I have an Insinkerator Evolution Excel and it is really quiet.

The other one I was looking at was the WasteKing but two sales people told me they are not as quiet. I don't have firsthand knowledge of that however.

We have an InSinkErator Evolution Septic Assist. While it's not silent, it's much quieter than the InSinkErator Badger we have work - much, much quieter!

I wonder if your loud GD was a Badger; the Badger is the builder-grade version...i.e., the "cheap" version.

We have the Waste King 1 HP unit. We love it. It's so much quieter than the Badger we had in our last house!

We have a WK 3/4 HP and it is very quiet. I can still hear the tv if I'm watching in the living room and DH runs it. The one it replaced was very old and sounded like a jet engine, so I probably would have liked any of the new ones, but I do think ours is pretty reasonable. I'm just amazed.

I've read the regular models of both WK and insinkerator are pretty quiet, but not necessarily the builder grade models or badgers. The Excel is more expensive, but has undercutters, which are not in any of the other models except the one offered by Viking, which is almost twice what the
Excel costs. I decided that the 3/4 HP was already a significant upgrade from the old GD, so I decided that the $120 or so I spent was plenty and didnt need to spend $300 to get undercutters!

Pick one or two models you like, and watch the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. I bet one or both will be on sale for a great price!

I've never understood people's concerns about noise from a garbage disposal. You only run it for a few seconds at a time, so why do you care if it's noisy?

Home depot and lowes both have displays to try out the different disposals to hear the sound they make, although they are not actually grinding anything. I have the insinkerator evolution compact. It is not too loud in an open kitchen.

I have the Insinkerator evolution compact is fairly quiet. I also don't understand the concern about the noise. I only run the disposal for a few seconds at a time.

I have Kitchen aid batch feed and it has undercutters I believe and stainless steel parts- it's solid and quiet

I don't care how long (or short) you're running the thing, the roar of a jet engine in an open living space is annoying to the other people in the room. Thanks for the advice re the quieter models.

What calumnin said. We got ours at Lowes. When it was installed I thought it was broken since I could hardly hear it.

I've never heard one that was so loud it startled or annoyed anyone. Before our insinkerator we had a wasteking for over twenty years. While it was louder then our current one it still never was annoying.

amazon insinkerator evolution pro compact excel 3/4 HP. Really quiet. I also recommend upgrading the sink drainer to the Kohler Duostrainer - really solid and the strainer does a great job of holding water or straining waste with a simple twist.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon has the pro version and it is cheaper

i second the insinkerator evolution excel. i can barely tell it is on when the water is running.

The other important thing I learned reading the oddly involved threads about these in Appliances is that there are really only 2 companies that make all these models, WK and Insinkerator. And the one Viking model based on their old Hobart (if I remember correctly) design. The rest are just rebadged WK or Insinkerators. Which explains why they all seem to have the same few basic profiles!