Buying the Best Can Opener: OXO, You're Canned! Hi Kuhn Rikon!

Look no further.  This is the best safety can opener.

Ever have a utensil where you thought to yourself "I hate this thing" every time you used it?  That was me with the OXO Good Grips Smooth Edge Can Opener, which I used for about four years.  I had started using it because I didn't want to open cans and then have sharp edges, which is really dangerous.  Why did this particular OXO can opener suck?  It made opening cans more of a chore than it already is.

Since the can opener is so huge and heavy, I might have had better luck beating the can instead of trying to open it the old fashioned way.

Well, if you stumbled upon this post because you're searching for THE best can opener, look no further.  I've done the hours of research for you.  

Kuhn Rikon on the left, OXO on the right

OXO Good Grips Smooth Edge Can Opener review:

• The opener didn't stick onto cans easily.  I would sometimes make 10 attempts to get the can opener to connect to the can.
• Sometimes I'd go around the can over and over and the can wouldn't be opened
• When you pinch the little bird mouth to pick up the lid after opening the can, the mouth would often not grab onto the lid.
• The thing is huge for a can opener.  It takes up way too much room in the utensils drawer.

Opening cans is the last thing I want to think about or get frustrated about, but with the OXO, I was peeved every time I had to open a can.


So, I bought a cheapie Zyliss safety can opener on a whim a few months ago and it wasn't any good either.  It's handles were so flimsy that I felt like they were going to break off when I squeezed them together.  It didn't leave sharp edges on the can, but it sometimes took metal filings off the can.

I wondered yet again why it is so hard to make a good safety can opener and then I was on a mission to find the "one."

Fun to use??  I'll be the judge of that!

After some googling and youtubing, I landed on the Kuhn Rikon Auto Deluxe Safety Lid Lifter.  I wanted this to be the last can opener I bought in my life, so I made sure to investigate it online as much as I could.  Like a complete kitchen nerd, I watched multiple videos of people talking about this can opener and demonstrating it.  I had to study how easily the can opener connected to the can and how smootly the lid got lifted off the can afterwards.  I was convinced that this Kuhn Rikon would be my last can opener.

Well, I got the can opener.  And I wasn't disappointed.  It is the best safety can opener ever.  I did a double take when I saw it described as "fun to use" on the packaging.  And guess what.  It IS fun to use.

Isn't it so satisfying when you get that perfect utensil and you're like "I love this thing" every time you use it??