(Copyright © 2012 by Wil C. Fry. All rights reserved.)
I normally don’t do product reviews. I think this is my first one. So bear with me.
I don’t think I’ve ever been pleased with a can opener before. They either opened cans with some difficulty, or they didn’t open them properly at all. But I’m pleased with this one.
My wife and I subscribe to HGTV Magazine, which has only had two or three issues so far. In the latest issue, some professional cooking person recommended this specific can opener. It was $22, which seemed really steep to me. “But if it works…” we kept saying to one another.
We found it at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and bought it.
And man, am I impressed. Instead of cutting inside the top rim of the can, this one cuts off the complete top, cutting around the circumference outside the rim. It makes a clean cut, leaves no pointy tangs protruding. It doesn’t slip or skip.
I almost didn’t believe it was that easy, so I wanted to open more cans for further testing, but my wife urged me to wait until we actually needed the other cans open.
Addendum, June 9, 2012:
I neglected to mention (and was reminded by a reader in the comments below) that after you’ve smoothly cut off the can’s lid, you can easily pull it off without getting your fingers messy. The can opener comes with a built-in set of “micro-pliers” or metal grips that can grab the lip of the lid to remove it for easy and clean disposal.
Perhaps because I’m sometimes a little on the prissy side, I hate the old way of getting glop all over my fingers when I pull out the lid to throw it away.
Addendum, Feb. 24, 2013:
One downside we discovered, is the inability to drain the can, like we used to do with tuna, for example. Since this opener doesn’t go around the inside of the rim, you can’t press the lid down inside to hold in tuna while draining out the liquid. It cuts off the whole top, including the rim, so the lid can’t fit inside the can. It means you have to soil a strainer in order to drain tuna.
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Let us know if you continue to be pleased. I had a Pampered Chef smooth-edge for a while, and at first thought it was great, but then discovered it didn’t work on generic cans. Then it seemed to work less and less. Finally I decided if I had to keep the cheap one as a backup, I really didn’t need to keep the fancy one.
Shari: We’ve kept a cheap one for a backup too. :-) I’ll definitely update this post (or write a new one maybe?) if it quits working over time.
We’ve had ours for the past three years. Unless the build quality has gone down, you’ll continue to be pleased.
*You didn’t mention the little micro-pliers built into it for those stubborn can tops that don’t want to separate.
Michael, thanks for the report. Hopefully, the current models are built the same way as your older model.
And you’re right, I forgot to mention the little grip to pull off the can lids. :-)