Which can opener is the best

We dismissed them because they were difficult to operate or required too much jiggling and jostling on our part to remove can lids. But although it provides the same opening power as our top electric pick, it costs more yet offers no added benefits.

Emma Christensen, recipe writer for The Kitchn , email interview. Daniel DiClerico, Who makes the best can opener? Sally Swift, co-creator and managing producer of The Splendid Table , phone interview. Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since He has worked in various facets of the food and restaurant industry for over a decade.

Nick Guy is a senior staff writer covering Apple and accessories at Wirecutter. He has been reviewing iPhones, iPads, and related tech since —and stopped counting after he tested his 1,th case. He once had the bright idea to build and burn down a room to test fireproof safes. Our pick. Also great. Everything we recommend.

Why you should trust us. Who should get this. A note on manual safety can openers. How we picked and tested. Our pick: EZ-Duz-It. Flaws but not dealbreakers. Long-term test notes. An electric safety can opener. Care and maintenance. The competition. About your guides. Michael Sullivan. I used it so much that the lid lifter teeth wore out. If you need a can opener that doesn't require a great deal of hand pressure or cranking, but a traditional electric can opener is just too big for your kitchen, consider this handheld, battery-operated can opener.

It's one-button operating system is easy enough for nearly any cook to use, and the blade cuts under the lid for safe, smooth edges. On their Amazon page, Kitchen Mama demonstrates how this handheld electric can opener works. With the gear and blade on either side of the can's rim, the opener encircles the can, cutting away at the seal. When it's done, you'll press the button again, and the opener will stop.

One downside: no magnet. You'll have to pick up the lid from the top of the can, but remember: no sharp edges. Nearly 21, Amazon reviewers love this electric can opener, which is almost half the price of the other electric option on our list.

They write, "Why did I wait so long to try this magical can opener??????? It was a WCW wrestling match every time! I literally put it on top of the can, push button They finish their review with, "The only thing is I wish the magnet was stronger so it would lift the top off They really should put a warning on canned tomato sauce like "Heads up: This will be a percent nightmare for your white counters and cabinets. It has a magnet that holds on tight to any can lid, and it doesn't let go until you press a little button to release it which makes rinsing off and disposing lids super easy.

The tool also features a little covering that pinches the can and keeps the lid safely in place. As for cleaning the tool itself, it's dishwasher-safe so you don't have to wash a thing.

This is another OXO Good Grips product, so it receives loads of rave reviews from people with grip or nerve issues that can't use standard manual can openers. One writes, "It is easy to clean, doesn't rust I just rinse it if it's not really dirty, or wash it quickly with soap and water, and let it air dry, and it's still working great , and I like how it locks together for use and storage.

Really, it's so well-designed. Compared to what I have spent on poor-quality openers in the past, this is an absolute bargain, and I highly recommend this opener to anyone. Beyond the kitchen, having a travel-friendly can opener is a must for camping or RVing. It's even a good idea to pack one for a vacation rental just in case the property doesn't have kitchen essentials.

But you likely don't want a can opener taking up much space in your suitcase. Enter the Coghlan's G. Can Opener. This teeny, tiny lightweight gadget can squeeze into any pocket in your bag. It's made with nickel-plated hardened steel so if you're out camping and your gear gets wet, you don't have to worry about it rusting. Just be careful when packing as it's razor sharp. Buy It: Coghlan's G. Related: Browse our collection of Canned Food Recipes.

From electric to manual, these can openers all stand out for their ability to quickly, easily, and safely open canned goods. By Deanne Revel. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission. Best Manual Can Opener. Best Electric Can Opener. Best Handheld Can Opener.

Almost all of the openers performed evenly across can sizes. The exceptions were the Joseph Joseph and Kuhn Rikon , which struggled on larger diameter cans. Both KitchenAid models, Ez-Duz-It , and Gorilla Grip all have a bottle opener function, and the Kuhn Rikon has five extra features in addition to its can opening ability. In some cases, these additional features added a bonus to compensate in areas where the opener might have otherwise fallen short. Style can be a personal choice, but some models stood out for their innovative designs, colors, and their efficient use of space in the kitchen.

We evaluated the aesthetic design and measured the footprint of each can opener. The clear leaders in this category for both their compact footprints and innovative designs are the Kitchen Mama and Joseph Joseph. The Joseph Joseph is the best option if you value saving space over all else, while the Kitchen Mama manages convenient performance and space the best. For its fun color choices in a market where bland looks are par for the course, the KitchenAid Classic also scores points.

