Best Kitchen Composters and Food Recyclers (2026)

While most electric kitchen devices focus on grinding and drying rather than true composting, they remain vital for reducing food waste volume and methane emissions. This guide evaluates top performers like the Reencle Prime and Lomi 3.

The countertop kitchen composter is a lovely vision. 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 machines quite do 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. Your waste output will be greatly reduced in volume and 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 very small ratios, or use them as feeder for a “real” compost pile, but most of these machines are meant for those wanting to reduce the volume of food waste their household produces. 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 still value to these devices. They make people more aware of their food waste. They don't use as much power as you think they would (around 1 kilowatt-hour was typical). And my top pick, the Reencle Prime, even produces something close to compost.

Read on for our assessment, and once you're done, check out some of our other kitchen-related guides, including the Best Coffee Makers, Best Toaster Ovens, Best Meat Subscription Boxes, and Best Meal Kit Delivery Services.

Updated April 2026: I've added the Terra II from GEME and Clear Drop's Organics Collector to the section of other devices I've tried and ensured up-to-date links and prices. I'm currently testing a composter from Airthereal.

Best Overall

As I mentioned above, none of these machines makes truly ready-to-use compost, but the Reencle Prime comes closest to a traditional compost bin. Popular in South Korea years before it appeared in the US, the Reencle arrives with a starter bag of ReencleMicrobe (which can be purchased separately for $65) containing activated carbon, wood pellets, glucose, and a trio of patented microbes ready to chow down. There's also a prefilled carbon filter that slots into the back.

At 14 x 15 x 22 inches, the Prime is too large for a kitchen counter, but it conveniently operates much like a heated trash can. The lid can be opened via a sensor at the bottom or a button on the control panel, and in goes 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 are broken down into a material resembling a cross between dirt and sawdust.

The smell isn't always pleasant, but it can usually be mitigated by using 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 smell when it's being fed 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—but the Gravity is nearly silent, which is a nice bonus.

When the volume reaches the fill line, the Reencle grounds can be scooped out, mixed with potting soil at a 1:4 ratio, and left to cure for three weeks (I used a large tub in my garage). Afterward, it can be used for both outdoor and indoor plants. I have used this resultant mix to positive effect both indoors and outdoors.

Best Grind-and-Dry Food Recycler

Most kitchen “composters" simply grind and dry your food scraps, but the Lomi 3 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 now-discontinued Lomi 2's quirks and foibles. Gone are the multiple modes, annoying twist-off lid, and having 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 just two simple processing modes: Grow and Express. 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 the 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—press a button and the Lomi turns on. When it's done (cycle lengths vary from 3 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/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 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 with. 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

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,

Source: Wired Robotics