Looks pretty! Wish that would work in my home since the box is the first thing folks see when they come in.

However, one thing I've learned this summer, visiting several non-cat people who are brutally honest and have a good sense of smell, even if you can't smell the box, visitors do. And that's even if you clean it several times a day. :( If I had a bigger home, I would never put the box by the front door now that I know this.

Ditto, cat boxes stink, no matter what. My mom kept hers in the downstairs (unused) coat closet in her upstairs level apartment, and visitors were hit with that kitty litter smell as soon as they walked in, but she never noticed it. Some brands do work better than others and there are air freshening options that work, but only to a certain extent.

A great option. Not sure it would work with my cats as the one loves diving in and out of curtains, bed sheets and the like. I can see this toppling over in no time! This might be a good option for a tamer, older cat.

We are about to move into our first home and struggling with where to put ours. It's been squeezed into the bathroom for the past five years. The bits of litter get EVERYWHERE. Not to mention little litter dust paw prints.

My solution was to potty train my cat from the outset. No litter box, no worrying about smells, no buying litter. No litter box, no worrying about smells, no buying, scooping or sweeping up litter. Kitty's paws stay snowy white. It's wonderful.

That's what I thought until I had a roommate a few years ago with a cat who used all natural liter (no weird perfume-y fragrances that your cat ends up digesting) and fed her cat all natural food and brita water. The result is amazing. We do the same thing with our cat now and even my anti cat mother-in-law commented on how she can never smell the box.

Ugh. Kitty litter stinks. We keep ours in the downstairs 1/2 bath & even though I clean it out every day (sometimes more than once a day), it still smells in the summer. Despite it being behind a curtain. Despite keeping the window wide open. Despite using baking soda. Despite buying a new litter box every year. Despite washing the box out every week & using all fresh litter.

Can anyone recommend a litter that helps contain the odor better? At this point, I don't care if it costs more- I am tired of the smell!

Um, feed your cat higher-quality food. I feed my cat Nutro Max Senior dry and wet, use clumping litter, and scoop and sweep once a day -- takes 5 minutes -- no smell. And that's not because I'm "used" to the smell -- there is no smell.

@Roomwithaview, does the cat remember to put the seat down when he is finished?

We recently tried "World's Best Cat Litter" and I notice less of an ammonia smell, but the, um, BIGGER deposits are still a problem. I still have to scoop daily.

I recently started using a Citrus Magic litter spray and it has definitely worked. When I notice the smell, I go in and scoop and spray the Citrus Magic. Our litter box AND our garbage can live in our laundry room, and after spraying Citrus Magic, I can stand in there to do laundry and breathe easy.

One note on the fabric drapery- looks very good and anything that hides litterboxes, I am a fan of. However, when I attempted this in my last rental, the cats would always find a way to push the fabric into the box and then pee on it. Perhaps my cats are particularly malicious or a domed/covered litterbox would produce better results. Or maybe weighting the fabric? Mine was just long enough to rest on the floor, and I think that was my downfall.

I used to have a friend with 3 cats. She kept her litterbox in an empty under-sink cabinet in the kitchen, and would just leave the door ajar so the cats could get in. I NEVER smelled it, and I'm not a cat person.

So... there is something about the type of litter, the type of food... I can't say what... that distinguishes stinky cat homes from neutral cat homes.

I mix clumping and basic litter and then add a bit of baking soda to the pan. And, higher priced/quality and natural foods are better too. No smell. And, the cat's coats are in better shape- my adopted cat was fed "big name brand" stuff when I got him and he had a very oily coat, got matted, had stinky you know whats. After about 3 months on a better food, he looks much better and no stinkies.

I just did a post on style litter box ideas:

http://wafflingdesign.blogspot.ca/2012/08/decorating-with-cats.html

Personally, my dad has an automatic litter box that rakes everything into a compartment. it helps a BIT. haha

Two litter boxes by the front door? Doesn't smell? Yeah right, and Congress has never been so efficient and respected. I like cats, but even if this is so great, it still should be moved back into the master bedroom or some far less public space.

The higher quality food the less 'waste' is in your kitty's waste. You will have LESS poopies to deal with and way less stinky too. Also lots and lots of fresh water. Just because the bowl of water is still full doesn't mean they want to drink it (do YOU want to drink luke warm dusty water?). Refill their water bowl twice a day and you might notice the ammonia smell is slightly reduced as they will drink more and be better hydrated (though they will pee more but it's a toss up really). Better food, more water is your #1 key to less stinky. #2. is my personal preference for scoopable Tidy Cats with the RED lid (I forget which one it is). I have tried every brand, every additive and so far that is my favorite brand/type of litter. Also use a bigger deeper box (or rubbermaid tote) because cats like to DIG and BURY. If they can't bury it properly the litter can't do it's job of covering the smell. Our kitty litter is right in the laundry room right by our apartment front door and everyone who comes over asks us where we keep our litter box and are shocked to find out it's right where they walked in and they had no idea. And for reference we have 2 full grown cats, a really large tote for a littler box (they like to dig), and we generally scoop every other day but sometimes my husband forgets and it goes a day longer than that.

