Garbage disposals. If you’ve never had one, you may wonder why it’s necessary; and if you do have one, you know how useful this kitchen appliance can be. Not only does it provide convenience when disposing of food waste, it can be more sanitary and help eliminate odor from scraps thrown in the trash. If you’re in the market for a new disposal or looking to add one to your home, it’s important to know it’s not a one-size-fits-all purchase, and there are several things to consider for optimal performance.

Here are five questions to ask yourself to help you decide which disposal is right for your home.

1. Are you a Master Chef or a Take-Out Connoisseur? Start your search for the perfect garbage disposal by thinking about what type of cook you are. If you’re the type of person who loves to whip up a new, creative recipe every day versus an expert meal prepper who leans toward reheating meals throughout the week, that plays an important factor in which garbage disposal you need. Moen is now making it easy for you to decided what disposal is right for you based on what you cook and how you use your kitchen. For example, the Chef Series disposals are designed for those who love to get creative in their kitchen and need the strongest cleanup possible, whereas the Lite Series is ideal for those who rarely cook from scratch and just want cleanup to be simple.
2. How often do you entertain? When your home is always the hot spot for friends and family, you need a garbage disposal that has more elite cleaning abilities. Put an end to the fear of lingering odors when your guests are gathered in the kitchen with Moen’s new 360˚ Clean Rinse splash guard disposal technology. This exclusive technology rinses food scraps and food particles through the disposal more effectively, to help keep your sink smelling fresh.
3. What foods do you typically dispose of? The food you dispose of plays a large role in finding the right disposal. For example, higher horsepower models can handle a wider variety of food scraps - from sticky pasta that tends to sit in your plumbing and can clog your system to bones and large fruit pits—while lower horsepower models are great for basic cleanup such as your morning cereal. You’ll want to consider a garbage disposal’s rotations per minute (RPM), which indicates how fast the disposal works. Moen's VORTEX™ permanent magnet motor immediately operates at full speed, similar to power tools. This results in finely ground particles and helps reduce jamming across each level of horsepower.
4. Do you need reduced sound? If you tend to get annoyed by noisy kitchen appliances or want to avoid waking up the kids while they are down for a nap, consider a garbage disposal designed to reduce that loud, harsh grinding sound. Moen’s SoundSHIELD™ technology is designed to deaden the sound levels of the powerful disposal motor at work.
5. How do I use my under-cabinet space? Often people use their sink cabinet as storage which can limit space, especially when you take into consideration the height between the sink and cabinet floor as well as the width of the disposal. From trash bags to cleaning supplies and organizational tools, it often can be hard to locate things in this dark cabinet space. Consider a disposal that can be dual purpose. Moen’s lighted garbage disposals are a great way to add more function while the motion activated lighting makes it significantly easier to navigate under the cabinet.

Asking yourself these five questions can make it easier to discover what kind of garbage disposal is perfect for your kitchen. To help you even further, Moen has created a helpful disposal finder tool to take the guess work out of the buying process!