The Best Kitchen Shears Reviews & Buying Guide

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KitchenAid Shears with Soft Grip

Our Top Pick for 2019: KitchenAid Shears with Soft Grip
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In the kitchen, cutting meat or vegetables with just a knife can oftentimes be a tedious, sometimes overly difficult task. Finding the right cutting angles, effectively cutting off fat, or deboning a bird is oftentimes made much easier by a pair of reliable, well-made kitchen shears. Combining the functionality of a knife with the utility of a pair of traditional scissors, kitchen shears are great for making the best cuts possible on meat or vegetables, but which kitchen shears are the best on the market? Here is our list of some of the best of these simple devices available today.

Let’s Have a Quick Look of Our Top 4 Picks:

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#1. KitchenAid Shears with Soft Grip

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*Price typically updated every 24 hours. Current price may be different.

With almost one hundred years of in the realm of providing quality kitchen appliances, few brand names are as prestigious in house or home than KitchenAid. Made famous by their stand mixer in 1919, the company has since expanded into the realm of quality cutlery as well. Brand quality aside, what makes this kitchen shear our number one pick? Simply stated, its features and reliability make this device an excellent buy for both the amateur and the professional cook.

From an aesthetic point of view, this set of kitchen scissors has a great utilitarian design. The handles are of an equal size and will fit even the largest fingers comfortably. And since they are of equal size and shape, the handles are perfect for either right handed or left handed individuals. The handles are also attached attractively with stainless “Jewelsteel” rivets. These rivets are flush with the handles and provide an excellent degree of sturdiness and reliability.

The blades on this shear are also unique in design. Designed to be as thick as most mid-sized knives, the blades are clearly honed to be strong and reliable. The middle of the assembly is attached by another, slightly larger “Jewelsteel” rivet. Each of the three rivets on the unit are designed to never lose their luster, even after extended usage.

These shears fit neatly in with any set of cutlery, and at a superbly light 5.1 ounces, they are also far from unwieldy to manipulate. The blades are about four inches long, which is a great size considering that many items of this type feature blades as little as three inches in length. Each of the micro-serration enhanced blades are composed of brushed stainless steel and are cut thick to lend the edges a sharper cutting surface and deliver more of the sturdiness and durability that will ensure years of use. The handles are also composed of a soft-grip, non-slip material that feels comfortable in the hands. Since you’ll potentially be using these to cut through bone and other difficult to cut materials, it’s good to know that this sharp instrument slipping and causing harm is something you’ll never have to worry about.

Though they can’t be disassembled, these shears are nonetheless very easy to clean and maintain. A warm cloth typically is all that’s needed for cleaning, but KitchenAid also made these shears dishwasher safe to ensure even easier overall maintenance. Needless to say, you can expect these shears not to rust, even when submerged or exposed to copious amounts of water.

Any bladed cutlery can provide a cutting hazard during retrieval – even when the blades are positioned inward like is the case with these kitchen shears. To protect your hands, KitchenAid has also provided a plastic blade cover that you can use for these shears when they are not in use. This added safety, coupled with the aforementioned non-slip handles is the reason why these shears are considered the safest on our list.

Great safety features, durability, and easiness to clear aside, some cooks prefer to use appliances that match the décor of their kitchen. Luckily KitchenAid has provided several color options for these shears so that accessorizing them with your cooking space will be an easy proposition. Available colors for these shears include, the default black, verdant green apple, red, soft blue, and bright turquoise. Since some reviewers have admitted to purchasing more than one of these due to their reliability, having different colored kitchen shears for different rooms and tasks is made all-the-more easy by the extensive selection of hues.

You can get our number one gold pick shears on Amazon for around $12. This is an exceptionally well reviewed item, with users on Amazon grading it a five star pick 80 percent of the time, and 11 percent of the users are grading it at a four stars level. Most users are grading it so because of its durability, versatility, and ease of use.

#2. J.A. Henckels International Kitchen Shears

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*Price typically updated every 24 hours. Current price may be different.

Based in Solingen, Germany, J.A. Henckels is one of the largest cutlery brands in the world. Created in the early 1700s, the brand is also one of the oldest trademarks with items still on the market today. With such a long and successful history, you know that Zwilling J.A. Henckles is a supremely trusted brand and makes exceptional cutting items for usage in everyday cooking. Their kitchen shears, which is the number two silver pick on our list, continues the storied history of this nearly 300 year old brand by providing the now traditional level of quality and reliability.

On first glance, these kitchen shears have a somewhat similar form factor to our number one gold pick. The handles are equal sized to provide an ambidextrous experience, and the blades are thicker for extended lastingness and durability. Outside of these superficial similarities this is a very unique pair of kitchen scissors. To start, J.A. Henckels made sure to include a large blue colored rivet in the center of the blades. The result is a very unique, stark appearance that is very attractive amongst your kitchens other cutlery. Another unique aesthetic feature is the rounded hollow between the handles – more on the reason for this unique feature later.

