Kitchen Composters I Recommend After 2 Years of Testing (2026)

The countertop kitchen composter is a lovely thought. Instead of a smelly bucket of vegetable scraps and coffee grounds breeding fruit flies on your counter or attracting rats to your backyard, you could just put it all into a nifty electric gadget. Then, at some undetermined point in the future, you'll have a bountiful supply of nutrient-rich compost to use in your garden.

Unfortunately, none of the more popular electric kitchen composters do exactly this. Though some of these devices are marketed as “composters” and include instruction booklets and companion apps detailing the many ways to use compost, most will only grind up and dry your food scraps. You will greatly reduce your food waste output, and it will no longer smell, but if you’re hoping to put eggshells and banana peels into a machine and magically scoop out the kind of compost you’d buy at the garden center, that’s just not going to happen.

That said, you can mix small amounts of these grounds into potting soil in tiny ratios or use them as a feeder for a “real” compost pile. But again, most of these machines are meant for reducing the volume of household food waste. This is, itself, a legitimate goal, as cast-off food makes up an estimated 24 percent of municipal solid waste, resulting in the release of methane, a destructive greenhouse gas, as it breaks down in the landfill.

Or maybe you'd just like your food grounds to be odor-free and shelf-stable before adding them to your green waste bin for municipal composting or your backyard compost. In any case, despite critics’ cries of greenwashing and corporate astroturfing, there is indeed value to these devices. They make people more aware of their food waste. They don't use a huge amount of power (around 1 kilowatt-hour was typical in my testing). And my top pick, the Reencle Essential (8/10, WIRED Recommends), even produces something close to compost.

Also, be sure to check out our guides to the Best Indoor Gardening Systems and Best Smart Bird Feeders.

Updated November 2026: I’ve added Reencle's new Essential model as my new top pick, and ensured up-to-date links and prices.

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Featured Products

Best OverallReencle Essential Compact Electric ComposterRead more$399 $349 (13% off)

Amazon

Also GreatReencle Prime Electric ComposterRead more$499 $449 (10% off)

Amazon (Prime)

Best Grind-and-Dry Food RecyclerLomi 3 Countertop Food RecyclerRead more$649 $449 (31% off)

Lomi

Another Great Grind-and-Dry RecyclerFoodCycler Eco 3 Compact Kitchen Food RecyclerRead more$400

Amazon

Best Overall

Essential Compact Electric Composter

As I mentioned above, none of these machines makes truly ready-to-use, biologically stable, fully decomposed compost, but Reencle comes closest to creating what you'd scoop out of a traditional compost bin or pile. Popular in South Korea years before it appeared in the US, Reencle machines arrive with a starter bag of Reencle Compost Starter (which you can purchase separately for $52) containing activated carbon, wood pellets, glucose, and a trio of patented thermophilic microbes ready to chow down. There's also a prefilled charcoal filter that slots into the back.

Cured Reencle grounds mixed with potting soil

Photograph: Kat Merck

Cured Reencle grounds mixed with potting soil

The Essential is Reencle’s newest—and least expensive—model, with a refreshed, contemporary exterior; controls on the front instead of the top; and a lid that opens and closes manually. It's too large for a kitchen counter, but it conveniently operates much like a heated trash can. The lid opens via a manual button on the top of the unit, and in goes your organic matter. That's it. There are no cycles, tablets, or auxiliary buckets to worry about, and the cycle is barely louder than a refrigerator fan—about 28 decibels. Within hours to days, depending on the item, the scraps break down into a material resembling a cross between dirt and sawdust.

The smell isn't always pleasant, but you can usually mitigate this with the control panel's Dry and Purify buttons or by adding what, in composting lexicon, is called “browns”—dry, carbon-rich materials, like bread or shredded paper. The Reencle also tends not to stink when you feed it its preferred diet of 1.5 to 2.2 pounds of scraps per day. Unlike other machines, it can also accept meat and dairy.

When the volume reaches the fill line, it’s time to scoop out the grounds. At this point, you can mix the grounds with potting soil at a 1:4 ratio and leave it to cure for three weeks. (I used a large tub in my garage for this step.) Afterward, you can use it for both outdoor and indoor plants. I’ve used the resultant mix to positive effect both indoors and outdoors.

Also Great

Prime Electric Composter

The Prime is Reencle’s original flagship model. It's pretty much identical to the new Essential, but with the controls on the top instead of on the front, plus a convenient sensor-activated auto-open and -close lid. The entire top also hinges open, making it easier to scoop out the grounds for curing. It's only about an inch taller than the Essential but accepts the same 2.2 pounds of kitchen scraps per day.

Inside the Reencle Prime

Photograph: Kat Merck

I found its fan noise to be slightly less intrusive than the Essential above, despite both units measuring at 28 decibels. It’s ultimately up to you if this, plus the auto-close lid, feels worthy of spending an extra $100. (I did like the latter feature very much.)