I recommend locating the box near an area with good exhaust - like a kitchen or a bathroom. The front entry of a house it typically poorly ventilated because no one really occupies the space.

That said, I love my dog because he does his thing outside.

As a dog person who only occassionally cleans friends' litterboxes*, I think a "splashguard" on the wall behind the boxes may be needed such as clear plexiglass (or something very wipeable). Most of theirs have domes.

* I'm referring to my friends' cats' litterboxes, not my friends' :)

Doesn't sound all that crazy. What's crazy is all these people who apparently don't know what a litter box cover is for. Hope you like vacuuming.

My first thought was: What about the "confetti"? Doesn't that get all over the floor? Before I got a covered litter box my cat managed to get litter EVERYWHERE with all her scratching and digging.

@melissapauline, I was wondering the same. My cat has a covered box, and I use carpet remnants as catches right in front of the box, still get litter all over the place. My cat is a kicker and no matter what, it will go flying. Has anybody on here tried one of those boxes where the cat goes in through a hole on the top? I think they look nice, and I know that would help keep the litter contained, but I worry my cat wouldn't catch on or just not like it.

@lorint my former roommate has a kicker cat and tried the top loader, he still managed to kick some out, but not quite as much.

I'm thinking of making something similar for my living room. right now the box is in the spare bedroom, but its awkwardly under my desk. The living room is huge and has plenty of space for a sofa table to hide the box.

for those suggesting that the box shouldn't be out and put in the basement, this suggestion is great for those of us that actually live in APARTMENTS. Apartments often do not have laundry rooms, basements, and other non used spaces for such things. This allows a little box to remain out of sight, even though there's no other place in the home for it.

@Katywomack: What cat food do you feed them? What litter do you use? Thanks! Always nice to get recommendations. I've been using Feline Pine but its "woodsy" odor is annoying. Currently we are trying Yesterdays News but I think the cats might not like it as it gets in their paws easily.

Haven't tried this for my cat, but this kitty litter called "Original Swheat Scoop" might be a good solution for bad smells (in addition to giving cats a healthier diet...)

http://www.swheatscoop.com/original

While the laminate cloth is a smart idea, I am not digging the look too much.

CaseyinTO had some designs I'd prefer. However, if you're not good with DIY projects or don't want to shell out a few hundred dollars, I found this on Amazon.

Merry Pet Products-Cat Washroom And Night Stand
http://www.amazon.com/Merry-Washroom-Night-Stand-House/dp/B000JZOQO2/ref=sr_1_9?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1343614331&sr=1-9&keywords=litterbox

And would recommend using it with this type of litter box with it:

Iris CLH-12 Open-Top Litter Box with Shield and Scoop
http://www.amazon.com/Iris-CLH-12-Open-Top-Litter-Shield/dp/B002BDU8EW/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1343614142&sr=1-3&keywords=litterbox

My cat's litter box is in my living room and doesn't smell. I got him neutered and maybe that helped since before that it really did stink.

I use Fresh Step & feed him high quality food I buy at his Vet's office.

Just wanted to chime in and say that the top entry litter boxes (like the clevercat) are AMAZING. My cat used to um, miss the litter box a lot - she'd be standing in the box, but somehow manage to pee on the floor. gross. I got a box with higher sides, but that didn't help. so then I got a clevercat - it only took a day for her to get used to it, and now it's completely impossible for her to pee on the floor. cleanup is way easier without cat pee all over the floor, and it cuts down on tracking, too.

Duane--sadly it's more like the other way around.

Our cat pan solution was stolen from a friend. We keep ours in the garage. We cut a doggy door style hole in the wall next to the garage and built a table to raise the cat pan up to the same level as the house. We built a surrounding structure out of wire closet shelves, with a hinged top, that sits on the table and surrounds the cat pan and is flush with the house wall- to keep the cats from running around the garage. It doesn't take up a lot of space, just big enough to hold a good size litter box. It works perfectly! It isn't that complicated to build, we are no experts, and if you have an attached garage (and own your home)- it's a great way to go. We use Arm & Hammer Double Duty cat litter (which always makes me laugh and then sing the Spinal Tap "Heavy Duty" song when I buy it.) I find that it doesn't have a sickening perfume smell that the others we've used have.

We live in a house that had no place to hide the litter box. I searched and found an Ikea hack of the PS Cabinet (looks like a locker). It's perfect. We bought a cat door, traced it out on the metal of the unit, cut out the metal and installed the door (on the side of the unit). People have no idea that the litterbox is inside and never can smell it. It's amazing!

