Bought a $20 pair of kitchen shears on a whim last month

I was just tired of wrestling with plastic packaging and thought, whatever, it's twenty bucks. They live in a jar by the stove now and I use them for everything, from cutting pizza to trimming herbs. It's silly how much easier they make small tasks I used to hate. Anyone have a cheap buy that turned into a daily hero?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesleyb201mo ago

Disagree on the cheap part. Twenty bucks for one tool is a lot. My ten dollar ones from the hardware store do the same job. They cut packaging and herbs just fine. Spending double just to have them look nice in a jar seems like a waste. A tool just needs to work, not be a decoration.

lindag331mo ago

I mean, the ten dollar ones from the hardware store usually have a plastic handle and a really thin blade that dulls fast. I bought a pair for eight bucks at a discount store once and they couldn't even cut through a rosemary stem cleanly after two weeks. The metal is softer so it gets little nicks in it way easier too. Also, a lot of those cheap ones aren't actually stainless steel, they're just coated and the coating flakes off into your food. So it's not really about looking nice in a jar, it's about not having to replace them every few months and not worrying about metal bits in your herbs.

victor_robinson1mo ago

Nah man, I've been there with the cheap hardware store shears. They work fine until you try to cut through a chicken bone or thick cardboard and the pivot pin starts wobbling after three months. The twenty dollar ones usually have a better metal alloy that stays sharp way longer and a sturdier rivet. I had a pair of cheapos that literally snapped in half when I tried to cut a frozen pizza box. Save yourself the frustration and just get the decent pair now, you'll end up buying them anyway when the cheap ones break.