The Best Electric Can Openers of 2023

If you regularly use canned food in your recipes, you need an electric can opener in your kitchen. They’re are slim, stylish, and heavy-duty—the grown-up cousins of their manual counterparts. They take the labor out of a task that is tedious for some and borderline impossible for individuals who have issues using their hands, or seniors with arthritis. This is important since not all cans have a pop top!

We chose our top picks after testing the most popular products on the market—opening cans of all sizes, evaluating for speed, safety, and stability, among other factors. Our clear winner was the easy-to-use Cuisinart CCO-50BKN Deluxe Electric Can Opener (available at Amazon for $24.95) , which scored higher across the board than nearly all other electric and handheld models we tested. The Cuisinart easily attached to the can and cut through the metal of every can we gave it. It even managed to stay upright while latched onto a 48-ounce can of chicken broth. Some will say it’s physics, but I think it might be magic.

Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

Best Overall

Cuisinart CCO-50BKN Deluxe Can Opener

The Cuisinart CCO-50BKN handles every can you might throw at it (not literally) with grace and poise. The opener’s simple lever and sharp, precise cutting blade pierces cans in the right spot every time, while its magnet and spurs hold on tight throughout the quick duration of the opening process. The Cuisinart’s hands-free operation means that there’s no need to hold on to the lever—it does all the work and knows when to stop. After one full rotation, the lid pops off cleanly without splattering liquid and stays held in place by its magnetic lid opener, which will make you (and your clothes) happy.

What really sets the Cuisinart apart from the competition is in the design of its casing. It’s narrower and taller than other models, and while that sounds like a recipe for tipping over and spilling cans, the protruding lip on its base keeps it upright even while opening large cans.

Our only criticisms of this product are the ones we have of most electric models—it’s large, difficult to store, and has plastic parts that look likely to break in time. Most handheld models will last longer, but if you need an electric opener that will get the job done, this Cuisinart is your best bet for an automatic can opener.

Mục Lục

Pros

Strong magnet and spurs that don’t drop cans
Stable base
Automatic stop lever

Cons

Not very durable
Produces sharp edges

$24.95 from Amazon
$24.99 from Target
Buy now at Home Depot
$24.95 from Abt

Hamilton Beach 76380Z

The traditional electric option from Hamilton Beach is a stouter, curvier version of the Cuisinart, with an all-metal cutting unit that removes for easy washing. It grips cans easily and stays attached throughout their rotation. There’s no need to hold the lever down, and like the rest of the electric models, it comes with a standard knife sharpener attached.

While its stout size makes it appear more stable than other openers, this Hamilton Beach can’t handle large cans without tipping forward. A few inches in height and a larger base lip might solve this problem, but as is, it simply appears to be a less versatile version of the Cuisinart.

Pros

Strong and mostly stable
Automatic stop lever

Cons

Produces sharp edges
Can’t handle XL-sized cans

$26.99 from Amazon
$26.99 from Target
$34.99 from JCPenney
$26.99 from Walmart

Oster FPSTCN1300

With its stainless-steel finish, this Oster looks more stylish and expensive than most of the competition. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the build quality to back that up. While the Oster is the only other product stable and tall enough to handle a 48-ounce can without tipping, its many plastic elements that fix the magnet and cutting blade to the opener’s base look flimsy and likely to break, a theory that is supported by many of the product’s Amazon reviews.

It speeds through opening cans of all sizes and won’t have trouble attaching or staying put, but it often makes a mess of the job, tearing up the edges of paper labels on cans into confetti and spraying a bit of the can’s contents around when the lids popped off. I was disappointed—the Oster can certainly get the job done, but not cleanly and probably not for very long.

Pros

Handles XL-sized cans
Fast
Strong grip on cans

Cons

Not very durable
Splatters food and shreds labels as it turns

Buy now at Amazon
$59.99 from Walmart

Hamilton Beach 76607

The only electric safety opener we chose, the Hamilton Beach Smooth Touch has everything going for it on the surface—sleek black-and-chrome exterior, the all-metal cutting unit with no plastic parts to damage, and a substantial weight that screams “quality product.” While it easily opens most cans without struggling, dropping or splattering of any kind, it’s no match for larger 48-ounce cans (as with other openers, it has no protruding lip at the base to help it stay balanced). Unlike other electric models, this Hamilton Beach also makes you manually press down on the opener’s lever the entire time it’s in use.

