Buying Guide to In-Cupboard Kitchen Bins

When you’re choosing an in-cupboard bin, you’ll first need to establish three key Internal cabinet measurements that’ll indicate which bin you can fit. These are:

• Internal width
• Internal Height (do you have the full height to devote to a bin, or do you have a drawer above, or simply not need tall bins?).
• Internal Depth (from back of the door to the back panel or wall), this is important because depth is the dimension which varies most across cabinets and also bin models.

We stock an extensive range of products to fit numerous cabinet sizes, so provided your own measurements are accurate, you should have no problem finding a bin to fit your cupboard and needs, but if your cabinet is an unusual size, please read on...

Non-standard internal width

The internal width of a cabinet is the key dimension in determining which bin unit you can fit. If you have a bespoke or unusual internal width, you need to re-create the internal fitting width given for the bin, by strongly battening or lining the internal sides to achieve the correct bin fitting width as specified on the product page.

Issues with Internal depth and height

If you have a restricted depth front to back, or lower height, there are many bin options with shorter fitting depths or lower heights. Remember, if it appears that your internal depth is not enough to fit the bin you’re interested in, it can be possible to remove all or part of a back panel in order to free up more depth.

The key dimension here is the width of the ‘exit’ through the frame, which will be the door width. Because the bin unit needs to pull out through the frame, this width will determine the size of the bin unit to fit.

If the internal cabinet width is wider than the width of the frame/door, you will need to line or batten the inside cabinet sides to achieve the correct fitting width for the bin model.

For example, if you have a 600mm base unit with a framed door, you will likely need a bin unit from the section for ‘500mm doors’, because these will fit to an internal width of 462-468mm and therefore should pull out through the frame.

One point to check here is with doors which may have a thinner central panel – if the door has a thicker surround, this needs to be wide enough to accommodate secure fixing of the door brackets.

Although there is one Blanco bin model made to fit across a 600mm cabinet, you can also fit a hinged door model by positioning it either in the centre or to one side of the cabinet. for example the largest capacity bins for hinged door cabinets are found under the heading of 400mm doors. Check that you have the depth and height needed for each bin model.

It can be possible to fit two bins for a 300mm cabinet into a 600mm unit, side by side. This method could offer up to 80 litres of capacity by fitting two 40L single bins, or perhaps one single and one double compartment bin, to create a 3 compartment recycling set up.

The product widths given for the bins which fix to the base of hinged door cabinets are measured at the maximum point, which is across the back of the lid. The height of these bins is designed to fit below the top hinge in most installations, and, at the bottom front of the bin, the combination of tapered bin containers and the open nature of the steel frame means that the units are designed to fit away from the bottom hinge in most common hinge sizes and designs.

In principle you can remove a door from its hinges so that it becomes a panel to apply to the front of a bin unit for pull-out doors. The internal cabinet dimensions must be correct for the pull-out bin you're looking to fit: please check. If you have an existing side handle, can you alter the handle position, or possibly create a routing or top groove for pulling out? This will help over many years as pull-out bins are best pulled out from the centre to balance the pressure on each runner.

Choosing a bin to go under your sink can be more challenging than doing so for regular cupboard spaces. This is because you’ll need to work around plumbing and the limited cupboard depth.

If you’re looking to install a bin in an existing under-sink cupboard, check the available height under the U-bend and the remaining depth in front of any other plumbing to ensure you measure for a shallow enough bin.

If you are planning to incorporate one of our in-cupboard bins for potential under-sink installation into a new kitchen, consider whether the plumbing can be made to work around your chosen model. Sometimes positioning pipework even a centimetre or so higher can make the difference between being able to fit a bin or not.

Our selection of bins that work well in under-sink cupboards tend to be shorter and are typically under 450mm in depth, with options for a depth of as little as 325mm.

On the product page for each of our Gollinucci and Wesco bins for Pan Drawers, you’ll see that we give the internal width and depth of the product as a range, for example for a 900mm drawer product, we give the Internal width as 780-840mm and the Internal drawer depth 400-490mm. This is because different manufacturers’ drawers can have straight or sloping inside walls, resulting in differing internal dimensions. For this reason this type of product has a plastic base tray which can be trimmed in size with a Stanley knife down to the desired width and depth to fit a range of drawer types. 

Note that the drawer bins by Tecnoinox have a sleek aluminium base tray which can’t be trimmed to size, so we give the minimum internal drawer dimensions needed which are standard to drawers made with Blum Legrabox sides.