5 Best Electric Kitchen Composters

Lomi's electric composter is particularly countertop-friendly due to its sleek, minimalist design that can blend in with your decor. It will fit under standard cabinets, but the footprint is somewhat wide.

As with most electric composters, this model includes a mechanism for heating and stirring the contents of a removable inner bucket. This dehydrates and grinds the scraps — including dairy and meat, but not bones — reducing its volume so you can empty the bin less frequently.

As a lead Kitchen Appliances Lab analyst who has tested several compost bins, I like that the Lomi starter bundle includes Lomi Pods, which are tablets that contain microorganisms to help the decomposition process. This creates output that the brand claims is more nutrient-rich — and much closer to standard compost — rather than just ground food, which is more like mulch.

During Lab use, we found that it was easy to fill and was quiet. The charcoal filter pellets are a bit messy to install before the first use (and every few months), and some testers still reported odors when the cycle was running. You can choose from three modes, which correlate to how long the cycle runs. According to the data available from the brands on this list, Lomi's Eco Express cycle requires the least amount of wattage. It's about 0.6 kilowatt hours for the three-to-five-hour run, which is only slightly more wattage than a curling iron.

The brand says the charcoal and Lomi pods included here will last for 90 cycles; then you can purchase replacement tablets and charcoal. We look forward to testing the company's latest, the Lomi Bloom, which Lomi says is more energy-efficient, comes in four colors and helps you track your CO2 and waste savings.

This model from Vitamix earned a recent Kitchen Gear Award. I liked that the large handle on top made the lid easy to rotate and remove. The machine has simple, one-button operation and will indicate what stage of the process the cycle is in.

The majority of our consumer testers gave the FoodCycle FC-50 high scores for being easy to set up and to use. One at-home tester said, "It keeps down the bad smells in the kitchen or outside that can happen with regular composting," noting that they see "less fruit flies with the collecting bucket and cover" than with traditional bins. But another tester did note that the machine struggled to break down corn husks.

It's not the most attractive appliance, so the good news is that you can opt to store the larger housing in a pantry or garage and keep only the less-obtrusive, lidded inner bin out on your counter.

Though this Reencle model is designed for countertop use, it is one of the taller options in our test, and Kitchen Appliances Lab Director Nicole Papantoniou chose to place it on the floor. It includes a motion sensor that provides a no-touch option for opening. Papantoniou liked that this feature kept access hands-free when disposing of waste, but she did note that it can cause the appliance to emit odors if it opens unintentionally. (Fortunately, if you want to place your device in a high-traffic spot, you can turn off that function.)

We like that Reencle is designed to create nutrient-rich compost, like a traditional compost bin. It comes with ReencleMicrobe, a compost starter that contains activated carbon, wood chips, glucose and microbes. You add it to the inner chamber and let a colony form. Then you add food waste — including meat and fish scrap, but not bones or shells — and let the machine run.

Unlike the other models on this list, which operate via a run cycle, the Reencle maintains a constant schedule of agitation — the brand claims more than 940 churns a day — so that the contents are aerated in a manner that more closely approximates the stirring of a traditional compost pile. And according to the data available from the brands on this list, Reencle is also the quietest of our picks at 30 decibels, which is roughly equivalent to a soft whisper.

This pick is a great choice for gardeners and plant lovers who can use a steady supply of soil supplement. It even comes with a scoop that hangs on a dedicated hook on the side so you can sprinkle your plants easily. It also includes two carbon filters.

The Reencle comes in both dark silver and white, and you can purchase for about $500 or rent for $35 per month.

The latest Vitamix FoodCycler, the Eco 5, offers a more streamlined design that might look better in most kitchens than the previous model, the FC-50. But if you're not sold on the aesthetics then, like the FC-50, you can keep only the removable lidded bucket out on your counter and store the main machine elsewhere.

When the food scrap bucket is in place, you'll have to press only one intuitive button on the front of the machine. It operates quietly while it dries, grinds and cools the waste. I've been using it in the Lab for months, and I can confirm that it reduces the volume of the waste significantly and does not require frequent emptying.

Our at-home testers were also pleased with this pick. "I loved using this for leftover food and cooking scraps," said one. "This helped us feel better about not putting it directly into the garbage."

The Eco 5 has double the capacity of the FC-50, so it's a better choice for a family. (Vitamix suggests the FC-50 is good for one to two people, and the Eco 5 can handle a household of three or more.) It is also more energy-efficient than the FC-50.

The filter is refillable with charcoal pellets, and the brand says each refill will last for about three months. It does not include any microorganisms, so the output is not true compost.

The sleek Mill food waste system performed well in our tests and earned a recent Cleaning & Organizing Award. It's not, strictly speaking, a countertop model. It's roughly the size of a kitchen trash can and is meant to be placed on the floor. But its design is intended to make it part of your daily waste routine; the lid opens with the press of the foot pedal, like many kitchen bins.

It accepts the usual compostable waste — fruit, vegetables, eggs, coffee grounds, etc. — as well as small bones, which is unique. It holds up to 6.5 liters and then heats and grinds it into a dry meal. In our tests, we found that the activated charcoal filters (which, according to the brand can last six months to a year, depending on usage) worked well; we detected no odors over months of use.

It was also very quiet. The noise level was aided by the fact that the bin can be programmed to run overnight, and it alters the runtime based on how much food is present. You can schedule your cycle and track your input via the Mill app for Apple and Android.

Mill estimates that you'll need to empty the bin about once a month. The grounds can go into municipal bins or your own yard, but Mill offers a unique option as well: It's what the brand calls the "chicken feed pathway." For an additional fee, you can choose Mill Pickups, which entail pre-paid boxes and labels so you can send your grounds to a program that converts them to chicken feed.

There are three payment options: You can rent annually for $360 a year or monthly for $50 per month, or you can buy the bin outright for $999.