Think about moving into a new home. It has “character,” i.e., unique characteristics of which no one will explain to you, e.g. a kitchen sink with a rubber bucket attached to the bottom of the sink?
That would give me the heebie-jeebies too!
I came across a funny Reddit post recently that took me back to my own experiences. The author just moved into a unit and found this unusual, depressed, covered container near their kitchen sink. The cover was flat, made of metal, and had a tiny hole in it, no drain hole, no apparent function. After opening the cover, inside the rubber tub, the author became frustrated and asked the Internet for answers. I can tell you now that the answer was a heck of a lot more functional than I could have imagined.
I myself have lived with a version of this oddity before; once I figured it out, I sort of grew fond of it.
The Mystery of the Sink Insert
So, what does this strange little container do?
This is commonly referred to as a built-in sink waste bin insert or a kitchen bench bin. It is most frequently associated with older European and Australian homes. It is essentially a compact, countertop trash bin intended for organic waste, such as vegetable peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, etc. This is all the stuff we normally throw away while preparing meals.
Rather than getting up to take the trash out or having a stinky little bucket on your counter top, you simply raise the cover, deposit your scraps into the bin, and then lower the cover again. Voila! The small hole in the top of the bin is typically there to allow air circulation or so you can remove food particles from the lid without raising the entire cover.
In theory, this is a pretty cool idea. It gets your scraps out of sight (and somewhat odor controlled) and puts them exactly where you need them when you are chopping and preparing meals.
But… Let’s Get Real
I understand why the author of the Reddit post was perplexed. When I first moved into a house that had one of these, I thought it was either a mini sink or some type of industrial soap reservoir? It seemed completely out of place. The rubber insert did not appear to fit anywhere else in the kitchen and the cover seemed to come from an industrial machine.
Additionally, without labeling or explanation, it is just a closed-off, mysterious compartment. There is no drainage, no plug, and it appears to have no connection to plumbing. You’d only truly know what it is if you have seen one in action before or had a parent/grandparent that had a similar set-up.
