Review: How Good is the Lomi Kitchen Composter?

When I first spotted the Lomi Kitchen Composter (affiliate), I was instantly intrigued. It was one of those products that just blew my mind because of what technology is now making possible. I absolutely loved the idea of being able to change my kitchen food waste into compost in a matter of hours. So I reached out to Lomi to see if they would be willing to send me a machine to test and review. Luckily they agreed and shipped one straight out to me.

Over the years, I have discovered that I really like reviewing products for the home, particularly tech and gadgets. My reviews get some of the best traffic on my blog and I think it’s because I carefully choose what to review and also I’m not actually that techy myself. So my reviews are easy to understand and follow and very accessible for others who aren’t particularly techy.

I have spent the past five or six weeks using the Lomi Kitchen Composter so that I could share my findings in this review and let you know my verdict on whether I think it is worth the investment. So let’s get to it.

If you prefer video content, you can watch my video review below. Otherwise, keep scrolling down and you can continue reading the blog post.

What exactly is the Lomi Kitchen Composter?

Lomi is a Smart Waste Kitchen Composter. It is an electric appliance that turns food waste into compost in a matter of hours thereby keeping it out of landfill and turning it into a useful resource for you to potentially use in your own garden.

How does the Lomi Kitchen Composter work?

The Lomi Kitchen Composter basically accelerates the natural process of composting. It does this by heating and grinding the food waste simultaneously to break it down. It then alternates between heating and cooling the food waste to further break it down.

There are sensors inside the Lomi that measure the moisture content and temperature to ensure optimum performance. There is also a ventilation system that provides continuous airflow. The Lomi basically replicates the three natural stages of the decomposition process.

The Lomi comes with a packet of small tablets called Lomi Pods (affiliate) which are a proprietary blend of probiotics. Adding a pod to the Lomi cycle helps to improve the speed of food breakdown, to reduce any smell, and also helps to create a more nutrient-rich and microbially dense output. These pods are added to the cycle along with 1 tablespoon of water to help them dissolve.

Is the Lomi easy to use?

The Lomi is incredibly easy to use. When I say that it creates compost at the touch of a button I am not lying. Touching the button three times to change mode is about as complicated as it gets. You simply pour your food waste in, pop the lid on and press go. It really couldn’t be any easier. There is nothing complicated or techy about it.

How long does it take to turn food into compost?

While conducting my Lomi Smart Waste Kitchen Composter review I wanted to make sure that I had adequate time to test out all three cycles on the appliance multiple times. I wanted to see what the results were over a longer period of time and make sure that I tested all the functions.

It takes anywhere between three and twenty hours to turn the food waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer. The exact time that it takes depends on which cycle you choose and what you have put into your Lomi.

The quickest cycle is the Eco Express mode which takes three to eight hours. The Grow mode takes 12-20 hours because this cycle operates at a lower temperature over a longer time. This allows more nutrients to be retained in the resulting Lomi earth. There is also the Lomi Approved mode which is used for organic food waste, Lomi approved packaging and bioplastics. This mode takes five to eight hours and can break down a ratio of 1:10 bioplastics to food waste. You do have to use a Lomi pod for this cycle.

How big is the Lomi Kitchen Composter?

The Lomi composter is a small appliance similar in size to a breadmaker, air fryer or small microwave. It measures 16 inches long, 12 inches tall and 13 inches deep. So actually it doesn’t really take up that much space. However, it really does depend on how much counter space you have to begin with. My husband and I are quite partial to kitchen gadgets as he loves to cook so we do already have a breadmaker, air fryer and small microwave on our kitchen counters and we don’t have a large kitchen.

So whilst this appliance isn’t that large it’s just one more appliance to add to the roster in our kitchen. So as I started to review this I was very aware of the fact that it had to earn its place in the kitchen or at least prove itself to be more useful than say the bread maker or microwave that only get occasional use. My husband was sceptical at this point but I was quietly confident Lomi would win him over.

What can I put in the Lomi Kitchen Composter?

You can put most organic food waste into the Lomi. Larger bits of food waste should be cut up into smaller chunks to make it easier for the machine to grind it up. You should try to put a diverse mix of food waste in for best results.

So food items that are always safe to add to your Lomi on Eco mode are egg shells, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable peelings and scraps, plant trimmings and flowers, garden waste, looseleaf tea, oats, grains, cooked foods and leftovers, and meat scraps.

