Lomi Review: Is the Kitchen Composter Worth It?

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Even before the global pandemic, a growing segment of the world leaned towards composting for home food gardens. Because of the health benefits and quality of food ingredients, the ability to cycle through fresh produce that you grow within arm’s reach is a dream many homeowners have.

Growing this type of food requires nutrient-rich dirt, which is where the Lomi Countertop Composter can help. Composting food scraps with the Lomi creates nutrient-rich compost for use in your home or community garden without the mess of a regular pot that allows bugs and other smells to populate your kitchen area.

Our review team was a little nervous testing out the Lomi kitchen composter because if Lomi did not deliver on its promise, we would have quite the stinky mess to clean up in our office. Luckily, Lomi is a quality product that makes good on helping you get the type of compost needed to grow all kinds of indoor or outdoor plants, from wildflowers to fresh pumpkins. Best of all, you can place this on your kitchen counter without taking up a lot of space. Read on to see what we thought of the Lomi Countertop Composter.

 

Lomi Overview

The parent company Pela created the countertop Lomi compost buddy that we tested out. This is a business designed to create a waste-free future. The founder Jeremy Lang got the idea of starting the company while on a family vacation in Hawaii. It was there he saw so much plastic on the beaches of one of the most beautiful destinations in the world that he decided to make a change.

From there, it was a matter of uncovering unique products like the Lomi countertop composter. All of Pela’s products are made to be BPA-free as well as not have common materials like lead, cadmium, and phthalates. This helps make your home composting process safe for any food product.

Considering how much damage is occurring on our beaches, landfills, and shared community spaces, seeing a product like Lomi is a real benefit. While we do our best to remain objective during our reviews, it is a relief to learn of a company like Pela working toward clean living through composting food scraps with the Lomi.

Not to mention you are getting a quality compost outcome. Lomi is not a “dollar store” product. This Lomi countertop composter is a well-made, durable innovation that can give your garden a much-needed boost during the annual growing season. We had our testers bring in all kinds of indoor plants, from miniature fruit trees to the beginnings of lettuce trays, to see how the Lomi compost would affect the plants. It took a while to see, as anything that grows takes time, but the outcomes were more than positive, thanks to Lomi.

 

Lomi Review

Let’s get into the real meat of our Lomi review and talk about the actual device. To put it simply – the Lomi is a small device that rests on your countertop and turns organic waste into valuable compost you use to grow a garden. Only about 28% of the U.S. composts, but more would happily join in if it were more convenient and less messy.

The point of Lomi’s revolutionary countertop composter is to make composting easier by eliminating extra waste, mess, odors, and bug build-up. The Lomi is much different from your mom’s old copper and ceramic pots used for composting. Instead of endlessly dumping them out and dealing with the mess, the Lomi speeds up the production to as little as three hours. By the end of 16-20 hours, you are looking at nutrient-rich compost, all created by the Lomi. Some of the Lomi product features include:

 

Sleek Design

These electric composters weighs roughly 22 pounds. That means it is light enough for pre-teen kiddos to help out. Lomi is about 16 inches wide and 12 inches in total height, which does not take up a lot of space in your kitchen or laundry room for food waste composting. The Lomi compost unit should be plugged into work, so you will need access to an outlet.

 

Easy Setup

The Lomi we tested came with a convenient little booklet that described how to use the composting device. We were surprised at the range of food waste the Lomi can accept to make compost and equally amazed at how easy it was to set up. Once you have the Lomi out of the box, you are practically done.

 

Quick Cleaning

Unlike those gross pans from yesteryear, the Lomi has a dishwasher-safe compost bucket you can toss into your machine when down with a compost load. If there is any dripping left over, a simple moist paper towel around the edge of the Lomi will do the trick. There is no need to get in there and scrub the Lomi like you would have had to do with previous compost devices.

 

Efficient Composting

The cost of operating the Lomi countertop composter works out to be around 8-14 cents per cycle, depending on the mode you select. That puts the Lomi in the same category as household appliances like a fridge, toaster, dishwasher, blender, and bread maker. That means the Lomi is not as energy efficient as you might like, but it won’t break the bank either. Considering the high-quality compost you get, composting food waste with the Lomi seems well worth the price to us.

 

Saves Waste

The most prominent feature of the Lomi composter is that you save on food waste. That is a huge relief, considering how many of us live in urban environments where smelly trash can be a big issue for our neighbors. Having a Lomi unit cuts down on the organic materials you put in your trash and converts it into valuable compost to grow all kinds of fresh food using predetermined cycles.

 

Technological Convenience

Finally, it is all about technology and convenience. All you have to do is toss your food scraps to the Lomi unit while cooking, and you experience the technology. This advanced composting tool takes a natural process that usually takes weeks to months and condenses it down to under a day. That is a massive benefit for those that do not live on a giant farm where the smells of rotting food are not so uncommon.

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How Does Lomi Work?

Speaking of the technology, let’s discuss how the Lomi compost unit works its magic. Usually, composting takes a long time to happen naturally. The Lomi machine changes this through physical grinding, low heat, and beneficial microorganisms that form the best possible environment for quick decomposing food waste.

You get Lomi pods that make a massive difference in the process from the company. There is an option for a quick cycle that is roughly 3 hours long or a longer cycle for rich compost at around 16 to 20 hours.

