Zyliss Easi Can Opener Review (2026)

Apartment and small-kitchen cooks, users with mild grip issues, and anyone whose counters are already full. High-volume cooks and tall-can households will be happier with a countertop base.

Set the unit on the rim, press the button, and it walks the can, cuts, and stops on its own. The magnet then lifts the lid clear as you raise the opener.

That sequence needs no grip strength during cutting, which is why it appears on so many accessibility shortlists.

The body is small enough for a cutlery drawer, a genuine advantage no countertop rival can match. The trade is pace: large cans take noticeably longer than on a corded base unit.

AA batteries keep it simple, but keep spares in the same drawer, because a fading battery mid-can is its most common annoyance.

Against the Hamilton Beach Smooth Touch, the Zyliss wins on storage and cordless ease, but the Hamilton Beach cuts a smoother side edge, handles tall cans more calmly, and never needs batteries. Against the Hamilton Beach Walk 'n Cut, both are compact handhelds; the Walk 'n Cut is rechargeable rather than AA powered, while the Easi Can is the more established one-touch design from a tool specialist brand.

Like all top-riders, the Easi Can needs a standard rolled rim in good shape. Dented rims can break its grip and stall the cut.

For damaged cans, a manual opener remains the backup tool every kitchen should keep.

Ownership revolves around two habits: keeping spare AA batteries in the same drawer as the opener, and accepting a slower pace on large cans. Owners praise that the compact body tucks away with no counter clutter, and that one button starts a cut that stops itself. The trade-off appears when batteries fade mid-can, which owners describe as the most common interruption, and when a run of large cans makes the handheld pace feel slow compared with a corded countertop base. For a few cans a day in a small kitchen, that upkeep is minor. For daily volume, owners are better served by keeping this as the drawer option beside a countertop model.

Because the unit walks the rim itself, there is no grip or twisting required during the cut, which owners with limited grip strength praise alongside the clean magnet lift at the end.

Keep a manual opener as backup for the cans this design cannot help with. A standard rolled rim in good shape is required for engagement, and dented rims can stall the cut before it starts.