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Sized at 10.2 x 3.8 x 2.8 inches and weighing an easy-to-heft four ounces, these shears are a cinch to manipulate and use. Shape-wise, the entire assembly is heart shaped and has a slightly thinner looped set of handles than some of the other choices on the market. The blades are also about 3 ¾ inches in length. These shears are also corrosion resistant and are composed of stainless steel that is sure to last for ages.

Warm water and a cloth is a great way to maintain these shears, and water won’t harm the blades since they are composed of stainless steel. Though not officially backed by J.A. Henckels, cleaning the blades is made easy by the fact that these shears can be safely placed in the dishwasher.

When making intricate cuts with a sharp implement, slippage should be the furthest thing from your mind. Luckily the precision engineers at J.A. Henckels considered this and created a blade this is singularly slip-resistant. Not only is the handle resistant to slippage, but the blade itself has a serrated edge that makes cutting slippery items like vegetables and fatty meats, a much easier process.

As previously mentioned, there is a rounded hollow positioned right above the joint of this set of kitchen shears. This feature, which has metal teeth for gripping, is designed for the opening of bottle caps. In addition, to the bottle opener there is a non-sharp serrated section in the center of the handle. You can use this section of the handle to crack nuts, remove the lids off of difficult to open jars, or even remove screw caps easily. These are great features because, as we all know, sometimes space in a kitchen comes at a premium so adding additional functionality to our appliances can be very useful and space saving.

These shears, which only come in black, go for around $16 on Amazon. These shears are also well received by the reviewing community on Amazon. They’ve garnered a five star rating from around 82 percent of the site’s reviewers and a 4 star rating from 11 percent of the reviewing community.

#3. WISLIFE Kitchen Shears

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*Price typically updated every 24 hours. Current price may be different.

The WISLIFE kitchen shears are among the more versatile shears on our list. As a matter of fact, these shears are so versatile that there are even more ways to cut the meats and veggies you’ll be preparing than in just scissor style. These shears will not only reliably cut and slice, but will also help you tackle a plethora of kitchen activities and duties.

Shaded in an almost fluorescent yellow on the outside and grey on the inside of the handles, these shears with their dual tone, look almost futuristic in their aesthetic. From a kitchen design standpoint, these scissors are fairly brightly colored, so they tend to stand out in a kitchen environment. The handles are also of two different sizes, and while this might not be as good for lefties, the sizes of the rings help differentiate which blade you’ll be using.

These dimensions of these shears are 11 x 2.7 x 0.8 inches, and are the heaviest on our list at 7.2 ounces; a weight caused by all of the extra features. The first come-apart shears on our list, the WISLIFE shears’ defining characteristic is the ability to separate the individual blades at the rivet. Simply twist the scissors and pull upwards to disengage the catch and the individual blades become accessible.

Once separated, each blade gains new functionality. One of the blades is sharp and fine enough for zesting an orange or lemon or even peeling a potato. The other blade is serrated and easily capable of cutting hard vegetable stalks, cutting items for serving like roasts or cakes, or even softer items like butter. The serrated blade is also designed to be an excellent fish de-scaler. Having washable, stainless steel blades that can be separated makes these kitchen shears a cinch to clean by hand, though they are also dishwasher safe.

Being able to separate the blades is a great, useful feature, but in addition to this added functionality, these shears also possess two unique features on top of the handles. Poised on the smaller of the two loops is a cap opener for metal twist caps, and on top of the larger of the two is a flathead screwdriver attachment. Both of these features help to extend your range of kitchen options quite well; especially considering that the primary function of this device is to shear food items like vegetables and meats.

For bones, there is also an included bone crusher that is positioned underneath the area where the rivet rests, simply place a bone in the center and crush it by applying scissor pressure to the handles. Rounding out the features and nestled in between the handles of these kitchen shears is an included nutcracker. The cracker is serrated in order to grip the nut securely and also add a multilevel surface that makes cracking the shell much easier. With the purchase of these shears is a magnetic holder that adheres to a refrigerator or other metallic surface, making access to these scissors simple.

These shears are a steal on Amazon for a mere $11 and have also gained a good amount of positive reviews with most reviewers (81 percent), giving the shears a five star rating. 16 percent of Amazon reviewers gave it a four star rating meaning that this set of shears had the least amount of negative reviews with only 3 percent of those who reviewed it having an issue with the product.

#4. AmazonBasics Multifunction Come-Apart Kitchen Shears

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*Price typically updated every 24 hours. Current price may be different.

