World's best can opener: Swing-A-Way classic

After decades of assaults on its iconic design, Swing-A-Way still stands tall at the top of the heap.

Every time I cut myself on a sharp can lid trying to remove the darn thing from under the liquid on top, I vow to replace my Swing-A-Way with one of those that removes the entire top with no sharp edges.

Then I buy one, use it for day, and put it in the bottom drawer to gather dust, never to be seen/used again.

Why?

Because every single one of the pretenders are much harder to use, requiring much more force to turn the handle.

That's because in addition to cutting, they have to compress the metal to create a safe edge.

They also generally make you turn the handle parallel to the ground, making you work without the aid of gravity.

I spent $24.95 for a Kuhn-Rikon opener billed as being "built like a Swiss watch."

True.

But still too hard to use.

OXO came out with a version, and put in a kind of transmission gear that lets you turn the handle vertically like the Swing-A-Way.

No good: still too hard to turn.

So every few years, as I did just now, I drop $5.95 for a new Swing-A-Way and just suck up the occasional cut.

I suppose I could clean the old opener, but that gunk that gets in and behind the gears really doesn't come completely off no matter how hard I try with a toothpick.

I see now that Zyliss, the Swiss manufacturer of all things kitchen-related,

has just come out with a safety-lid version, for $14.95.

I think this dog is just not gonna hunt here anymore: I'm passing.

Of interest is that Cook's Illustrated magazine, the only objective source in the world for reviews on things food-related (they accept no advertising) reviewed a whole slew of can-openers and came to the same conclusion as I did.