The Best Can Opener
Our Review Process
Don't Waste Your Money is focused on helping you make the best purchasing decision. Our team of experts spends hundreds of hours analyzing, testing, and researching products so you don't have to. Learn more.
Our Picks For The Top Can Openers
This multi-function can opener opens standard cans as well as pop-top lids. The side-cutting system leaves a safer smooth edge. It is easy to use and easy on the eyes, as well.
Style Marries PerformanceThe Hamilton Beach Automatic Can Opener is sleek, stylish, and easy to operate.
This manual opener grips cans securely and cuts smoothly every time. The balanced weight simplifies the process. Thick rubber-coated handles provide a comfortable grasp.
Simple and FunctionalWhen you want a reliable, economical option, the EZ-DUZ-IT Manual Can Opener fits the bill.
This opener is designed to attach to cans automatically. It cuts the outside rim of the can, leaving no sharp edges and performing with minimal effort. This hygienic can opener also never touches the contents of containers.
Power and SafetyThe unique design of the Kuhn Rikon Auto Safety Lid Lifter makes it powerful, even for a manual opener.
With clean lines and essential features, this black and stainless can opener won't overwhelm your counter space. The magnetic lid holder offers safety and security. It operates with a single touch and cleans up with little effort.
Minimalistic ConvenienceThe simple and modern Cuisinart Electric Can Opener is unobtrusively handy and easy to use.
Buying Guide
Can openers are a true kitchen staple. Whether you are a college student living in a dorm or a first-rate chef with an extravagant cooking space, you need some sort of can opener. Considering the essentials every can opener requires, as well as your unique wants and needs, can help you select the right one for your kitchen.
Think about whether you prefer a manual or an electric can opener. Manual can openers are affordable and convenient. Since no power is required to use one, you can tuck it in a utensil drawer or take it on a camping trip with the same results. However, they can be challenging to use, especially for someone with limited mobility or fine motor skills, arthritis or weak hands.
Electric can openers are easy to use, usually able to open containers at the touch of a button. Some have additional features, such as the ability to open other types of cans and bottles. The possible downsides of an electric can opener include the need for electricity to operate and the requirement for at least a small amount of counter space.
Of course, a can opener should be well-made, built to last, easy to clean and maintain, and simple to use. In addition, look for a model that leaves smooth edges and a cutting wheel that doesn’t touch food to promote health and safety.
If you can’t decide between two or three different models, let aesthetics be your guide. Go with the can opener that blends into your kitchen’s decor.
What to Look For
- Keeping your can opener clean is vital to safe use and to proper function over time. Soak manual can openers or the removable cutting wheel of electric can openers in white vinegar for several minutes. Follow up by scrubbing away dirt or rust with a brush (a toothbrush works well for this purpose) and then washing it with mild dish soap and warm water. Dry it carefully with a clean towel before putting it back.
More to Explore
People have always sought ways to store food longer, including pickling, smoking or drying it. Around the turn of the 19th century, the French government offered a hefty prize of 12,000 francs to the first person to successfully invent a way to preserve food for storage transportation.
A French chef named Nicolas Appert accepted the challenge and won. His process was a version of canning foods in jars. Soon after, the English worked to improve his method, swapping glass jars for metal containers.Â
By the mid-1800s, a Connecticut man named Ezra J. Warner invented a manual can opener. Prior to his invention, people used chisels and hammers to open metal cans.
Latest Reviews
