Best Kitchen Composters and Food Recyclers (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, and 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. Even though some of these devices are marketed as “composters” and have instruction booklets and apps detailing all the ways in which one can use compost, the vast majority of kitchen composters are just going to grind up and dry your food scraps. You will greatly reduce your 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 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 Prime (8/10, WIRED Recommends), even produces something close to compost. Also, be sure to check out our guides to the Best Indoor Gardening Systems, Best Gifts for Plant Lovers, and Best Smart Bird Feeders. Updated July 2026: I've updated my review of the Reencle devices to address an issue with broken paddles, added long-term testing notes on the Reencle Gravity, included new information for the Mill and GEME Terra II, and ensured up-to-date links and prices throughout. As I mentioned above, none of these machines makes truly ready-to-use, biologically stable, fully decomposed compost, but Reencle comes the 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, the Reencle arrives with a starter bag of Reencle Compost Starter 1.0 (which you can purchase separately for $65) 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. The Prime is too large for a kitchen counter, but it conveniently operates much like a heated trash can. The lid opens via a sensor at the bottom or a button on the control panel, and it goes into your organic matter. That's it. There are no cycles, tablets, or auxiliary buckets to worry about. Even the app is totally optional. 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 pounds of scraps per day. Unlike other machines, it can also accept meat and dairy. For larger households, there's the Reencle Gravity ($649), which is a couple of inches taller and can accept 3.3 pounds of waste a day. I also tested this and found it to be significantly quieter than the Prime—not that the Prime is noticeably loud, only about 30 decibels. The Gravity is nearly silent, which is a nice bonus. 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 an additional few sessions of manual stirring per day with the included shovel. When the volume reaches the fill line on each model, 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). Afterward, you can use it for both outdoor and indoor plants. I’ve used the resultant mix to positive effect both indoors and outdoors. Eighteen-Month Update: For years, I’ve read about people experiencing stirring paddles breaking off in the Reencle Prime. And after a year and a half of using the device, the same fate has finally found me. 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 are still the best of these devices, and I've found the company's customer service to be responsive and easy to work with, so it remains my top pick. 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 new 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. Like with the Lomi 2, an app exists for basic management, but I enjoyed not having to use it; simply press a button, and the Lomi turns on. When it's done (cycle lengths vary from three to 16 hours, depending on amount and moisture of 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, if you're simply looking to reduce the volume of waste in your trash, or if you live in an area that's subject to composting fines, the Lomi 3 is a thoughtfully engineered, easy-to-use option most people would be happy to use. 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. 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 proper 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. 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), and 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. In fact, the output is one of the most finely ground of any of these machines. There's no assembly with this machine (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. Note: If you know you like the FoodCycler, but you need a larger capacity, FoodCycler's XL Eco 5 model (see Also Tried, below) can accommodate 5 liters of kitchen waste with slightly larger dimensions (14 by 14 by 10 inches). WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell tested the Eco 5 during the holiday party season, but felt the space investment required was not worth it over the Eco 3 for a grind-and-dry processor. Like many of these devices, the R800 is called a “composter,” but it does not compost, and this irks me. There's a “Bio Compost” mode where you can add Airthereal Revive Magic Compost Starter. This is not included, costs $30 on Airthereal's website, and simply adds thermophilic bacteria, akin to the Reencle above. This will get the process started, but the result will in no way, shape, or form be stable, fully decomposed compost. To achieve that, you will still need to mix small amounts of it with large amounts of soil and let it cure for weeks. However, amid the landscape of grind-and-dry kitchen-scrap processors, this one isn't half bad for the price. It's not as seamless or slick as the Lomi or FoodCycler, but it will effectively reduce the volume of your kitchen scraps, and there's a digital screen on the front that tells you what's happening. I also like that you can see into the machine thanks to its clear lid. The biggest detractor was the lack of a lid for the bucket. The bucket is intended to sit in the machine (where there’s no need for a lid), but after using these devices for two years, I've found it is much more convenient to have a bucket handy for scraps while you're working, instead of having to periodically go over to the machine and press a button with dirty hands. There is a bucket-and-lid option for an extra $60. The R800 isn’t obnoxiously loud at about 40 decibels, and while there is an app, it's not required to use the machine. This machine takes up a fairly large footprint, so don't expect to put it

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