Hamilton Beach Smooth Touch Can Opener
Unlike the previously-reviewed Starfrit Securimax, this opener is electric and sits on your counter, so it requires very little exertion or physical dexterity. Since the blade cuts along the side of the top, it never cuts or touches down into the can -- i.e. no dirty blade contaminating the can contents, no metal shavings fall in your food, and no contents oozing out over the dust covered can top. Also, since the cut top is slightly bigger than the body, no cut lids fall into the can -- and after opening, the top can easily be placed back on the can. For short term storage in the fridge, I use some tape to keep it in place.
Best of all, the opener leaves a lid and can that have no sharp edges -- even with a pop-top. I don't know about the rest of the country, but most communities in New York State require recycling, and all recycled food containers must be clean. Our household goes through many cans in a week, and washing out cans opened with a traditional can opener can be treacherous because of the sharp edges.
Hamilton Beach sells almost a dozen models of can openers, but only one uses the "Smooth Touch technology." I'm baffled, since after using this one it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to return to a traditional style opener. You operate it, more or less, as you would any electric counter-top opener. Just wedge the can between the two rotating discs and push down on the lever to grip the can. Press the lever a little more to rotate and cut the can. You do have to hold the lever down throughout the operation, which can be mildly annoying for a large diameter can. Some time-pressed people will also miss the automatic shutoff of other electric can openers. Certain brands, notably College Inn tend to require up to two revolutions to open. But the time, effort and caution it saves when we're cleaning the cans is certainly worth it.
-- David King
Hamilton Beach Smooth Touch Can Opener
$31
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Hamilton Beach
Favorite (15)
Auso
If you don't want another appliance on your counter, I recommend a hand held can opener from Kuhn Rikon (Swiss Designed) that does the same thing.
Suggested retail is $14, but picked it up for $6.99 at TJ Maxx.
http://kuhnrikon.com/products/tools/tools.php3?id=90
Joel
The only reason I can see to get an electric can opener is if you have arthritis, otherwise I don't see that they are quicker or even much easier to use. Hand operated ones are frequently easier to clean (esp. if dishwasher safe), and are more reliable due to fewer parts to wear out. The final bonus, they are also cheaper!
jjohnjj
This method of "separating" the lid from the can (rather than cutting through it) is brilliant. The "Good Cook" line of utensils - found in most supermarkets - has a manual opener that works this way. It works great too.
However, my wife has diminshed grip and upper body strength resulting from mastectomy. I will be ordering the HB electric version ASAP. Thanks!
Anonymous
WOW! It really works! Just got ours from Amazon today. Great purchase :-)
Dave King
I contributed the original review, and would like to add an extended use review. I should first comment that ironically, our current low-fat diet entails heavy use of canned goods, mainly broth, beans, and chopped tomatoes. Thus we may open more can then many people. After using this opener for over a year, it appears to be dulling somewhat, and failing to open an occasional can even after repeated revolutions. (The problem is almost always with College Inn products, so I suppose that it's also possible that they have made there lid connection even more tenacious.)
However, the other other problem I'm now frequently experiencing is that use of the opener is popping the CGI breaker in a nearby outlet. This is easy to reset, but the outage resets the clock on a microwave oven that shares the some circuit, which is annoying.
I will continue to use this opener, and will probably replace it with the same model if it completely fails. However, if you are not concerned with possible sharp edges and dirt contamination problems, I'd suggest using a more conventional design.