DIY: Trash bin with butcher block

I wanted to hide the trash can in our kitchen out of sight. Kids were playing with its lid and touching it unnecessarily when it’s just sitting out. We use a big 13-gallon trash can and none of our existing cabinets is able to hold it.

Then I came around this butcher block bin online and was intrigued. However, it was expensive for my budget and did not match our kitchen colors.

While I was walking around at Lowe’s, I saw this kitchen cart with wire baskets (shown above) and “BAM”, a bulb appeared over my head. Next thing you know, I had the cart and a fitting wood panel for the door from the “As Is” section in IKEA for a mere 55c.

Materials used in this project

Directions for the hack:

We assembled the kitchen cart but did not install the wire baskets.

We attached the door to the cart with hinges.

I screwed our 13-gallon plastic trash bin inside of the door with an added wood padding. The padding provided spacing to put the trash bag around the bin.

I put in screw hooks to put a stopper chain so that door with the trash can on it wouldn’t fall down when you open it. In the photo, there is a string holding on to the hook which was later replaced with a metal chain.

We put a metal cabinet pull on the cabinet door matching the one on the drawer.

The kitchen cart has casters. Sometimes we move the trash bin near the kitchen counter to trash the peels, pieces, and remnants or sometimes we use the butcher block as cutting board and flip goes the peels and remnants into the bin.

In the summer, we hang an old IKEA Lattsam bin on to one of the towel hangers to collect organic compostables, then trash them in our compost bin in our backyard.