I know, when we lived in apartments or rentals, I would have definitely jumped on this table and skirt solution, it's so much nicer than walking into a room and seeing a box. Also I ran across this solution recently, another pretty good idea... http://www.petsbestproducts.com/SandStoneDecor.htm
A cat box disguised as a planter.

This is cute! But yes, my boys would get pee on it. We got one of the larger Booda domes, they come in cute colors (purple) so I put it in my 12 year old's room - hey she's the one who wanted the cats! She scoops every other day and uses a little baking soda with the litter. You can smell it a little in her room if she misses a scoop day (it happens) but not throughout the house.

We HAD a litter robot that came with the adopted cats and that this was awful. It requires an adult to take care of it, children are not capable, and litter kept clumping and coming out of the sides. The girl we got it/them from lived in a cute apt in SF and loved it, but she also raised her cats like furry children and so I assume it was well maintained ; )

just let your cats go outside. my cat does all his business outdoors. obviously, if you're not on the ground floor that's not possible (and i've been in that situation myself, at which time i do the dreaded kitty litter dance). but if it is possible to let them go outside, just do it. their lifespan may be shortened by being outdoor cats, but they're also WAY happier to get to roam outside, and you'll never clean a litterbox again as long as you don't lock them indoors for too long.

i can vouch for the world's best cat litter. it's all natural, so no weird chemicals your cat ingests when cleaning himself after he does his business, it's flushable (yay!), and it dramatically cuts down on the odor, especially cat urine. i switched brands recently to something else (for a long, boring reason, not because the world's best cat litter was bad) and the urine odor was so intensely foul that i immediately went back to world's best. it was shocking how much of a difference there was.

If you scoop every day, there really shouldn't be a smell. I use Fresh Step and that works well (I sure noticed the difference when I bought Tidy Cat by accident recently). And my cats do just fine on grocery store food; every time I take them to the vet, she tells me how great their fur looks and how healthy they are.

I can sympathize with those of you who wrote, "Ew! In the front hallway! Doesn't it smell?" I wondered exactly the same thing when Victoria first showed me how the scheme worked, the second or third time I visited her home. I've been a cat owner myself for many years, so I know how that goes. And I had always assumed that cat boxes could only go in the bathroom. But I can attest that I hadn't smelled anything. I was VERY SURPRISED when Victoria showed me the magic secret. After a while I realized it was brilliant. There's no room in either of our bathrooms for a cat box, and the foyer is the least-used room in our home. The cats are fed a high-quality diet (k/d and Weruva, plus Greenies cat treats). The litter is Everclean Unscented, which instantly dessicates the icky stuff. And it's my job to shovel it out each evening, which I do diligently. It works very well. You've probably figured it out by now: I'm her husband. That's one reason I married her. Catbox brilliance.

All of these posts make me so glad to only have outdoor cats.

I have a similar concept. We bought a trunk (think cedar chest) from an unfinished furniture place. (Actually we got two that matched, one is used for file storage.) Cut a hole for a store bought cat door, upholstered the hinged lid, and voila -- matching window seats, one of which contains two hidden litter boxes. (The cats love the seats as well as the sheltered -- but not claustrophobic -- interior, and MOST of the litter stays inside. I do vacuum in front at least once or twice a week, but not because you see any mess...)

We use PetCo. Pet Gold clumping litter, scoop daily by lifting the lid, and there is no odor (except maybe for the couple of moments as the cats are making their deposits!)

We feed them Fancy Feast (1.5 oz. per cat twice a day -- or half a can, if you prefer.) We also give them dry food (Taste of the Wild) which is a natural grainless food.

I had "top loader" for my large male cat, but he was too big and clumsy; he kept knocking it over. Not sure how, since I petsit a 20 lb Maine Coon who does perfectly fine with his box with the whole at the top. The one issue with my cat is he doesn't cover his poops... EVER. The second he takes a poo the whole house smells. It really sucks, but it just means I got to get that bad boy out quick:)

I can vouch for World's Best Cat Litter as well. There is no urine/ammonia smell, it clumps well, and you can flush it! Which is amazing for those of us in apartments who don't have outdoor garbage cans/garages, etc. Additionally, I feed my cat natural choice dry and wet food. I have never had an odor problem, and any time the box smells, it is just after she has gone #2 and it is no more foul than if a person had just used the bathroom. Also, I found an old nightstand at Goodwill, repainted it, put new knobs on it, and put the litter box in there. I cut a hole in the side and inserted a cat door, and the entire thing lives in my bathroom, as a piece of furniture that was always meant to be there. (I live in a <300 sq foot studio).

