Do-It-Yourself Story

I had my Kitchenaid trash compactor for about 6 months before my first actuator switch tab broke from metal fatigue. I think Kitchenaid knew about the problem and sent me a free replacement. It took about 9 months for the next tab to break from metal fatigue. Again, I received a free replacement. I installed a third tab and I am not sure when it broke because we had a small son and had stopped using the compactor mode about 6 years ago, and just used it as a trash can. Our son is older now, and I decided to start using the compactor mode again. That is when I stumbled across this Actuator Switch Kit. I could not be happier with the new design. I also agree with David P’s comment that Kitchenaid should have supplied this kit to its customers for free because it fixes a faulty design. The actual repair was fairly simple. Just remove the top and front panels and foot pedal. The hardest part was drilling two 3/32" holes into the front panel using the supplied pattern. The new switch lever is then screwed to the front panel using these new holes. Changing out the switch and the putting everything back together was really easy. If you have one of the old styles of compactors (with the tab to activated the compactor) where you raise the foot pedal to activate the compactor, then I HIGHLY recommend this new design.