Additionally, the “safety” aspect may not be so safe for everyone after all. Because the Smooth Touch can’t sense when one full rotation is complete the way that automatic, hands-free traditional openers can, it will continue moving around the can until you remove your hand from the lever. If this happens, it can lead to the production of small metal slivers. Multiple Amazon reviewers mention finding these slivers in their food, and in testing we were able to reproduce their claims by letting the opener continue going around past one full rotation.

While this is against the manufacturer’s recommendation, it can be difficult to tell visually when one full rotation is complete, and it’s very reasonable to assume not everyone is paying that close attention to their can openers. The manual says that you should stop pressing down on the lever when the sound of the opener goes up a pitch, but this is limiting for those who are hearing impaired or, again, not paying close attention. We don’t think this level of commitment should be necessary just to open a can of food without consuming metal slivers.

Pros

Produces safe edges
Stylish, attractive design
Good grip on cans

Cons

No automatic stop
Can’t handle XL-sized cans
Produces metal slivers

$37.85 from Amazon
$39.99 from Target
$59.39 from Overstock
$59.95 from Walmart

Kitchen Mama Electric Can Opener

With lots of colors to choose from, there’s no doubt that the Kitchen Mama electric can opener is a cool-looking gadget. Better yet, it comes at a pretty good price. Lightweight and battery operated, this electric can opener is especially portable, making it a great addition to both your kitchen arsenal and your camping supplies. Just tap to start, and the opener travels along the 360-degree edge to open cans in a flash. Once finished, tap the device again to stop, and the magnet will hold onto the lid so you won’t have to worry about it getting lost inside the can. Although this sounds like an awesome feature, some reviewers have complained about their magnet being weak, so it might not always grab the lid as intended.

While this electric can opener is easy to use, making it great for those with limited dexterity, some reviews report that it turns on a little too easily and gets going while they’re looking through their drawers for other utensils.

Pros

Easy to use
Especially portable

Cons

Magnet isn’t 100% reliable

Buy now at Amazon

What You Should Know About Electric Can Openers

Traditional or Safety?

Traditional can openers—the ones you’re probably best acquainted with—attach to a can’s rim and pierce the lid from the top. When a traditional can opener removes the lid from a can, the lid tends to be left with sharp edges. On the other hand, safety openers allow the cutting blade to slice through the side of a can near the top, resulting in the smooth separation of the can into two pieces with flat, even edges. Because cans have thinner lids than sides, traditional openers have to do less work than side cut openers, safety counterparts and are generally more efficient and durable.

Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

A safety can opener—such as this manual opener from Kuhn Rikon—cuts around the perimeter of the can rather than the top of the lid, resulting in smooth edges

While we tested a slew of popular manual safety openers, we didn’t feel the need to test as many electric safety options. Why? The nature of electric makes the “safety” aspect a lot less relevant, because you aren’t handling openers directly and, thanks to the magnetized heads of nearly all electric models, you don’t need to fish any lids out of cans.

While some may still prefer safety alternatives for producing even, clean lids free of jagged edges, we found that they run the risk of producing small metal slivers that can fall into cans, a hazard that was reported in multiple Amazon reviews of the Hamilton Beach Smooth Touch . This occurs when users don’t remove their hand from the lever at the right moment, allowing the opener to go around the can for more than one full rotation.

If your pet tries to get into your trash and lick cans clean, your child often helps you make dinner, or you just have health concerns about any potential nicks, we recommend choosing a manual safety can opener over an electric one to avoid these issues.

What About Battery Operated Can Openers?

It’s possible to pick up a battery-powered electric model, but we don’t like them. A cordless battery-operated can opener, fueled by a pair of AA batteries or similar cells, can’t match the cutting ability of a can opener that gets plugged into a wall socket, like the ones in this guide.