Product review (4 stars): Best I've owned...one small complaint
I have over the last 20 years owned 4 trash compactors, one Whirlpool and two Sears models, and they they might have been made by Whirlpool anyhow. The compactor is built in under our center isle. When our last Sears model broke, I wanted to see what was available that might be higher quality and perhaps higher capacity. I was not unhappy with the three models I had before, and the pickins are slim in this category. But I found the Broan and after reading the reviews, decided to take the plunge. Here is what I found:

1. You must have a garbage disposal in you sink to deal with organic trash. The house had one when we bought it, and honestly, it is one of the wondrous inventions of the 21st century! All organic trash goes down the drain, so that you are only throwing away paper and plastic essentially, and should never have an issue with odors, although the Broan seems to have an effective odor control feature. Don't really know because out garbage never has a chance to smell.
2. The capacity of this compactor is somewhere near twice the capacity of the other models. This means two things. 1. Fewer trips to the outside garbage can. Fewer bags used. Because of the generous capacity, the unit does not really need or seem to be compacting unless a tremendous amount of trash is in it. We empty the bag once a week because we have once a week garbage pick-up. Honestly, there are weeks when I could go another week because of the excess capacity, but the wife says out is goes! We are a family of 4 or 5 people, by the way, and I think we generate an above average amount of garbage.
3. The front mounted release door( behind the front cabinet door- more on that later)  is a breeze compared to the side release of the Sears. The bag goes in easy and comes out just the same. The plastic lined paper bags of the Sears unit was a real pain to fit into the drawer, and just as hard when really full to get out. Also, those paper bags were really difficult to seal, where the plastic Broan bags are not.
4. Relativly quite when operating, and the compact hold on schedule feature is really nice.

Now the complaint.  You must swing open the front door, and at least 90 degrees and pull out the drawer to put trash in the container. This is a two step process if you do not want to keep the door open 90 degrees and the drawer sicking out into the kitchen all day to throw away track. The Sears unit, which was IMHO a better design. The "door" was the facia of the garbage drawer, and had a no hands step lever which levered the draw open 6 to 8 inches so you could throw away trash. Simple, easy , and so much less intrusive then an open door and a manally pulled out drawer!

Over all, I put up with it because of the other advantages, and it really seems to be a well built, solid machine.