You can also put bio-plastics and certain Lomi-approved packaging into the composter.

What should I NOT put in the Lomi Kitchen Composter?

When it comes to Grow mode, some food items should be added sparingly, this includes apples, fruit rinds, fibrous peels like onion peel or corn husk, and nut shells. Some foods should not go into grow mode at all and these include dairy, pizza, pasta, confectionary, sauces, cooked foods and leftovers, dips like hummus, meat scraps, granola, nuts and seeds, grains such as rice or quinoa, fruit purees or fish bones.

There are also things that you should just never put in a Lomi full stop and these include hard bones, butter and cooking oils, cooked potatoes, fruit pits, liquids, thick nut shells, and unpopped popcorn kernels. These items will not break down and could damage the grinding mechanism.

You should also never add non-organic materials, packaging that is not Lomi approved or any non-biodegradable plastic-lined bags.

How much food can the Lomi compost in one go?

The bucket of the Lomi Kitchen Composter has a capacity of 3L. I found that I could compost a whole food caddy at a time. I actually have a small caddy from Joseph Joseph and this is the perfect amount for the Lomi as long as we don’t overfill the caddy. The Lomi has a fill line inside the bucket which shows you where you can fill it up to. It is important not to overfill the bucket or pack the food waste too tightly.

What I really liked about the Lomi is that you can run up to three cycles before you need to empty the bucket. The Lomi actually reduced the volume of the food waste by about 80% as it turns it into compost. So you can simply add a new load of food waste on top of the compost and it will actually improve the quality of your next cycle’s end product. After three cycles you must empty the bucket as any more will put too much strain on the grinder. Running a couple of cycles like this also helps to break down fibrous food waste that didn’t fully breakdown after the first cycle.

I found this aspect really handy as it means that I can actually compost a whole week’s worth of food waste without emptying the bucket. Our family doesn’t really generate a lot of food waste so three cycles pretty much covers the weekly composting.

Can the Lomi Kitchen Composter break down plastic?

The Lomi appliance cannot compost non-organic products such as plastic, metal or glass. But it does have the unique ability to break down bioplastics. This can only be done using the Lomi Approved mode and it will only work with “Lomi Approved” non-food products and packaging that have been certified as safe to add to the Lomi. These can all be found on the Lomi website and in the instruction manual that it comes with.

Does Lomi compost smell?

One thing I was very interested to see was whether the Lomi compost would smell. Considering what you can put into a Lomi it stood to reason that the resulting Lomi earth may smell slightly. During my review, I ran all three modes a total of three cycles each and I can confirm that I saw no real problem with smell. Yes, each cycle did result in a slightly different-smelling Lomi Earth depending on what was composted but not one cycle produced anything I would say was particularly offensive. It was definitely nowhere near the kind of smell that you can get from leaving your food waste for a few days or longer.

How long does a Lomi charcoal filter last?

The Lomi comes with two activated charcoal filters (affiliate). These basically act like giant sponges to capture and trap any gaseous molecules that could cause nasty smells. The filters will need to be changed roughly once every three months. A red light will come on to indicate when the filters should be used.

The neat thing is that you can simply empty the charcoal filter into the Lomi bucket and compost it with your food waste once it has expired. You can sign up on the Lomi website for a subscription to get your filters and Lomi pods delivered.

UPDATE:

The Charcoal filter needed replacing after exactly three months. We realised that it needed replacing when the machine started to smell strongly of vinegar when a cycle was in process. The smell was in fact so strong that it filled the house and became very unpleasant. So I recommend having new charcoal ready to pop in as soon as the replacement is required.

Can you use Lomi without the pods?

When you receive your Lomi it comes with a small packet of pods. These tablets give a powerful boost to your cycle and end product, but you need to add them to every cycle. You should use a LomiPod (affiliate) when running Grow mode as this will fortify the compost with microbes that will help to improve your plant health. Adding a LomiPod to the Lomi Approved mode cycle will also help to break down any bioplastics. When you do add a LomiPod to your cycle, simply pop it on top of all the food waste in the bucket and then add 50mL of water.

What do I do with my Lomi compost?

The obvious answer to this question is to use it to fertilize your garden, your lawn or your indoor house plants. You should only use the compost that has been created using the Grow mode for this as it is richer in nutrients and specially suited for this. It should be mixed in with soil or shop-bought compost at a ratio of 1:10.

