Brushed Stainless Steel Step Trash Can Kitchen
Kitchen & Dining / Functional Hardware
The simplehuman 60L Semi-Round Step Can is the rare kitchen trash can that actually makes you feel better about your kitchen.
Picture a Sunday afternoon cooking session — cutting board chaos, onion skins, coffee grounds, the whole mess. You nudge the pedal with your foot and the lid swings open quietly, closes on its own without a sound, and you don’t think about it once. That’s the thing about the simplehuman Semi-Round Step Can: it disappears into your routine in the best way. I didn’t expect a trash can to earn real estate in a “what I love about my kitchen” list, but here we are.
What I Love
After living with this in a busy kitchen for a few months, a few specific details kept standing out — not in a marketing-brochure way, but in a “I notice when I don’t have this” way.
- The Lid Shox silent-close mechanism means zero metallic clanging when the lid drops — a genuine quality-of-life upgrade if your kitchen is open to a living area.
- The Liner Pocket hidden inside the can body stores spare bags so you’re never rummaging under the sink mid-mess.
- The semi-round shape tucks flush against a cabinet or wall — it doesn’t jut out into a walkway like a round can does.
- 60 liters is legitimately big. Fewer trips to the bin outside, especially if you’re cooking for a household rather than just yourself.
- The brushed stainless steel finish resists fingerprints better than I expected and wipes clean with almost no effort.
What to Watch For
This is a substantial piece of hardware, and a few things are worth knowing before you click buy. It’s not a light can you’ll move around casually, and the footprint, while smart, is still real.
- The 60L size is genuinely large — measure your intended spot before ordering, especially in a galley-style kitchen.
- simplehuman’s custom liner bags are the ideal fit; standard bags can slip below the liner rim, which is a minor but recurring annoyance if you go that route.
Who It’s For
If your kitchen trash can is currently a flimsy plastic bin with a lid that falls off every third use, this is a meaningful step up. It’s built for people who cook regularly and want their kitchen to feel considered all the way down to the functional details. Modern or modern farmhouse kitchens with stainless appliances will see the most visual payoff, but honestly, the finish is neutral enough to work in most spaces. If you’ve been tolerating a bad trash can the way you tolerate a squeaky cabinet hinge, this is the simplehuman step can review that saves you the research spiral.
“A trash can shouldn’t be a compromise, and this one finally isn’t.”
How to Style It
Vignette 1: Place it in the corner between your lower cabinets and the island, angled flat-side-to-wall. Pair it with a brushed stainless soap dispenser and a matte black faucet for a hardware moment that actually coheres across the kitchen.
Vignette 2: In a more minimal, white-cabinet kitchen, let the stainless finish do the heavy lifting and keep everything else simple — a single ceramic compost crock on the counter nearby keeps the utilitarian zone tidy without over-accessorizing.
What People Are Saying
Quick FAQ
Do I have to use simplehuman’s own liner bags?
You don’t have to, but the liner rim is designed around their custom-fit bags. Generic bags work, they just tend to slip down inside the can over time.
How loud is the pedal mechanism?
The 150,000-step rated pedal is solid and near-silent — it doesn’t creak or clunk. The Lid Shox close is genuinely quiet, which is the bigger win.
Is the stainless finish hard to keep clean?
It’s more smudge-resistant than typical stainless. A quick wipe with a damp cloth handles most kitchen splatter without streaking.
The Verdict
The simplehuman 60L Semi-Round Step Can is a kitchen trash can that rewards daily use in ways a cheaper bin simply won’t. The silent close, the built-in liner storage, and the fingerprint-resistant finish add up to something that functions better than anything else I’ve used at this price point. For what you’re paying, the build quality holds up to the promise. If you want a large-capacity kitchen trash can that looks intentional and works reliably for years, buy this one.
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