Jane-o, I've been trying to think of something, and offer the following in case it might be helpful. Perhaps someone else has a much better solution.

It depends on the mechanism, but the only kind of double operator solution I can think of is going to be a Rube Goldberg device. If the mechanism works with a latch and spring, you can have two ways of pulling the latch, but the latch is angled and positioned to be opened from beneath, from the pedal. So to open the latch from the top, you'd need to be able to run a cable through eyes or something, from where the latch is, through the cabinet and up to the handle area, in such a way as to keep the cable from catching on anything either while it's being pulled or while the trash carrier is moving in and out. If you can do that, and make it work smoothly, and without needing a mighty tug, then, to use your handle, you'd have to mount it to some kind of spring mechanism so that you could pull the handle without pulling the cabinet, so that you could operate the mechanism.

I can't figure out any other way to do that.

So to solve the ergonomics and company issues the best answer is to remove the handle. It would be much easier to fill the holes. If your cabinets are painted or stained you can color the wood dough filler so that it won't be very noticeable. You can even use a single hair brush to paint in the grain, if you have stain. If that bothers you too much, you could get a new panel to match your kitchen. Or you could decorate the cabinet. For instance, you could cut the shaft(s) off of the handle and glue the decorative part over the holes (or widen the holes and sink the shafts into the face), so that at first glance you have matching hardware, but when you go to pull there's nothing to grab onto. Or you could put a decorative plaque on, maybe even one saying "trash" in pretty lettering, so guests will know where to find it.

You can install a small handle on the inside of the cabinet if you don't want to be grabbing the inside with your fingers to extend it. You could even put a pocket door style hidden handle on the top surface.

Jane, I am assuming you are talking about a trash compactor, right? We just installed one in our new kitchen and it is very hard not to want to use the handle. Since this is our first compactor, I was very concerned that the pedal would break since I seem to be stepping on it on average 20-30 times a day (including DH use too). So, I put a small plastic trash bin under our sink which is next to the compactor. This way we fill up the bin then dump it into the compactor--turn it on and compact! It takes us about 4-5 days to fill up the bin. Guests and family will be directed to the cabinet under our sink to throw trash. We also have a garbage disposal, so no food, other than coffee grounds, goes into our compactor.

Nope, not a trash compactor, a trash and recycling bin.

Plllog's solutions sound creative, but I'm hesitant. We can't really replace the panel with one without a handle, because the grain pattern of the veneers in the area all connect together, so one can't really replace one. We could (as plllog suggests) screw something else into the holes that the handles use, I guess I'd just need to think of something good.

Thanks for the thoughts.

Is it true that opening by the handle will cause the foot pedal to break sooner? We've been using both for about 2 years now.

tam184 -- really??? Does it make a sound when you use the handle that it doesn't make when you use the foot pedal? (E.g. a sound like instead of opening, a latch is being forced - sort of a "click" sound) Do you need to use a bit of force to open it with the handle, or does it just slide open easily? (I need to use a bit of force w/ mine, and it makes a "click" - but the amount of force is small enough that it's easy to do by mistake. It doesn't just slide open without force like the other drawers, though.)

There are different kinds of latches. Some lock. Some just go over a bump. Some pedals have pushers, others release tension pulled from the front.

If pulling makes bad sounds and is difficult you're probably forcing the latch, which could eventually throw the springs and tensions out of whack.

Plllog - this sounds like just the sort of information I should know about - so is there a name for the kind of latch that can be compatible with the (hafele) pedal system and won't throw the springs and tensions off? What I'm hoping for is to be able to say to the contractor "let's change the latch to THIS type so that the system won't get trashed when I forget to avoid the handle, or when guests pull on the handle"

thanks again!

Sorry, Jane, I know a lot more about mechanisms in general, and how they work, than the particulars of any one brand. It's been months since I pored through the specs. What I decided for myself is that although the cabinet maker was right when he put the pullout in my design because I really didn't need that space and it's a feature that "should" be there, I don't want to put the garbage in the cabinet. I'm going to use mine for recycling and keep my rubbermaid bucket which I like to move around the kitchen to where I'm working.

Perhaps ask what's in Tam's kitchen? Or start a new thread for "Trash pullout open with pedal and pull" or something like that. Also, try doing a Google search (you can get GW threads that have dropped off that way) and see if you can find some of the old threads with mechanical discussions of various options.

Oh, here's a thread with some links.

Jane do you have a Hafele pedal? We have the silver pedal, and after two years of use, the pedal magnet has broken. I don't think that it's a coincidence that this happened after we had 20 people over for our baby shower and there were people and kids yanking on the handle. Usually when we have company over, I am careful to show them our other trash pullout (on the other side of the island) that does NOT have a pedal. However, the two people that threw the shower were using the pedal one during prep, and others saw them use it and went to that one instead.

I need to call Hafele and see if I can get some replacement parts for it. I posted here about it, but then I had my baby 2 days later. I still haven't quite fully emerged from the new baby fog yet and haven't called yet.

You will learn very quickly to always use the pedal without thinking about it. When you are expecting company, you can disable the pedal to prevent damage.

We have the same pedal as alku05, the Hafele silver pedal with the magnet kickplate and the bungee cords. My hubby, who is 6'4" says that his foot doesn't fit under the cabinet well enough to use the pedal comfortably. And my daughter, who is 4, was afraid the door would hit her face since her legs aren't long enough to use the pedal and be far back enough. So the two of them use the handle. I just checked and when I use the handle, it doesn't "feel" right. But so far, we haven't had issues with it. I did check and the top magnet piece is a little loose, but I don't know if that's how it started out or if it's due to how DH and DD use it.

So should I force them to use the pedal instead of the handle? I'd hate for it to break.

I've had my haefele foot pedal on the trash drawer for 4 1/2+ years now. It took me a while to get used to using the pedal so I used the pull a bunch of times at the beginning. And yes, guests usually just use the pull too. I've not yet had a problem (knock on wood).

I do think that using the pedal is preferrable. I've read that comment about it being bad to use the pull here several times, but I think that would only really hurt it if you did it habitually as opposed to occasionally when guests do it.

Tam,
I would try to get your family to use it. I'm not sure how tight you have the bungee cord attached, but my drawer doesn't come bounding out with any great force. It opens to about half way so that the trash can is fully exposed and the back recycle bin is only about an inch exposed. I often stand in front of it deliberatly as it is opening so that it hits my leg, so I can throw something away without looking, and it just gently taps my leg. If I want to get out of the way as it's opening, it's not like I have to quickly leap away to avoid getting hit. It seems like your daughter could learn to get out of the way, I think.