Countertop composting

The weather here in Connecticut has been great lately, which means I’ve been spending a lot more time working on my garden than working on my house. But all that time spent nurturing dirt reminded me of an interesting kitchen feature I saw while visiting this year’s Builder Concept Home at the International Builder’s Show in Orlando. It was the SOLON Compost System from Blanco—essentially, a stainless-steel compost bucket that fits into (and, when full, lifts out of) your kitchen countertop.
I’m a big fan of integrating form and function, and not a big fan of expending extra energy in the kitchen. So the idea of being able to sweep peelings, end cuts and other vegetative debris straight from cutting board to compost container won me over immediately. The SOLON comes in two versions: an inset type designed for solid-surface countertops that renders surface sweeping seamless, and a lipped drop-in version for laminate surfaces. Both have the same contemporary-style stainless lid that hides away the mess until you can whisk it out to the backyard. And you should count on doing that fairly often, not just because of the SOLON’s size (7 ½ in. round and 8 ½ in. deep) but because no one is going to really want to open that lid after the banana peels have spent a week mingling with the onion skins.
One more scary thought: the SOLON sells for $595. That’s a hefty price tag for a pail. But as with so many of the features we install in our homes, and especially our kitchens, it’s the cleverness we really want to take home.