Sorry, about to get preachy here. If your primary reason for giving your cat access to the outdoors is so you are not inconvenienced with cleaning/smelling a litter box, you should not be a cat owner. There's a long list of very good reasons why you should keep your cats indoors, and a very short one for why to let cats outside ("worker" rural cats, strays, ferals, other cats requiring to be outside before you adopted them). Not wanting to take care of a litter box should not be on that list.

If someone said they wanted a dog but didn't want to walk it every day so they'll just let it roam the streets during the day when they're not home, you would say that that person should NOT be a dog owner.

Average lifespan of indoor cat: 14 years.
Average lifespan of outdoor/indoor cat: 4 years.

Keeping your cats indoors benefits you, your cat, and wildlife. Recent study about cats let outdoors: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-kitty-killers-20120807,0,6611224.story

^ Wow; people can get really preachy when discussing pets.

Anyways, I'd like to say that I have been using arm and hammer kitty litter and I find it covers the smell very well. I have a small trash can for the poop and I think it smells better than the garbage can in thekitchen!

Clumping litter is bad for cats.It clumps in their intestines.Gross,yes,but it's the truth.

Also,cats should stay indoors.It's too dangerous out there.

For the readers who bemoaned their cats kicking litter everywhere:

I have 2 20-pound cats who are prone to kicking. We decided to pick up two of those geberic household Rubbermaid storage containers. The sides are about 2 feet high, which really cut down on the amount they're able to get out. They jump in easily, but it's a lifesaver!

This is similar to what we use at the animal shelter (I'm a volunteer).

Other things we've done:

- have the litter box sit on a little ledge, and use fitted sheets. The fitted sheets tuck over the ledge, and collect excess litter. The cats access the box from the sides/back of the table.

- someone built litter box cabinets for our cat colonies: what looks like a bench, with 2 little cat openings on either end. Then the top has brackets, so you can flip open the top, replace litter, and put the top back.

These were very helpful in the shelter, since it allowed the cats to be in a colony setting, but visitors weren't thrown off by the cat smell.

Hope that helps somebody!

My cat came from a rescue and with the World Best Litter, and I got rid of that one quickly because not only it was incredibly expensive, but it generated a permanent layer of super gross yellow dust all over my house. And it didn't lessen any smell.
Feline Pine it is, I scoop every day, change it every 8-10 days or so and that's it. If I'm planning to have people over, I make sure to change it and clean the litter box before they arrive. I wash it in soapy water each time I change the litter, so smells don't cling to it, and I also put some baking soda with the new litter.

Now for the people who thinks outdoors is the perfect solution, I can only give the example of a friend of mine who didn't want to be bothered with a litter box at all and got 3 cats killed over an 18 months period. Yes, she does live in a place where there are coyotes. No, she didn't see why her cats should be indoor only, because "how would they go to the bathroom?", and each time I got a teary phone call about how her kitty had disappeared...

I use Fresh Step. Works like a Charm - I've never smelled a thing, and my guests haven't, either. Love this idea to hide the box!

Thanks, SARIA THE CAT. Seriously, if you want pets, take care of them!

Agree, Saria the cat! If you're not willing to take proper care of an animal, don't get one.

We use a wood based cat litter. They're pine pellets and they "fluff" up when any liquid hits them. I scoop out any "fluff" and poop, and the rest stays fresh. The box gets washed every week, and wood scent is completely natural and it does a very good job of disguising the smell. Not to mention the wood can be composted in its own compost pile and used on landscaping. (I wouldn't use it in the veggie garden, even after a few years of composting, although by then I'm sure all of the nasty stuff is gone.)

I use a covered litter box tucked away under a table by our back door. Sometimes there is a smell, but usually it works well.

Thanks for the tip about the all natural cat food. I might have a look for some. Does anyone recommend any brands? (I live in the UK.)

The cabinets/lockers, etc. with pet doors installed -- genius. I'll have to come up with something similar. I like to throw a handful of cedar shavings into the clumping litter.

When I clean the boxes, that means washing them inside and out with soap. If you do this 3 - 5 x a week, in addition to daily scooping, they will not smell. I line a fresh box with baking soda. guests wonder why there is no cat smell, since they expect it with indoor cats. my friend has 2 outdoor cats and her house reeks of cat without any boxes. go figure.

The problem with my cat's litter is not really the smell but that she gets that sandy litter all over the place! I've tried different mats to collect it, didn't help. CaseyinTO did a nice post on cabinets with built in kitty doors. Now that's ingenious!

We've used Swheat Scoop with our cat and I find that the smell is horrible. The best luck we've had with natural litters is Blue Buffalo Walnut Litter. No harsh smells for the little guy, it hides the smell of urine completely, and the smell of feces is almost non-existent as well as long as he covers it (which is not always the case).