I have a 17 y/o ISE Badger and it won't even grind up the rind of a lemon wedge.

One of my sisters has the ISE Evolution Compact and LOVES, LOVES, loves it. It gets good reviews all over the Internet, so definitely worth the money. I'm going with it, too, when our new kitchen is put in.

We have a waste king 1hp. I got it on amazon. It was the "special edition" red one. It works great! It's not really loud. It came with this thing that lets food through without pulling out the stopper. That thing stops the silverware from going through. It's a big unit underneath. I think it works great! We've only had it for about three months. But, man, that thing blows through everything. It was making a noise one day and my husband was looking at it. It actually cut two good sized nails in half. I checked all the reviews, but couldn't come up with many bad ones. My mom has the insinkerator, but isn't as happy. I'm sure she paid twice what I did at maybe 200 or 220 with less horsepower.
Good luck!
Kim

I've had a Waste King batch feed disposal in two homes, with the most recent being in place for the last 6 years- I love it. You can't go wrong with Insinkerator either, and there are pros and cons of each brand which I will discuss below. Waste King has longer warranties, and they are in-home warranties, which means, according to the website, "replaced in your home free of charge" so you don't have to take it in somewhere. The company isn't going to offer those kind of warranties if their products were prone to repair.

The key to a good disposal, whether it's Waste King or Insinkerator, is to get the 3/4 hp size, not the 1/2 hp that you also mentioned. The 3/4 hp is better built, more powerful, more bang for the buck. If you are going to the trouble of installing a disposal, which you will live with for many years, you should spend the small amount extra for the 3/4 hp model instead of the 1/2 hp. Whenever you hear plumbers complaining about disposals, it's for models that are 1/2 hp or less. Also note that the 3/4 hp Waste Kings have a lifetime warranty against corrosion; the 1/2 hp does not.

I disagree with Eve72's statement to avoid Waste King, but I wonder if she had a negative experience with a 1/2 hp disposal, which is a poor choice in any brand.

In answer to your question about 3-bolt vs. EZ-Mount, the 3-bolt style will be more solid, less vibration, so I'd recommend it. However, it is more of a PITA to install. EZ mount is a cinch to install, which is why many opt for the EZ mount. My GC was insistent on the 3-bolt. Since your contractor will be installing, you don't need to have the EZ mount for the ease of its installation, you should get the 3-bolt style. As to the rubber flange across the top, I have the "batch feed" style disposal which doesn't come with a rubber flange, so I don't know if that is a problem or not. BTW, Insinkerator only makes the EZ mount style, not the 3-bolt.

Since others have mentioned Insinkerator, I will list the pros and cons of both brands: Waste Kings have more torque than the Insinkerators making them more powerful for the same hp. Waste King's chambers are larger than the Insinkerators for the same hp. A larger chamber can be both good and bad. It's good to have a large chamber to handle large pieces of rind or vegetables or whatever. But if you have space constraints under your sink, a smaller chamber is the better choice. There are a number of Gardenwebbers who have opted for the Insinkerator Evolution Compact model mentioned in this thread due to plumbing outlet location and small undersink space.

Insinkerators are definitely quieter than Waste Kings. This is often the deciding factor for people. Others say the disposal is only on for 30 seconds or so, so they'd don't care about the noise and prefer the Waste King's torque. If your kitchen is open to the living room, the quieter Insinkerators would be better. Waste Kings have longer warranties, but both brands offer very good warranties.

You asked about model numbers: if you want a 3/4 hp Waste King continuous feed disposal with 3-bolt mount, it would be the 9950, which has a 10-year in-home warranty on material or mechanical defect, and a lifetime warranty against corrosion.

Here is a link that might be useful: Waste King 9950 at Amazon

I purchased the Waste King L-8000 Legend Series 1.0 HP Continuous Waste Disposal earlier this summer and like it very much. (Plus it's an awesome deal on Amazon.com). The guy that installed it for me said it was well built and easy to install. One of the things that sold me on this model was the many positive reviews it received on Amazon and other websites. I agree with another poster who said that you need to get at least 3/4 HP - those that are less do not seem to wear as long. Good luck with your decision.

Aack - I revisited this thread, and saw that I linked the wrong model number disposal in my post above. I am sorry Kaysd! I meant to link the Waste King 9900TC.

Here is a link that might be useful: Waste King 9900TC

I got my Waste King on Ebay and I'm very happy with it. I could not live w/o a disposal!
I had an insinkerator at my last house and it was fine, but I wanted to try another brand and Waste King was less expensive.
I got the Legend 3300 plumber said it was super easy to install. Got an airswitch and love that feature too! No more opening the cabinet door to turn on the disposal!

Worth noting that the GE disposers are all made by the same company that makes Waste King and are of similar design.

I prefer the ISE Evolution Compact (or whatever their least expensive Evolution series is - they have some new ones at some stores). Larger drain opening than the Waste Kings and plenty quiet, and works well.

The garbage disp mistake I made was to buy a 1 hp Kitchen Aid. The bad part of it is that it took up a huge amount of room under the sink and I had spent a year planning a trash system. The new gd took up so much room, or at least lots more than I planned for, so I needed to move to plans b and c. All is ok, but my trash system is modest and underwhelming and ok, pretty much ok, but just ok.

You're ok with a reasonably small disposal. Big is not necessary.

We have a Kitchen Aide 3/4 hp and it has worked extremely well for the past 15 years. This year it is finally having a little trouble but my husband worked on it and said that a tiny bit of rust had caused one of the blades to stick. He unstuck it somehow and it is working fine again. It does seem large under the sink but have never had anything else so I don't really know the difference. I know that it can handle large amounts of waste when I'm making vegetable soup or something like that with a lot of peelings. I can't think of anything I don't like about it. Mine is pretty old though and so I am not sure how they are now. I've been told not to get anything less than 3/4 hp. I would definitely get another KA if ever in the market again. Everything in my kitchen is KA and so that is the only reason I got it to start with, I was ordering appliances when we built the house and just stayed with all one brand. At the time 15 years ago, KA was considered a very good brand. Now there are all sorts of choices out there that I think only makes it more confusing!!!

I purchased the Waste King L-8000 to replace an ISE that had started leaking and according to ISE was not repairable. When the unit arrived, I was amazed at the difference in weight between it and the ISE it was replacing. I guess that is due to the plastic used for much of the construction. Luckily, while I waited the three days for the unit to be delivered, I re-read the reviews that discuss how to install the unit. Proper positioning of the Cushion Mount is very important which I found out after trying to improperly position the unit a few times. My installation was direct wire and the unit came pre-wired. I had to cut the power cord out. The total time to install the unit was about one hour and the only tool I needed was a screwdriver and wire cutters.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://wastekinggarbagedisposalreviews.com/why-waste-king-garbage-disposal/

Like several others, we also have the Waste King L-8000 Legend Series 1.0-Horsepower Continuous Feed Garbage Disposal. It was purchased from Amazon about 18 months ago, and has worked great. It's better in every way than our old Insinkerator Badger... more powerful and quieter with less vibration. Very satisfied. It is big and takes up more under sink space, so check your dimensions.

I have a Waste King Legend 3000 and I'm very happy with it. I researched before I purchased and I found many good reviews on this brand.

Well, Waste King 9920 garbage disposal works fine for me as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Waste King 9920