An Orla Kiely bin no less!

I have a child who is not great with change. When our old car shuddered to a halt and died last year, and we replaced it with a shiny new one, she wrote a note that said “I hate the new car” and left it on the kitchen table. When our Sky box was replaced, she was adamant that she couldn’t watch TV anymore, because it was just too different (it was exactly the same.) And she’s just about coming around to our new toaster. But notwithstanding all of that, I didn’t think getting a new bin would be a big deal. Oh how wrong I was.

When I was first asked if I’d like to review a Brabantia bin with an Orla Kiely design, I jumped at the chance. The range is a collaboration between Irish “Queen of prints” Orla Kiely, and Brabantia. I’m a big fan of Orla Kiely (she made my wallet! maybe not personally) and I’ve always wanted a Brabantia bin, instead of the cheap, not-great-quality ones we keep buying and replacing. So now all I had to do was pick which one I wanted…

The sprig and leaf motif is available in cream on charcoal with an orange lid, and charcoal on cream with a yellow lid. My six-year-old was looking over my shoulder at the website as I tried to pick, and she helped me choose – after much dithering, we went for charcoal and orange.

A few days later, the six-year-old tried to explain it to her big sister. “We’re getting a new bin, and it has an orange lid!” she said.

“What? A new bin? What’s wrong with our bin? And an orange lid? Nobody would get a bin with an orange lid,” she fumed, hands on hips. Oh dear. I explained that it’s a very lovely bin, designed by a proper designer. I pushed the fashion angle, because the eight-year-old is planning to be a fashion-designer (this week anyway) but to no avail. The girl was not for turning.

When the bin arrived, the younger kids oohed and aahed over it as I unpacked, but the eldest stood back, shaking her head and muttering about orange lids.

 

“There’s nothing wrong with our old bin,” she said, lovingly rubbing its tired, scuffed lid, and resolving that she’d never use the replacement.

Imagine feeling that sense of affection for a bin I thought.

Fast forward ten minutes. and I knew exactly how she felt, expect my affection was all for the new bin. It’s a perfect fit for my pale green kitchen – a splash of bright contrasting against the light wood. It’s neat, it’s tall, it’s slim and it calls for attention, but in an understated way that doesn’t take over.

Love at first sight
The six-year-old loved it

It has a very smooth opening and closing mechanism, particularly compared to the clang of its predecessor, and so far it has been very easy to keep clean. Possibly because I’m taking a lot more care of it… who knew you could feel such affection for a bin.

One week later, all is good again in my eight-year-old’s world. She’s decided that actually, she really likes the new bin, and it’s great to have some colour in the kitchen, and especially one that’s from a fashion designer.

The eight-year-old is won over
The eight-year-old is won over

The Charcoal Linear and Cream Linear Stem designs are available in 12, 20 and 30 litre Retro Bins.  The new collection is available from  Arnotts, The Kilkenny Shop, Anthony Ryans and McElhinneys Department Store.

This is the yellow and cream version, in a slightly more stylish setting than mine:

yellow Orla Kiely Brabantia

So if your kitchen needs a treat, and you’re tired of replacing not-great-bins, this could be exactly what you need. Just be sure to run it by your kids first.

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I was the lucky recipient of one Orla Kiely Brabantia bin for this review but all opinions are mine!

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2 thoughts on “An Orla Kiely bin no less!”

    1. It does spark joy, and I’m not even in the joy sparking gang! You need it. And I’d say even if you ask the baby, you’ll get the right answer 🙂

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