The Hamilton Beach has a classic design that could match most kitchens but has a relatively large footprint compared to the rest of the board. The Cuisinart countertop model is very similar in size. GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews.

Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison. Our Editors independently research, test, and rate the best products. We only make money if you purchase a product through our links, and we never accept free products from manufacturers.

Learn more. Need a new can opener? Our kitchen experts researched the market before buying and testing 10 of the best models side by side. We include a range of traditional models, innovative designs, and manual versus electric ones, upon which we ran tests and assessed them on their sharpness, ease of use, versatility, durability, style, and footprint.

We opened over a hundred cans of all shapes and sizes to determine exactly how each can performs across varying consumer needs. After days of measuring, testing, and can opening, we have a recommendation that fits your specific needs, all informed by dedicated, hands-on use.

Top 10 Product Ratings. Displaying 1 - 5 of Hamilton Beach Smooth Touch Opener. Kitchen Mama Electric. Ez-Duz-It Deluxe. Cuisinart Deluxe CCO KitchenAid Classic. Show full specification details Hide full specification details.

We tested our selections side by side, well not quite this side by side. Just a selection of the many canned products we became familiar with, pictured with the Gorilla Grips model. Ease of Use 9. Smoothness and Sharpness Guiding bar attaches can perfectly.

A classic countertop design, the Hamilton Beach Smooth Touch is exceptionally easy to use and performs consistently across all can sizes. Ease of Use 7. Smoothness and Sharpness 8. Classic and durable, the Ez-Duz-It is easy to use and seems like it should last you a lifetime.

Ease of Use 8. The Cuisinart has a easy to operate lever that punctured the tops of cans with ease. Smoothness and Sharpness 9. Minimal pressure required to operate. The Kitchen Mama literally takes one finger to operate.

Ease of Use 6. Smoothness and Sharpness 6. The Joseph Joseph has a ridiculously small footprint, especially when compared with its standard sized competitors. Score Product Price Our Take Joseph Joseph Can-Do Compact.

Kuhn Rikon Auto Safety Master. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission. More Articles You Might Enjoy. What it lacks in special features and flashy design it makes up for in pure power and rock-solid construction, making it our top choice for most people. Throughout our testing, the EZ-DUZ-IT easily pierced lids, stayed attached to the edges, and made its way around cans without catching or resisting along the way.

Its slim rubberized handles were easy to grip and prevented hand fatigue when opening can after can. Its all-metal construction makes us confident that it will survive many years of daily use, including being jostled around in drawers and dropped off the counter, and its Amazon user reviews support our theory. The only drawbacks of the opener are that it produces sharp-edged lids and is designed for right-handed people, but these are standard features of most traditional rotary openers.

While this OXO took first place in our overall scoring, its plastic components and safety blade simply mean it won't work effectively for as long as the EZ-DUZ-IT or other all-metal traditional models. The lefties and ambidextrous folks at Reviewed have spoken—the Kuhn Rikon Auto Safety Lid Lifter is the fastest, most intuitive opener to use if you lack a dominant right hand. Even as a right-handed person, I really loved using the Kuhn Rikon throughout testing.

Its push-button control of small pinchers that lift can lids make it the fastest safety opener we tried, start to finish. A crunchy tuna fish sandwich is one of my favorite lunches sorry, haters!

Durability and ease of use were critical to me, but I took into consideration that comfort and safety are also top of the list for people with young children or trouble using their hands. Our testing methods were simple: use each opener on three types of cans, each a different shape and size. I timed how long each opener took to open each can and took into consideration the ease and feel of the process as a whole.

Did it resist being turned? Did it leave our hands sore? How messy or difficult was removing the lid at the end? Were its edged sharp or jagged? I suffered through smelling a combination of tuna fish and tomato sauce for weeks to get to the bottom of these questions. We opened dozens and dozens of cans—from 4-ounce tuna cans to ounce chicken broth cans—to find the best openers. With such a variety of openers being tested, I also considered that durability, portability, and ease of use would vary by category.

For example, traditional openers will last longer than safety openers because they must cut through a thinner piece of metal, and fixed openers will generally outlive rotary models due to their—as the name suggests—lack of moving parts.