KitchenAid All Purpose Shears Review: The Sub-$10 Kitchen Workhorse

Product Overview

These are straightforward stainless-steel kitchen scissors — no bottle opener, no bone notch, no screwdriver tip. What you get is a focused cutting tool with a few thoughtful details: micro-serrated blades that grip food and packaging rather than slip off, a soft-grip handle coating for wet hands, and a plastic blade cap for safe drawer storage.

The "All Purpose" name is accurate: these are a utility scissors intended for the full range of non-heavy kitchen tasks. They are not poultry shears, and the name shouldn't imply otherwise.

Performance & Real-World Use

For everyday tasks, the KitchenAid shears are genuinely capable. The micro-serrations make a meaningful difference when cutting through the skin of a chicken thigh, snipping twine around a roast, trimming herbs to order over a bowl, or working through stubborn clam-shell packaging. The blades close solidly and the soft-grip coating means they don't slide when your hands are damp.

Where they start to show limits: hard plastic packaging (the heavy kind around electronics accessories) and anything that needs real force, like cutting through a chicken backbone or thick cartilage. These are not poultry shears. You will feel the blades flex under that kind of load, and the pivot design means leverage is limited.

Pizza cutting is a genuine strength — the length and serrations mean a few snips covers a whole 12-inch pie cleanly. Same for cutting parchment paper, opening bags, or portioning flat bread dough.

The dishwasher-safe claim has been the most contentious point across expert tests. TechGearLab documented rust at the blade and pivot after a single dishwasher cycle, despite the manufacturer's claim. That's one data point, not universal, but it is consistent with what rust-prone stainless steel does when exposed to high-heat drying cycles. Hand-washing and drying these takes ten seconds and eliminates the risk entirely.