What you gotta love about the world of design is that even something as mundane as a trashcan can become a status symbol for its clean lines and functional simplicity. When the sleek Vipp catalog arrived in my InBox, I had an inkling that perhaps my own stainless steel push-pedal bin from the Container Store was a knock-off or, if not that, then it was simply very pedestrian compared to the Vipp, which will set you back $280 for a 14-inch high size at Waterworks. Then I checked out Vipps’s website and read about how the company was founded in 1939 by a Dane, followed by a press release about how a Vipp that Bono had co-designed for a charity auction drew $30,000 (granted Bono could get a cool grand for a hanky he’s sneezed into). Well I have to say, I like these status bins—and the company just came out with a cool push-pedal laundry basket ($625). The toilet brush is pretty darn cute, too; for $200, it better be. Available at Waterworks.

—Gina Bazer