Kuhn Rikon Can & Jar Opener Set

I have the Rosle can opener and I love it and I thought I would try this one use at my office. I opened 2 cans, then began to have trouble. Cans needed to be turned several times through the opener, then I needed the help of tools to separate areas that did not separate cleanly, then I would just make dangerous metal splinters. Some gearing seems to be plastic or precision is bad since I can feel it slipping. I threw it out yesterday. I love the Rosle and it has been working for over 10 years. There are people rating the Rosle as lasting only a year or so and recommending the Kuhn Rikon opener. They must mean the deluxe model since this one is terrible. I have not used the jar opener successfully but only tried it twice.

I ordered this set on the recommendation of a friend. I have mixed feelings about it. The jar opener is great, and it seems to be sturdy. The can opener, on the other hand, failed within 2 weeks. It seems that the gearing in the opener may be stripped. It can't grip the can for more than a second without the gears slipping. It's really a shame, because until this happened, it worked great. It looks like Kuhn Rikon makes a lot of can openers, but only this one has the automatic attachment/gearing feature. They might want to go back to the drawing board on this one.

I purchased my set from Woot, but it is the same set. When I encountered a problem, I Googled the item and checked some reviews. It seems that the jar opener is generally considered excellent, but the lid lifter gets plenty of complaints. At least, it is a 'plenty' for a Kuhn Rikon's product. Too bad, because the previous versions of lid lifters are considered excellent. Mine is also defective. It looks like the Side Winder is just inferior to its predecessors. The mechanics of the lid lifter are rather simple: there are two circular disks, one of them should shift, lock, and hold in locked position when the winder is rotated. Mine (and many others that are defective) shifts back to unlocked position with the second rotation, thus releasing the can from its grip and rendering it useless. If (when) it works, it's the best opener ever, but mine is a lemon. Also, it's not comfortable for the "lefties". The jar opener in my set works like a charm. I knew it will be better than anything I used before, like spoon tricks, rubber pads, rubber gloves and what not, but I didn't even dream it would be that easy. Both openers are rather bulky. The jar opener is probably the optimal size in proportion to its functions (several of them). The lid lifter seems to me a little oversized, which is probably due to the new (and not effective) winding design. All in all, for the price it is an excellent deal if both pieces work, as separately they are prices at about 20 dollars each. Unfortunately, it's a hit or miss and with one defective it is really a 2.5 stars. Edit: (March 2013) Following BonJo comments (see comment section), I also contacted Kuhn Rikon and within a few days received a fully functional replacement to my defective lid lifter. Kudos to the company for an outstanding CS and standing behind their products. With this in mind, the rating now goes up to 3.5 stars, rounded to the whole number ;)

Makes opening jars and containers of all sizes so much easier for anyone with grip issues. Awesome product. Highly recommend!

Bought one of these "can openers" because my wife thought it was supposed to be "ergonomically easier" on your wrist. It looks good, and performs poorly and is hard on your wrist, not easier. If this were your only can opener, it would work well for a diet program, Will not reliably open cans, and on those it does it is with a good deal of effort. A waste of perfectly good plastic. She wound up having to use a conventional can opener to open the mess left by this one.

The side winder opener stopped locking on the edge of a can after opening the first can. It is either because it can only lock on certain cans or it is broken after only one use. The second can is just a very common can of beans but the opener stopped working properly. The two round plates on the opener slip away from each other after each turn. What a waste of money on a useless can opener. Will never buy anything from this company.