-up day. (On a farm we need to protect our garbage from attracting nuisance wildlife, hence the little hut locally-dubbed the trash-house.)

True trash (mostly cat litter from 10 indoor cats!) is carried out to the trash house where the garbage cans live whenever the waste baskets are full during the week, or on trash night whichever comes first. Kitty litter is scooped a couple of times per day and is carried directly out to the garbage cans and dumped into plastic bags that formerly held wood-fuel pellets. Except for kitty litter and smelly meat scraps (which are stored in the freezer in the interim) most of our bonafide trash can stay in waste baskets until emptied.

For the new kitchen I plan to have:

a) compost collection point on counter: either a covered bowl to accumulate one day's stuff, or during canning, a large pail on the floor. These are emptied last thing at night, and cleaned and left to air for the next day.

b) recyclable, non-compostable kitchen waste: food containers, foil, yogurt cups, etc., to be cleaned and stored in a bin under the sink until full or collection day. (All water, juice, beer and soda bottles have deposits in NY, they are collected separately and redeemed whenever we're feeling skint. In the meantime they live in the trash house. We buy the small amount of wine and liquor used in our household in VT and there's a deposit on those bttles, as well.) Most household paper: mail, newspapers, mags, cardboard, egg boxes, etc, is recycled, too.

c) non-recyclable household waste (but not skanky like chicken waste, etc.) goes in waste cans either step-on, or possibly under sink, site to be determined. Right now I'm happy with step-ons because my cats will hunt down and tear apart anything that smells food-ish.

d) smelly food waste that isn't recyclable goes in the freezer in a big, sealed plastic Tupperware thing. It's emptied when needed as a frozen blob.

e) assorted messes like barfed-up hairballs are handled like cat litter and go straight outside to the trash house as necessary.

I am planning both a prep sink and clean-up sink. I plan to have only one compost pot; but perhaps two trash cans: one near prep and fridge and another near sink. Somedays I noodle on the idea of having one that's accessible from multiple sides to serve both areas. Haven't worked out those detals, yet. Recyclables saved under clean-up sink as that's where most of them start - needing to be washed and rinsed.

I toy with idea of garbage under sink, but frankly it kind of skeeves me out. I prefer a freestanding, but perhaps tucked under a deep counter overhang step-on can.

Does that help?

On trash night my DH takes the tractor and hauls the cans down the farm road to the public highway where our tipping bins are. I truly miss the old days of Saturday mornings on the dump run. It seems like we handle everything mutliple times in order to separate it so tidily.

L

Ours is in the garage door too, pretty close to the door, for same reason as everyone else's. We have to cross the kitchen and walk down a short hall to get to the garage door.

With the new cabinets I had the cabinetmaker install a second, somewhat smaller, pull-out trash-only right between stove and fridge. That one is lots closer to the garage door, plus now I won't have to drip across my new hardwood floors with cooking refuse.

Ours starts in a roll out cabinet under the peninsula cabinet that doesn't roll out (or needs WD 40). After that we take it through the breezeway to the far side of the garage (brown can). We recycle quite a bit and if we remodel we're going to add a recycling can to the trash roll-out because our current recycling process is just lazy/stupid.

Ours are on the side of the house nearest the kitchen. It's part of the reason we are leaving our kitchen side door in the remodel plan even though it's not ideal for the kitchen layout. Our other options were 1) walk out the front door and around to the side of the house or 2) walk downstairs to the garage. Both would be a pain, so sidedoor it is!!

My bins (recycling + plain garbage) are in the back lane, where the trucks drive by to collect it. The compost bin is about half-way down the path. It's a bit of a hike to deposit our waste, but our yard slopes away from the house, and the path includes several stairs which I don't care to drag bins up and down between pick-up days. But what are teenagers for, anyway? It's my son's job to clear the snow from the path and take out the trash bags as they fill.

I keep the main cans in the garage which is right off the kitchen. On the hottest days of the summer they stay right in front of the garage doors if odor becomes a problem...

Bigdoglover: I also have two pullout trash bins. So handy! One between the fridge and beverage center, and the other between main sink and range. I didn't need the storage space, and it was a perfect idea.

I have a stainless steel trashcan and I empty it every 2 days into the big trashcans at the front of the garage. For my recycling cans, bottles, etc., I just empty them into the garage recycle trash can. I was hoping to have pull-outs in the kitchen and I would empty them each evening. Still not sure what I am doing about my cabinets right now.

OUtside near the garage...We had it in the garage but i just couldn't take the idea of having garbage within my house. So we moved it outside right next to the garage. Not a big deal at all. We have two small, I mean as in- I never buy trash bags because grocery bags fit perfectly- small trash cans where you are forced to take the trash out almost every day.. One for recycling, and one for trash under the sink. I just have an issue with garbage that is two days old sitting in the house... yup a little OCD. but there are never any odors :D

Like cooksnews, ours are in the alley. Through 9' sunporch and down 3 steps. Great job for my 10 year old :-) Due to size limitations and desire for garbage NOT to remain in the house very long, we have a 12" trash pull out that houses garbage and recycling and is working out very well for our family of four.

Here is a link that might be useful: 12

Thank you all for the ideas. Our garage is detached, which seems to make finding a location for the trash bins more difficult, but you have given me things to think about!