Once you start using a garbage disposal for the first time, you may very well wonder why it took you so long to get one. That’s because of the many benefits a sink garbage disposal unit provides. Mounted on the underside of your sink, a kitchen disposal is specifically designed to collect solid food waste in a grinding chamber, pulverizing it into tiny bits that flow from your house into a waste treatment plant where it can be recycled, saving you time and effort after meals, saving you money you’d otherwise spend on trash bags, and also reducing noxious odors not only in your kitchen, but also lingering odors in your garbage can. Disposing of food scraps and kitchen waste in a sink disposal makes cleaning up after mealtime quick and easy, and keeps your kitchen cleaner and more hygienic. A kitchen disposal also doesn’t attract the unwanted insects and rodents that rotting food scraps in a plastic bag can. What’s more, a garbage disposal is generally easy-maintenance, requiring only a few ice cubes once in a while to sharpen the impeller, and occasionally a bit of baking soda and/or vinegar flushed through to eliminate smells.

When it comes to selecting the best garbage disposal for you, there are a few decisions to make like feed type, motor size and a noise levels, for instance. Your first decision will likely be regarding the type of sink disposal you want: continuous feed, which is the most convenient style, letting you throw refuse in as it grinds as you turn it on and off with a wall switch, or batch feed, which is the safest style because it requires you to close the stopper before the blades activate, so it’s impossible to use with your hand in the drain. The motor size of each kitchen disposal is rated in horsepower (hp), and you can select from various options, depending on your family size and how much use your sink disposal will get. Generally, a smaller garbage disposal is sufficient for households of 1-2 people or small apartments, while a ½-hp garbage disposal works well for smaller families and apartments where it will get light use. A ¾-hp garbage disposal is the most popular size for average sized families. As far as how much noise your sink garbage disposal makes, there is no standard rating system for kitchen disposal noise, but if loudness is a concern, you might want to choose a sound-insulated model.