The Lomi composting unit works by having the internal bucket filled with organic food waste and scraps from everyday use. The Lomi has a great lid to contain any smells, leakage, or possible bugs. In addition, activated carbon filters can be replaced every three to six months, which helps with this process.

You get 45 Lomi pods when you purchase the unit that creates fantastic compost. Each Lomi pod lasts for two of the three compost cycles. So, simply fill the bucket, select the cycle of composting method you wish, and push the single button on the Lomi unit. Once the green light is on, you have fresh compost to use to grow anything you could want in your garden. From growing fresh food for pizza toppings to cultivating roses, the Lomi is an excellent solution.

 

Lomi Composter Pros and Cons

 

Putting the Lomi Composter to the Test

Ok. So we’ve discussed how it works, the pros and cons and some of the awesome features. But now we need to put the Lomi composter to the test. We took a variety of acceptable food waste  and dumped it into the Lomi before calling it a day. Once we were done with loading it up, all we did was push the button. It immediately got to work. 

 

Lomi has three different modes:

• Grow: The longest cycle produces the most nutrient-rich end product, which can be mixed with soil in your garden or house plants (16- 20 hours).
• Eco-Express: Shortest cycle; mix this in with Grow mode dirt, other mature compost, or toss it in the Green bin (3-5 hours).
• Lomi Approved: A medium length cycle that transforms food waste into dirt to add to your green bin! (5-8 hours).

 

We used the Lomi Approved mode and were pleasantly surprised when we checked it out the next day. The food was converted in compost. What would normally take months took only hours! 

 

 

Our testing showed demonstrated that it worked. The daily food that would normally be thrown away, was converted into usable compost. Our team was impressed with the quick conversion! 

 

How is the Lomi Different than other Composter Systems?

The major differences between the Lomi compost unit and others available on the market are the technology, output size, and reviews. An excellent example of this is the comparison to the popular Vitamix FoodCycler.

With the Lomi, you get about one more liter of compost output in half the time it takes the FoodCycler to complete an entire cycle. Lomi also comes with a money-back guarantee, whereas Vitamix does not offer any quality guarantee.

If you think of the type of materials, you can put into the Lomi, which is where it exceeds expectations over a product like Tero. You can compost more types of waste compared to this competitor and at a much more efficient energy cost.

Overall, Lomi is probably in the top spot of home kitchen composters compared to what is available on the market. There may be a couple of close alternatives, but often at a higher price or lower capacity than what Lomi can do in less time.

 

What Can You Compost in the Lomi?

This is where we were the most surprised by the Lomi composting unit. While it has three different compost cycles, we were more impressed by the variety of items you can place inside the Lomi unit.

Items Acceptable to Compost:

• Fruit & Vegetable Scraps
• Meat Scraps
• Dairy Products
• Baked Goods, Cereals
• Plate Scrapings
• Leftovers
• Small, Soft Bone (fish, chicken bones from broth)
• Coffee Filters
• Teabags
• Houseplant Foliage
• Flowers
• Small Yard Waste
• Packaging Marked compostable or biodegradable

 

There are other items like dense coconut shells, corn on the cob, soups, and uncoated paper products that you can also place inside, but the instruction booklet from Lomi says to limit these as much as possible.

As for what you cannot place inside the Lomi countertop compost unit, which would be:

• Fruit Pits
• Hard or Large Bones
• Cooking Oils
• Sugary Liquid
• Cardboard
• Bathroom Waste
• Pet Waste
• Petroleum Products
• Metal
• Glass

 

Essentially it comes down to the natural products you use to cook and create food that should be placed into the Lomi unit. Beyond that, you need to be careful, especially with the cooking oils. You will end up with a horrible cookie dough-like creation that defiantly is not compost (thanks, Steven).

 

Is the Lomi Worth It?

The Lomi costs around $499 for the whole compost unit. The small countertop appliance comes with carbon filters and Lomi pods that will last you quite a while. However, when you do need to order more, there are accessories available from the Lomi website.

This is a bit on the premium side of in-home compost units, but we think it is worth the expense. With so many families moving to indoor grow situations to have a fresh source of food instead of relying on overly processed food options from stores, it makes sense to have a Lomi.

We think the long-term health benefits and cost savings from purchasing poor-quality food are worth the expense. We ended up with four of our review testers picking up a Lomi unit after our session with the composter. Each one of them has a home garden to grow their own food.

That is a pretty good result considering these are testers that already know the value of homegrown food over store-bought options.

The other thing to consider is the convenience factor of the Lomi food composter. There are usually so many bugs, messes, and liquids that come from a traditional pot on the counter you use for compost. Having a clean, sleek unit that does everything right there in such a short period is super convenient.

The bug factor alone makes the Lomi a quality purchase. We all hate dealing with bugs!

 

Wrapping it Up

Having the freedom and capability to grow your own quality food at home starts with nutritious garden soil. For that, you need a source of good compost, and Lomi can help achieve that with no mess or odors. We highly recommend you check out the Lomi options for your home and experience the difference fresh compost will have on your home garden food output.

Everyone is looking to reduce their carbon footprint. The Lomi home composter is a great way to achieve this using kitchen scraps such as coffee grounds, banana peels, and other organic matter that turns into nutrient-rich soil or for your green bin with a simple push of a button.

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• Best Electric Kitchen Composter and Other Composting Ideas

• The Complete New Home Checklist

• 8 Best Glass Toasters Your Kitchen Needs

 

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