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See why.Kitchen Shears
A pair of scissors can be a sheer pleasure to use in the kitchen—if you get the right one.
In our original review, we named both the Kershaw Taskmaster Shears and the Shun Multi-Purpose Shears as winners, since both are made by the parent company Kai and were identical in design and performance. We recently learned that Kai made changes to the design of the Kershaw shears, so we retested the Shun and Kershaw shears and found a few key differences between the two. The Kershaw blades have slightly less tension and shorter, shallower serrations; they’re also not as sharp as the Shun shears. As a result, we don’t recommend them as highly as the Shun shears, which remain our top pick.
Top Picks
What You Need To Know
Kitchen shears are an essential component of any cook’s knife kit. We use them for a wide range of tasks—cutting twine and parchment, snipping herbs, trimming pie dough, cutting florets from heads of cauliflower and broccoli, and butterflying chickens, to name just a few. In our last testing, the Kershaw Taskmaster Shears ($26.30), also known as the Shun Multi-Purpose Shears, outperformed all competitors—and at a fairly low price. So we knew we didn’t have to spend a lot to get a great tool. Curious to see whether our former favorite reigned supreme among all inexpensive shears, we decided to pit it against five other models priced from $12.99 to $39.95.
All the shears sailed through the lighter tasks, ably snipping twine and chives, cutting parchment rounds, and trimming pie dough. But when we challenged them to cut tougher, denser, or more slippery foods, some shears faltered. Several slipped on the woody stems of rosemary branches, failing to bite through them. Others just couldn’t find purchase on the slick skin of raw chicken—never mind the hard, smooth bone—when we cut whole chickens into parts.
Blade Design Is Key
Blade design was primarily to blame for these failures. Each pair of shears has two blades: a cutter blade, which has a smooth edge and is responsible for most of the cutting action, and an “anvil” blade, which is usually serrated and a bit thicker, the better to help grip and secure the food being cut. Cutter blades are similar to the blades found on chef’s knives in that they sport a bevel—the slim strip on either side of the blade that narrows to form the cutting edge—that’s sharpened to a specific angle. While cutter blades are generally sharpened to a wide edge angle (traditionally 50 to 70 degrees), we found that, as with chef’s knives, the narrower the angle on the blade, the sharper it felt and the more easily it sliced through the food; blades with thicker edge angles tended to wedge themselves into the food instead of cutting it. Not all manufacturers were willing to disclose edge angles, but our favorite model had an unusually acute angle of 25 degrees, providing an almost knife-like sharpness (for comparison, chef’s knives are typically sharpened to about 15 to 20 degrees). And although narrower edge angles can make some blades more vulnerable to chipping or scratching, we’re pleased to say that our favorite suffered no such loss of integrity over the course of testing.
The type and placement of the serrations on the anvil blade mattered, too. For the serrations to truly bite into and stabilize the food, they had to be on the edge of the blade or at least on the bevel. And the deeper and sha...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
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.
Recommended
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2.5 stars out of 3.
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.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2.5 stars out of 3.
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.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2.5 stars out of 3.
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.
Recommended with reservations
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
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.
Not Recommended
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
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.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 1 stars out of 3.
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.
Reviews you can trust
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
Miye Bromberg
Miye is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She covers booze, blades, and gadgets of questionable value.