Also worth noting is that one of the stirring paddles broke off my Prime after a year and a half of daily use. I contacted Reencle to ask what customers should do in this situation. I learned that if the Reencle is within the warranty period (two years for units purchased on or after May 13, 2026; one year for units purchased previously), they can contact customer service to receive a paddle repair kit at no charge. If the unit is outside the warranty period, a kit runs $35. I don't love that this has happened, but Reencle's models remain the best of these devices available, and I've found the company's customer service to be responsive and easy to work with.

If you need a larger capacity: For larger households, there's also the Reencle Gravity ($649), which is Reencle's largest unit by both dimensions and capacity. It can accept 3.3 pounds of waste a day and sports the same convenient sensor-activated lid as the Prime. When I tested it last year, I found it to be significantly quieter than both the Prime and the Essential—not that either is noticeably loud, but the Gravity is nearly silent. I did, however, find that over time, the Gravity contents went anaerobic (read: smelly) much faster than with the Prime. The increased volume seemed to retain more moisture. If you go with a Gravity, I recommend keeping plenty of browns (old bread, shredded paper) on hand to maintain microbial balance or adding in a few more sessions of manual stirring per day with the included shovel.

Reencle Gravity (left) and Reencle Prime

Photograph: Kat Merck

Reencle Gravity (left) and Reencle Prime

Best Grind-and-Dry Food Recycler

3 Countertop Food Recycler

Most kitchen “composters" simply grind and dry your food scraps, but the Lomi 3 countertop composter does the best job of this of the bunch. I'm always impressed when companies listen to feedback and adapt, and Lomi's most updated model solves a couple of the quirks found on the now-discontinued Lomi 2: Gone are the multiple modes, the annoying twist-off lid, and the need to put scraps right into the machine. Now there's a convenient 3-liter, 7.5-inch-tall countertop bucket, just like the FoodCycler below; an easy push-button lid; and Grow and Express modes. The Lomi 3 is also smaller and supposedly quieter than the Lomi 2, but my decibel meter found the difference to be negligible. One feature I did like on Lomi 2 that's missing from the 3, however, is Lomi mode, which could break down a list of approved bioplastics, including Lomi's own packaging. Lomi confirms the new model cannot accept bioplastics.

Lomi grounds

Photograph: Kat Merck

Like with the Lomi 2, there's a companion app for basic management, but I enjoyed not having to use it; simply press an on-device button, and the Lomi starts. When it's done (cycle lengths vary from three to 16 hours, depending on the amount and moisture level of its contents), it will play a little chime, and you can either put the processed grounds—which are very fine and look like Folgers—in your outdoor compost pile, top-dress your lawn with them, or add them to soil at a 1:10 ratio (1:15 if using meat or dairy). I also like that the Lomi 3 has a clear lid, so you can see exactly where it is in its cycle.

It's a lot to pay for what's essentially a grinder-and-dryer, which is why I generally recommend the Reencle above, especially if you want to generate something close to compost. However, for those simply looking to reduce their waste output, or who live in an area that's subject to composting fines, the Lomi 3 is a thoughtfully engineered, easy-to-use option.

Note that my test unit originally came with a lid that warped after several months, allowing odors to escape and attracting fruit flies. Lomi said the initial batch of lids was made with faulty plastic and sent a new lid, but the new version is starting to warp as well after a couple of months.

Another Great Grind-and-Dry Recycler

Eco 3 Compact Kitchen Food Recycler

First off, I appreciate that FoodCycler doesn’t even pretend it's making compost. “The FoodCycler is a food-waste recycler,” the company explained firmly before agreeing to ship a test unit. “Our primary goal is to provide a modern food-waste solution for users who may lack access to traditional composting or other disposal options that divert from the landfill. Therefore, the resulting byproduct cannot be labeled as ‘compost.’” And indeed, the FoodCycler breaks down food so quickly, and with no microbial involvement, that there’s no way anyone could think this was actual finished compost. But if you are opting for a grinder/dryer, know that the Eco 3 makes more groaning and creaking noises while in operation than the Lomi 3 above, but it is still a great pick.

Eco 3 grounds

Photograph: Kat Merck

Launched in 2024, the Eco 3 is a smaller version of the Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50 (7/10 WIRED Recommends), sporting a larger 3.5-liter capacity and, according to FoodCycler, better grinding capability. At 11 by 9 by 13 inches, it is small enough to sit on a counter or tabletop, though the real convenience with this machine is its auxiliary pail. Fill the sleek, 8-inch-tall lidded container with scraps (in my household of three people, this took about three days). Once it's full, swap out the lids, seat it in the machine, and press a button.

A few hours later, you'll have a handful of “Foodilizer,” a "homemade soil amendment” that looks like finely ground dirt, per FoodCycler. The output is among the most finely ground of any of these machines. There's no assembly (other than filling a filter with carbon granules), no app, no making an account, no pods or tablets or choosing various cycles—you don't even have to plug it in until you're ready to use it.

The cycle runs from four to nine hours, depending on the water content of the scraps. Though its base sound is an audible but unobtrusive whir (about 36 dB on my decibel meter), it has started making loud groaning and creaking sounds after six months of regular use, so I only run it at night or when I won't be home. I also occasionally had trouble getting the bucket to seat correctly, but the manual addresses this, and I figured it out after a couple of tries.