The compost that you create using the Eco-mode or Lomi Approved mode can simply be added to your green waste recycling bin and disposed of in the normal way. It is not recommended to add this to your plants.

Now this may seem a little ridiculous to go through all the effort of composting your food waste only to chuck the resulting compost in the bin to be disposed of. My husband initially questioned why we would buy a machine to compost food waste, using expensive electricity, only to throw the compost in the bin to be recycled anyway when we could just throw the food out without composting it first. Good question!!

Well, one thing I despise about recycling food waste is how disgusting it is. Rotting food stinks, attracts flies, insects and maggots and the bin juice is just foul!!!! In the summer this is particularly bad, especially as the food waste sits outside in the sunshine for a good week before it is collected. And nobody wants to clean out the food bin, do they?

From my point of view, turning food waste into compost solves all those issues and makes the whole process of disposing of food waste much more hygienic. For me personally, this is worth paying for. I do understand that it is a privilege to be able to afford to do this and not everyone can. At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference and where we place value.

Is Lomi better than traditional composting?

I would say this depends. If you are an avid gardener and you require a lot of compost, this may not be the ideal solution for you. If you already create compost outside in your garden, again this may not be for you. However, if you have green fingers and would like to be able to create a small amount of your own homemade compost to use on your flower beds, for your lawn or for repotting your house plants this could be a great option for you.

The Lomi could be better if you can’t be bothered with all the effort associated with traditional composting or have mobility issues that make it difficult. Unlike traditional composting which takes a long time, and requires you to monitor it and turn it regularly, this literally requires a few hours and happens at the touch of a button.

There is also the issue of smells and pests that can occur from traditional composting. You won’t have either of these issues with the Lomi so in that respect it is better.

Is Lomi compost worth it?

At the end of the day, there is no solid answer to this question as it totally depends on your own personal compost requirements, your economic circumstances and your preferences. I can only answer for myself and in my case, given that I have no desire to embark on a journey to create my own compost the traditional way, and have no need for lots of compost, the Lomi compost works well for me as something I can add to my garden and indoor plants when they need repotting.

Is the Lomi Kitchen Composter worth the investment?

Whilst it is reasonably expensive to buy the machine and then to replace filters and pods when they run out, not to mention the added cost of the electricity to run it, for me the advantages of composting my food waste and not having to deal with storing rotting food until it is collected and cleaning out the bins is definitely a benefit worth paying for.

The fact that we don’t have that much food waste makes the decision an easier one to make as we only compost 2-3 loads a week so it doesn’t work out that expensive to run. We certainly haven’t seen a noticeable rise in our electricity usage in the past month that we have been using the Lomi Kitchen Composter (affiliate).

Something else that makes it worth the investment for me is knowing that I am doing something proactive to reduce my carbon footprint. According to the Energy Savings Trust, approximately 8-10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions relate to food waste. In fact, if food waste were a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, behind the US and China.

Lomi is carbon neutral certified meaning that everything from its manufacture to its shipping is carbon neutral. According to the Lomi website, Lomi reduces the carbon footprint of your food waste by up to 127%! The Lomi kitchen composter breaks down the food aerobically meaning that no methane is produced.

Whether or not the Lomi Kitchen Composter is a good investment is for you to decide. I hope that sharing my experience with this product proves helpful in your decision process. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments. And if you too have a Lomi, let me know how you have found it.

If you would like to buy your own Lomi Kitchen Composter you can use my affiliate link here. If you enter the code design25 at checkout you can also get £25 off your Lomi. Happy Composting!!!

Don’t forget to pin this post for later so you can find it.

UPDATE:

After just shy of 3 months using my Lomi Smart Kitchen Composter, I was disappointed to see the cooling warning light come on and the machine stop functioning. I followed the instruction video on the Lomi YouTube channel that details how to reset the machine to stop the error but sadly this did not fix the issue.

After a little research, I saw that quite a few Lomi owners have experienced this issue and many of them were saying that it is an issue with the charcoal dust getting into the cooling fan. I contacted Lomi to let them know about my issue and they said it does sound like I need a new fan. My issue has been passed on to the correct department but as yet I have heard nothing back. I will update this post with developments as they unfold.