For years I bought whatever trash can was cheapest and smallest, then wondered why the kitchen always looked like it was losing a fight. The lid never shut right, the bag bulged over the top by Wednesday, and I was hauling it out twice as often as I should have. What fixed it wasn't a fancier can, it was just getting the size and the lid right for how much cooking actually happens in that room.
If you've got nothing, start with a simple step can in stainless steel, something in the thirteen gallon range, the kind that takes a standard tall kitchen bag without you having to fold and tuck and pray. That size handles a real household without turning into a daily chore. Stainless wipes clean and doesn't hold smells the way plastic can after a few years, though it does show fingerprints, so if you've got small hands in the house touching it twenty times a day, go for one with a smudge resistant finish or just accept you'll be wiping it down more than you'd like. A step can with a soft close lid is worth the extra cost, the kind that slams is the kind you stop using the foot pedal for within a month. For a tiny apartment kitchen or a narrow galley, a slim can that tucks beside the counter or under the sink makes more sense than a big round one that eats the walkway. For a house that cooks a lot, especially in fall and winter when there's more peeling and trimming and actual mess, size up, because nothing's worse than a can that's full before dinner's even done.
Measure the spot before you buy, not after. Check the width at floor level and also at the widest point, since lids and handles flare out wider than the base, and that's where people get caught out, buying a can that fits the floor space but won't let the cabinet door next to it swing open. Leave a few inches of breathing room so the lid can lift all the way and so you're not elbowing it every time you reach the sink. If you're under a counter, measure the height to the underside of the countertop, not just to the cabinet door, since vents and pipes eat into that space more than you'd expect.
The good ones have a lid that opens wide enough that you can actually see where you're throwing things, instead of guessing and missing.