I was saving eggshells & grinding them down (in my coffee grinder) to add to my garden's soil. I was also saving used coffee grounds, 'drying' them in the oven, to add to my garden, too. Both jobs were messy and time consuming. I've also saved veggie scraps to make vegetable broth - also time consuming and the scraps hog a lot of space in our freezer. I wanted an outdoor composter to put in the yard, but my husband was concerned about rats and so he vetoed that idea. So when I recently read about this countertop composter in Kiplinger magazine, I was sold. The Unit There were a LOT of stickers to remove from the unit. I had a hard time especially with the stickers that were on top of the tube things at the back of the machine. Since I could not figure out how to remove the tubes (in order to fully remove the stickers) there are still some pieces of sticker at the back of each tube but they don't cover the 'hole' so I think it's fine. When putting together the unit, I didn't understand how the caps were supposed to set on the tubes. Then I realized that the tubes emit steam, so it only made sense that the 'open' end of the caps face me / face the back panel since the back panel has vents once you pop it back on. When the machine was running, you could feel 'some' heat coming out of the back but I don't think it was enough to peel wallpaper. So this would probably be safe to place relatively close to a wall. The power cord is THREE pronged. We have a two-pronged outlet where I was planning on plugging this composter in, so I had to use an adapter, and it was a tight fit. What I Put Inside Two bell pepper caps & bottoms, about a half of a white onion, about two cups of ground-up eggshells, some celery stalks & leaves, and about two cups of used coffee grounds. I did fill the bucket just a bit more than I should have, but not by much. How It Worked After turning it on, the machine ran for a total of seven hours from start to finish without me having to do anything. The first cycle ('drying') took an hour and a half. Then it automatically switched to the next cycle ('grinding' mode) which lasted the longest amount of time - about four and a half hours. Then the machine put itself in the final mode ('cooling') which I'm guessing was around an hour (I had noted the start time of the cycle but then I got busy, and an hour later when I checked it, it had turned into to 'standby' mode which meant that the process was complete). So it might have only had to cool for a half hour, or for forty-five minutes, I'm not sure. Performance The machine was whisper-quiet. I had it running in the kitchen, and from the next room over I could barely hear it. It doesn't get overly hot / put out a lot of steam from the vents in the back. The surface of the machine does not get hot. The Results I am amazed! The slightly-overfull bucket full of moist veggies, soggy coffee grounds and some eggshells magically turned into garden-ready compost! It was fluffy and bone dry. I transferred the compost to a gallon-size freezer bag, and it filled the bag only about 1/4 of the way. Thoughts We get snowy winters where we live, but I can still use this year-round. I have a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and I think I'll 'stockpile' the compost in there until Spring each year. I can't believe how easy this machine is to use, and what wonderful results it produces.