Kitchen Shears

Superior blades gave our former favorite the edge yet again. With a razor-sharp 25-degree angle, the shears’ cutter blade sliced through every kind of food with equal ease. Deep, angular serrations on the anvil blade helped secure slippery foods. The blades’ length (the longest in the lineup) ensured smooth, continuous cutting; their overall narrowness made them easy to maneuver; and a medium level of tension between them provided just enough shearing force without taxing our hands. They’re ambidextrous, comfortable to hold, and can be taken apart for cleaning.

With relatively long, narrow, sharp blades, these ambidextrous, take-apart shears were nimble and made nice smooth cuts on all foods. Lots of tiny microserrations on the anvil blade edge helped ensure a secure grip on slippery foods. And its plastic finger bows were comfortable for hands of all sizes. But because they were the lightest shears in our testing, with a fairly loose level of tension between the blades, some testers found them to be less powerful than our winner; a wider blade angle contributed to a slightly less keen-feeling edge.

Made by Kai, the same company that makes the Shun Multi-Purpose Shears, the Kershaw Taskmaster Shears were similar to our winner and performed almost as well. While there were minor differences between this model and our winner—the blade tension wasn’t quite as even, the blades were slightly less sharp, and the serrations on the blades were smaller—the shears were still solid in their ability to break down chickens and snip off cauliflower florets. And since they’re half the price of our winner, they remain a good affordable option.

With a cutter blade sharpened to a knife-like 20 degrees and an anvil blade with lots of tiny microserrations, these ambidextrous, take-apart shears did a great job of gripping and cutting all foods. They were long enough, although the blades were a little wider than our top choice, sacrificing some agility; high tension between the blades made them harder to open and close repeatedly. Testers liked the grippy plastic finger bows, but some found them to be too large, making it tricky for smaller hands to find their position.

These ambidextrous, take-apart shears had comfortable handles and a nice level of tension, making them great for lighter tasks. But the blades, which were shorter than those of most other models, slipped around on chicken parts and rosemary and took more strokes to cut around the perimeter of a parchment round. Also, because the blades were wider, they were less agile when maneuvering around a head of cauliflower.

These shears were serviceable for most tasks but not all that pleasant to use. While the blades were long enough, they were quite wide, feeling clumsy and awkward to maneuver. With medium-size serrations, the anvil blade did a good job of gripping food. But the cutter blade, which was sharpened to a more traditional large angle, felt a bit dull, and a fairly low level of tension between the blades only got more slack over time, providing less and less power for cutting through food. Overall, these shears required more work to operate. Finally, the narrow finger bows were grippy but a little uncomfortable to hold.

These shears were fine for cutting parchment and cauliflower—but little else. With the stumpiest blades in the lineup, they required more cuts to get through food. Rounded, granton-like indentations on the side of the anvil blade provided no traction at all, making these shears especially bad at handling slippery foods; the cutter blade looked nearly flat and felt fairly dull. And over time, this model’s medium tension slackened, lessening its shearing power. Finally, an all-metal construction made these shears heavy and uncomfortable to use for extended periods, as the tiny, narrow steel finger bows dug into testers’ hands.