Baxton Studio Elie vs Good Pet Stuff Hidden Litter: which hides the box better?

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Spec	Top pickBaxton Studio Elie Engineered Wood	Good Pet Stuff Hidden Planter
Price	$92	$64
Material	Painted engineered wood with block feet	Polypropylene with carbon filter
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If you have a larger cat or want a box that’s easy to service, buy the Baxton Studio Elie 2-Door Cat Litter Box Cover House. If you have a small apartment, a compact cat, and you care more about disguising the box than maximizing interior room, buy the Good Pet Stuff Hidden Litter Box Planter Original. These two solve different problems even though they’re both “furniture that hides a litter box,” and the right answer depends on your cat’s size and your floor plan.

Size and interior space

The Elie wins here, decisively. Its interior measures 22.4 inches wide by 17.4 inches deep by 15.4 inches tall, which lands right at the minimum AAFP/ISFM guideline of 22×17 inches recommended for adult cats (the standard actually calls for 1.5 times a cat’s nose-to-tail-base length, and most commercial boxes fall short of it). The Elie is one of the few enclosures in this price range that actually clears that bar.

The Good Pet Stuff planter is built for a different mission. Its body is 19×19 inches, which is workable for a small or average cat but genuinely tight for anything larger, and the brand’s own material lists it as too small for large cats. If you own a Maine Coon or another big-bodied breed, this isn’t the box for them. Design guides generally recommend at least a 9-inch entrance width for large breeds, and the planter’s step-up entry design compounds the space problem rather than solving it.

Entry design and accessibility

The Elie uses magnetic 2-door access with a 13-inch-wide, shelf-like entry, so cats walk in roughly at floor level, which matters for kittens, seniors, and cats with mobility issues. The Good Pet Stuff planter has a 6.75-inch elevated entry height, meaning your cat has to step up and then down into the litter. That’s part of what makes the disguise convincing (it looks like a planter, not a litter box, because it doesn’t have a low, obvious door), but it’s a real accessibility trade-off. An older or arthritic cat may find the step uncomfortable enough to avoid the box entirely, and inappropriate elimination is already the leading behavioral reason cats get relinquished to shelters according to AAFP/ISFM guidelines, so entry friction isn’t a trivial detail.

Odor control

Both products handle odor reasonably well, but through different mechanisms. The Good Pet Stuff planter relies on a carbon-infused filter plus a vented top, and reviewers consistently report noticeably less odor than open boxes when it’s paired with a decent litter, per Cats.com’s review of the product. The Elie doesn’t use an active filter; its odor control comes from the enclosure itself plus the fact that engineered wood, when sealed, doesn’t off-gas or absorb smells the way raw wood does.

The catch with any enclosed box is ventilation. Vetstreet and several behavioral guides note that covered furniture can trap ammonia if airflow is inadequate, and cats are sensitive enough to odor buildup that they’ll avoid a box that smells bad to them, even if it looks clean to you. The planter’s active filter gives it a slight edge on managing trapped odor long-term, but neither box replaces daily scooping. A Journal of Veterinary Behavior study (Ellis et al., 2017) found cats prefer clean boxes over dirty ones regardless of style or brand, so scooping schedule will outweigh either design here.

Cleaning and maintenance

The Elie’s magnetic double doors open wide, so scooping and full litter changes are straightforward, and owner reviews on Chewy describe it as easy to clean relative to other enclosed designs. Fine particles still escape through door gaps and corners, so plan on a long mat in front of it regardless of what the marketing implies.

The Good Pet Stuff planter requires more care during assembly, since the top and bottom halves need careful alignment, and that same two-piece design means you’re lifting the faux-plant lid off entirely for a deep clean rather than just opening a door. Its polypropylene body resists moisture better than untreated wood, but Chewy customer reviews flag that cat claws can tear the thin plastic over time, leaving crevices where litter and grime accumulate, which shortens its usable lifespan compared to the Elie’s engineered wood shell.

Durability and materials

This is where the price gap starts to make sense. The Elie is painted engineered wood with block feet, and user reviews describe it as sealed against urine damage with sturdy, higher long-term durability than plastic furniture. Purina notes that plastic litter boxes generally need replacing every one to two years because they absorb odor and scratch in ways that get harder to clean over time, and that logic applies to the planter’s polypropylene shell too, especially once claws start scoring the surface.

Wood isn’t maintenance-free. Untreated or damaged wood can absorb urine permanently, and sealed wood can still fail at joints or scratches, so a waterproof liner inside the Elie is a smart add whether or not the listing calls it out. Treat both products as needing a liner or tray for real long-term protection.