Our ballin’ on a budget shears manage to pack in some great features, like some great versatility, while still managing to stay at a low price point. Sourced directly from Amazon itself, these shears sport a unique looking design that’s full of curves and hollows that don’t just provide a unique aesthetic experience, but also provide added functionality. Visually, these shears even favor the design of the first two shears on our list, but also are ‘come-apart’, similarly to our third entry.

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The blades on these shears are also fairly thick and are exceptionally sharp. The size of the whole unit is 8.3 x 3.2 x 0.4 inches and weighs around 3 ounces. The blades are around 3 inches in length and are comprised of stainless steel. The handles are also non slip, which is a great thing as this will hands from injury.

Feature-wise, this set of shears doesn’t skimp. Simply twist the black rivet and pull upwards to utilize the ‘come apart’ nature of these shears. When you separate them, several new features are made available. To start, one blade that features a groove for bottle top opening, also serves as an exceptional fish scaler. The other blade, with its thinner cutting edge works well as a vegetable peeler and can be used as a knife to cut meats and vegetables. While not dishwasher safe, these shears are still easy to clean when separated, just be careful as the blades are exceedingly sharp.

Poised between the handles of the unit is the same style of serrated metal grips that are found in the Henckels and WISLIFE shears. Similar to those shears, this area is designed to crack seafood shells or nuts, make removing difficult metal screw caps easier by adding extra gripping power, or even help remove the lids of difficult jars.

These ballin’ on a budget shears are available on Amazon for about $8; an absolute steal for anyone looking for very functional kitchen scissors at a cheap price. Ratings-wise, on Amazon most people give these shears a five star rating; around 65 percent of reviewers. 14 percent of reviewers gave this a four star rating, which, while not the least negative reviewed shears on our list, still indicates that 79 percent of those who purchase these have had a positive experience.

Pre-purchase considerations

Sharpness and Reliability

Kitchen shears are designed to cut, so sharpness and a keen cutting edge should be the first consideration when looking for a good pair of scissors. Some scissors, when they are first purchased, are razor sharp and cut through tough items like bone and vegetable stalks with ease but as time progresses, they lose that fine cutting edge. You should buy your kitchen shears to last because a dull blade can slip and cause injury to you or anyone in your kitchen.

To ensure a pleasant lasting experience, consider the materials that the blade is comprised of, or whether the manufacturer backs the reliability of the blades themselves. Some blades have a serrated edge on them, these tend to last fairly long and also tend to provide more grip on the item that you are cutting.

Also, when a set of shears is ‘come-apart’ please consider the mechanism for separation. You don’t want a blade that pops apart during the wrong situations, because that can pose a danger to you or others n your kitchen.

Grip

No one wants to needlessly cut themselves during food preparation. A blade slipping either from your grip or sliding on a hard food item can be disastrous. Look for two points of grip on any kitchen shears that you are looking into, any blade should:

• Have a slip free coating on the handles; either latex or plastic that’s textured to provide a safe experience
• Have slip resistant serration along at least one of the cutting surfaces to ensure that the blade doesn’t slip when cutting through slippery, yet hard to cut items like bones or vegetable stalks.

Ease of Cleaning

Kitchen shears, unlike standard scissors, are designed for meats and vegetables that can leave residue on the blade and which must be cleaned thoroughly after use. So as not to spread germs after cutting meats and risk cross contaminating the vegetables that you are preparing, kitchen shears need to be easy to clean. Many of the shears mentioned here are machine washable, and those that aren’t need to have the ability to be wiped clean with soapy warm water and a cloth.

The ‘come-apart’ entries on our list have the added bonus of being able to completely separate the blades for easy hand washing. If you prefer to clean every nook and cranny of your cutlery, then these types of kitchen shears might be for you.

Durability

Have a lot of tough cutting jobs? If so, consider a blade that will stand up to jobs where you have to debone, cut tough scaling, or crush hard shells from a food item you are planning to prepare. These types of jobs tend to quickly degrade even the most reliable shears, so you might want one that has a thicker blade, a keener cutting edge, or a stronger, wear resistant, carbon-coated stainless steel blade.

Versatility

Some cooking shears are only designed to cut scissor-style. Others are made to fulfill a variety of culinary purposes. Some on our list can crush bone, provide additional grip for opening items, or even scale a fish with relative ease. Consider what you are missing in your kitchen before you pick a pair of shears that may have a lot of extra, potentially redundant features.

Add ins are a great way to extend the value of your purchase as well, little things like a magnetic blade sheath or a blade cover add an extra level of safety and convenience to a pair of kitchen shears.

Conclusion (Wrapping it up)

Kitchen shears add a level of convenience and utility to almost any kitchen. They neatly combine the worlds of paring knives with the convenience and safety of traditional scissors. When looking into a pair of kitchen scissors, be sure to know what your kitchen needs are, and when you make your purchase, you’ll find that food preparation has become a much easier process.

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