The Best Can Openers

A can opener is one of those tools you don't think about until it fails you. Then you're standing over a half-open can of tomatoes, working the wheel back and forth, hoping it bites. Most households open a few cans a week — beans, tuna, soup, coconut milk — and the difference between a good opener and a bad one shows up every time. You want it to grab the rim, turn without a fight, and let go of the lid without cutting you. A cheap one stops doing that after about a year.

No can opener is perfect. Smooth-edge models leave a safe rim, but they take a can or two to learn, and they can slip on a dented or unusually thick seam. Top-cut steel openers bite instantly and last for years, but they hand you a lid with an edge like a saw blade. Electrics do the work for you, and they claim counter space and an outlet forever. Every cutting wheel dulls eventually, too. Pick the compromise you can live with.

Start with how you'll use it. If arthritis or a weak grip is the real problem, an electric is worth the counter space and nothing else comes close. If you cook a lot and hate clutter, a good manual lives in a drawer and still works in a power outage. Households with kids should lean smooth-edge. We think that the OXO Good Grips Smooth Edge Can Opener is the best can opener for most people, and that the Kuhn Rikon Auto Safety LidLifter is the one to buy if you want the opener to lift the lid off for you.

Buy now if your current opener skips around the rim, needs two hands and a grudge, or leaves half-cut lids. That's a dull wheel, and it's more likely to slip and cut you than a new one is. This guide covers manual and electric openers for home kitchens, including smooth-edge safety designs, all-steel classics, an under-cabinet mount and a cordless hands-free unit. If grip strength is your main issue, skip straight to the electric options.

You can hold off if you open a can a month and your opener still bites cleanly on the first turn. There's no upgrade here that changes your life. We also don't cover commercial crank-mounted openers, military-style pocket openers, or the jar-opening tools that often show up in the same search — those are different products with different priorities.

Cut style: side-cutting smooth-edge designs leave no sharp rim or lid, which is the single biggest safety difference between openers and close to mandatory with kids around. Grip and effort: we read specs on knob size, handle material and mechanism, then checked owner feedback for repeated mentions of hand strain, slipping and wheels that won't bite. Materials: steel frames and steel wheels last; plastic gearing is where cheap openers die, usually within a year. Cleaning: a wheel you can reach with a brush, or a cutting assembly that lifts off, beats anything sealed or fiddly. Space: we weighed drawer storage against counter space and outlet access, because in a small kitchen that decides the purchase.

If you want a compact smooth-edge opener with a lid magnet: The Zyliss Lock N' Lift Manual Can Opener ($24.95) — The Zyliss Lock N' Lift locks onto the rim so the cut stays even, cuts from the side for a smooth edge, and holds the lid on a magnet so it never lands in your food. It's small, light and easy to stash in a crowded drawer. What you give up is heft — the body is lighter than the OXO's, and owners note the wheel area collects residue and needs regular scrubbing. Very large cans aren't its strength either.

If gripping and turning are the actual problem: The Hamilton Beach Walk 'n Cut Electric Can ($34.99) — The Hamilton Beach Walk 'n Cut sits on the can rim, drives itself all the way around, then stops and shuts off on its own. It's cordless and rechargeable, so it works at the table, in a camper, or anywhere without an outlet, and it's small enough to keep in a drawer. A magnet holds the lid up out of the food, and the blade assembly detaches for cleaning. The catch is that it needs a clean, flat rim to track properly, so dented or odd-shaped cans can throw it off.

If you want an electric that does more than open cans: The Cuisinart CCO-55 Deluxe ($36.16) — The Cuisinart CCO-55 adds a knife sharpener and a bottle opener to a chrome-housed electric with a wide, non-tipping base and a removable activation lever for cleaning. Cuisinart backs it with a three-year limited warranty. It's a top-cut design, though, so you're left with a sharp lid, and owners report the cut going inconsistent on small or dented cans. Treat the built-in sharpener as a quick touch-up, not a replacement for a real one.

This is what our research surfaced, not a census of everything for sale. All three of these are genuinely usable openers, and plenty of people are happy with them. They lost to the picks on safety, on cleanup, or on how much of your kitchen they ask you to give up.

The Swing-A-Way Comfort Comfort Grip Can Opener - ($14.96) — The Swing-A-Way Comfort Grip is the other all-steel classic: a high-carbon gear-driven wheel, a skip-proof feed, cushioned handles that suit most hand sizes, and a bottle opener built in. It's been a kitchen fixture for generations and makes a great backup or gift. We give the nod to the EZ-DUZ-IT on sheer sturdiness among top-cut openers, and both leave you a sharp lid. If the cushioned grips appeal to you more than a heavier frame, buy this one instead — you won't regret it.

The KitchenAid Classic Multifunction Can Opener and Bottle ($14.99) — The KitchenAid Classic Multifunction is a well-made manual with a razor-sharp stainless wheel, an oversized turning knob, soft ergonomic handles and a bottle opener. It feels more substantial than a bargain opener and looks the part next to matching appliances. But it's a top-cut design, so the lid edge is sharp, and that razor-sharp wheel wants careful handling when you wash it. If you want one drawer tool for cans and bottles and smooth edges aren't a priority, it's a fair choice.

The Black & Decker CO100WM SpaceMaker Under-the-Cabinet Can ($168) — The Black & Decker SpaceMaker CO100WM mounts under a cabinet and stays there, which clears your counter permanently — the whole reason it exists. In a galley kitchen or a small apartment, that's a legitimate win, and the one-touch operation is genuinely hands-free. It's also the most expensive opener here, it needs screws and a nearby outlet, and it's harder to clean than a countertop electric because you're working overhead. Renters and anyone unwilling to drill should skip it. If you're committed to the under-cabinet setup, this is the option in this group.

Most openers die at the cutting wheel, and most of that is grime. After anything sticky — condensed milk, tomato paste, tuna in oil — rinse the wheel and gear under hot water and scrub with a brush before the residue dries hard. Hand-wash your manual openers. A dishwasher dulls carbon-steel wheels and pits the plating over time, and openers that sit wet in the rack start to rust at the pivot. Dry them right away instead. On an electric, pull the cutting assembly off, wash it separately, then wipe the housing. And pay attention to effort: when an opener starts skipping around the rim or leaving a jagged, half-cut lid, the wheel is finished. Replace it rather than fighting it, because a dull wheel is the one that slips.

For this guide:

• We read published reviews and roundups from major kitchen-focused outlets and compared where their picks agreed and where they didn't.
• We went through manufacturer specifications and listing details for every opener here, covering cut style, materials, dimensions and cleaning method.
• We read owner feedback for each model and looked for repeated failure patterns — stripped gears, wheels that stop biting, lids that won't release — rather than one-off complaints.
• We read owner reviews on every listing, weighted toward the critical ones, because that is where the recurring failures show up.
• We have a systematic way of automatically fetching the latest prices, so the numbers on this page stay current.
• This is a research-focused guide, so the team may not own every product listed — though we often do own the top winners, which gives us extra context for the recommendations.
• We don't accept free products, and the retailer commission never changes which product we recommend.