Assembly

Neither box arrives ready to use, and both take more effort than a plain plastic pan. The Elie’s assembly reportedly requires a power drill, which isn’t disclosed upfront in the listing. The Good Pet Stuff planter doesn’t need power tools, but reviewers call the top-and-bottom alignment step trickier than expected. Budget extra time either way if furniture assembly isn’t your strength.

Will your cat actually accept an enclosure?

A lot of buyers assume cats prefer privacy, but the evidence doesn’t back that up strongly. A 2012–2013 peer-reviewed study out of Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, found that 70% of cats (n=28) showed no preference between open and covered boxes and used both about equally. Some cats do resist a new enclosure at first; Vetstreet cites behaviorist Dr. Sarah Wilson recommending a gradual introduction, doors propped open initially, placed near the cat’s existing box, with acceptance sometimes taking weeks and occasionally never happening at all. Commeownity’s 2026 audit of Reddit data found roughly 22% of buyers experience buyer’s remorse with premium enclosures, often because the cat simply prefers a simpler, more open space than the furniture the owner picked out.

How to litter train a kitten

Start by placing the kitten in the litter box after meals, naps, and play sessions, since those are the moments they’re most likely to need to go. Keep the box in a low-traffic but accessible spot and use unscented clumping litter (which cats generally prefer, and which clumps better than silica for scooping). Avoid switching locations or litter types during the training window. Kittens learn largely by instinct and scent, so once they associate the box’s texture and location with elimination, most are reliably trained within a couple of weeks.

Best cat litter for odor control

Unscented clumping clay litter is the expert-recommended default for odor control, since research cited by CNN Underscored shows cats are averse to strong perfumes, which can actually cause them to avoid the box and undermine odor control by causing accidents elsewhere. Litters built around zeolite (clinoptilolite) have documented laboratory-confirmed absorptive capacity for ammonia and felinine-derived odors per NIH-indexed research, making them a solid pick to pair with either the Elie or the Good Pet Stuff planter, both of which depend partly on the litter itself to manage smell.

Who should buy which

Buy the Baxton Studio Elie if you have a larger cat, want a box that meets veterinary size recommendations, or plan to move and need something lightweight but sturdy. Buy the Good Pet Stuff Hidden Litter Box Planter Original if you have a small cat, live in a tight apartment, and your top priority is a piece that genuinely doesn’t look like a litter box. If your cat is older, has mobility issues, or is on the larger side, skip the planter’s elevated step-up entry and go with the Elie’s floor-level access instead.

Frequently asked questions

Are self-cleaning litter boxes worth it compared to furniture-style covers like these?

Self-cleaning boxes solve scooping labor, not size or camouflage, so they address a different problem than the Elie or the Good Pet Stuff planter. Owner discussion on Reddit and elsewhere is mixed: many report real time savings, but mechanical jams, cat anxiety around motors, and higher upfront cost are common complaints. If odor and disguise are your main concerns, a well-ventilated furniture-style box paired with daily scooping is a cheaper, simpler starting point.

Can I build a DIY self-cleaning or hidden litter box instead of buying one?

Yes, plenty of owners modify furniture (cabinets, planters, ottomans) into hidden litter enclosures, but a true self-cleaning mechanism is hard to replicate DIY and usually not worth the effort compared to buying a purpose-built unit. A simpler and more reliable DIY project is converting furniture into a passive hidden box like the Elie or the Good Pet Stuff planter, provided you add proper ventilation and a waterproof liner.

What causes cat litter oil stains and how do I prevent them?

Oil-like stains around a litter box usually come from natural skin oils on your cat’s paws and fur transferring onto litter and nearby flooring, sometimes worsened by low-quality litter that doesn’t fully absorb liquid. Using a quality clumping litter, a litter mat at the exit, and wiping down the box’s interior walls regularly reduces residue buildup on both furniture and floors.

Do I need more than one litter box if I have multiple cats?

Yes. Veterinarians recommend the “N+1” rule: one litter box per cat, plus one additional box, to reduce resource guarding and house-soiling risk, according to AAFP and Mud Bay guidance. In a multi-cat home, a single enclosure like the Elie or the Good Pet Stuff planter should be one box in a larger setup, not the only one.

Baxton Studio Elie vs Good Pet Stuff Hidden Litter: which hides the box better?

Ranked, with the trade-offs

Baxton Studio Elie Engineered Wood

Good Pet Stuff Hidden Planter

How they compare