I thought it would be great having the removable plastic bottom...easy to clean. But then 1) it arrived with the plastic bottom broken, and 2) underneath the plastic, there's not much wire support. It was/is not as good as others I have that have more metal in the bottom. Also, it's very awkward to get the plastic bottom out as it's quite stiff & fits snugly. It's not feasible to use it without the plastic as there's not enough metal in the bottom to hold items in.