The 10 Best Kitchen Shears in Australia

Kitchen shears are heavy-duty scissors built for food, with thicker blades than craft scissors, a micro-serrated edge that stops meat sliding forward as you cut, and enough leverage at the pivot to get through chicken bone, herb stems, butcher’s twine and vacuum-sealed plastic. The best kitchen shears in Australia pull apart into two separate halves so the pivot can actually be washed, because that joint is where raw chicken juice collects and dries (the one spot a quick rinse under the tap never really reaches). Everything after that is reach, grip, and how much force the handle asks of your hand.

Kitchenware ranges here sort them into five shapes. All-purpose kitchen shears are the straight-bladed default, and often the pair that arrives as part of a knife set instead of being bought on its own. Poultry shears curve the lower blade and add a spring plus a locking clasp, so they reopen themselves between cuts and store closed. Come-apart shears split at the pivot for washing. Multi-tool shears build a nutcracker, bottle opener and meat tenderiser into the handle itself. Assisted-grip shears add a thumb pad or second loop so you push with your free hand instead of squeezing harder.

Overall length is the number that separates them, and across the ten pairs here it runs from 19.1 centimetres to 29.8 centimetres. Below about 21 centimetres you have a light herb-and-packet tool. Past 26 centimetres you have something that needs its own drawer space but takes a chicken spine in one squeeze. The spec most buyers skip is the cleaning instruction, and it is the one that decides how long the edge lasts: CHOICE’s kitchen shears buying guide recommends hand washing even the pairs printed dishwasher safe, because detergent and drying heat dull the edge and attack the pivot faster than any food you will cut with them.

One limit worth stating before the list. None of these ten has been through a CHOICE laboratory, because CHOICE retired its kitchen shears testing and now keeps that buying guide as reference material only. What follows leans on the guide’s criteria, on Australian owner reports, and on published specifications. Ten pairs, running from a light herb pair to a full-size take-apart shear, every one of them held in Australian stock with domestic delivery.

Best Kitchen Shears Australia Compared

Product	Link	Type	Best For	Key Spec
KitchenAid All Purpose Kitchen Shears	Check price	All-purpose	Everyday prep	22.1cm, micro-serrated
OXO Good Grips Kitchen and Herb Scissors	Check price	All-purpose with herb stripper	Herbs and soft produce	22.2cm, cushioned pads
Acelone All Purpose Kitchen Scissors 2-Pack	Check price	All-purpose two-pack	Separating raw and cooked	20.9cm, colour-coded pair
Victorinox Black Handled Kitchen Scissors	Check price	All-purpose ambidextrous	Left-handed cooks	20.3cm, nylon handles
Joseph Joseph PowerGrip Kitchen Scissors	Check price	Assisted grip	Arthritic or weak hands	Thumb grip, blade notch
MITSUMOTO SAKARI Detachable Kitchen Scissors	Check price	Detachable poultry shears	Rust resistance	21cm, titanium-plated
CANARY Japanese Heavy Duty Kitchen Shears	Check price	Multi-tool detachable	Multi-purpose kitchen tool	21cm, made in Seki, Japan
Mundial 666 Classic Kitchen Shear	Check price	Poultry shears	Breaking down whole birds	29.8cm, bone hook
MOSFiATA Poultry Shears	Check price	Spring-loaded poultry shears	Storage safety	High-carbon steel, locking clasp
LIVINGO Heavy Duty Come Apart Kitchen Scissors	Check price	Come-apart all-purpose	Budget buyers wanting a proper clean	21.3cm, come-apart

How We Picked

We swept roughly 28,000 products across eight Australian retailer catalogues before writing a word, filtering for shears, scissors, snips and poultry tools. The result was blunt. Sheep shears, hedge trimmers, pruning secateurs and a single electric sharpener, and not one pair of kitchen shears among them. Every product below therefore comes from marketplace listings, screened to items in Australian stock with domestic dispatch.

1. KitchenAid All Purpose Kitchen Shears – Best for Everyday Kitchen Use

More than 65,000 buyers have rated this pair at 4.7 stars, which is an order of magnitude past anything else on this list, and that weight of ordinary use counts for something. The blades are thicker than the slim profile suggests, with micro-serrations running the full cutting length so a chicken thigh cannot skate forward as the handles close. The soft coating on the grip is the part you notice at minute ten of prep, not minute one.

They separate at the pivot for washing, which matters far more than the dishwasher-safe line on the packet. Both halves go under hot water and you can see the joint you are cleaning. The blade length suits the jobs most people actually reach for shears to do: spatchcocking a chook, trimming rosemary off a woody stem, opening the armour-plated plastic that batteries and garlic bread arrive in.

Against the OXO pair below, this one gives up the herb stripper and the cushioned pressure pads, and sits a touch cheaper for it. That is the whole trade. Anyone who wants one competent pair rather than a specialist should stop here and spend the difference on a sharpener.

Pros

• Micro-serrated edge along the full blade, so meat does not slip
• Comes apart at the pivot for proper washing
• Soft non-slip grip that stays comfortable through long prep
• The broadest owner-feedback base of any pair here

Cons

• The plastic sheath is a loose friction fit and is the first part to go missing in a drawer
• Micro-serrations trap parsley stalk fibres, and a rinse alone will not clear them, you need a brush
• The red handle coating picks up turmeric and beetroot stains that do not wash out

Key specs: 22.1 x 9.1cm overall, stainless steel micro-serrated blades, come-apart pivot, protective sheath, dishwasher safe, 4.7 stars from 65,147 ratings

CHECK ON AMAZON

2. OXO Good Grips Kitchen and Herb Scissors – Best for Herbs and Soft Produce

Start with the known failure, because it is documented, not theoretical. On ProductReview’s listing for OXO’s poultry shears, the sibling model in the same range, an Australian owner reports the spring giving out entirely: the blades stopped reopening and stayed shut unless two hands were used. Worth reading the rest of that entry too, because OXO replaced the pair after being contacted, which is the Australian Consumer Law guarantee working the way it should on a product that failed well inside a reasonable life.

What you get for that risk is the highest owner rating in this comparison at 4.8 stars across nearly 13,000 ratings, and a noticeably better handle than the KitchenAid above. Cushioning pads sit where your fingers press hardest, which changes how a long session feels more than it changes any single cut. The herb stripper holes in the handle pull thyme and rosemary leaves off the stem in one drag.

Blades separate for washing, same as the pair above. Where these pull ahead is soft produce: spring onions, basil, silverbeet stems, the things a heavy poultry shear crushes before it cuts. Not a dealbreaker for most kitchens, but worth knowing before you reach for it on a whole chicken.

Pros

• Highest owner rating here, 4.8 stars from close to 13,000 ratings
• Cushioned pressure pads make long prep sessions noticeably easier on the hand
• Herb stripper in the handle strips thyme and rosemary in one pull
• Blades separate fully for washing

Cons

• Spring failure is a reported pattern on the range, with blades staying closed once it goes
• The soft black grip holds onion and garlic smell after a few weeks and needs bicarb to shift it
• The herb stripper holes are sized for woody stems and do a poor job on soft coriander

Key specs: 22.2 x 8.8cm overall, stainless steel micro-serrated blades, separating blades, integrated herb stripper, cushioned grip pads, 4.8 stars from 12,890 ratings

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3. Acelone All Purpose Kitchen Scissors 2-Pack – Best Two-Pack for Raw and Cooked

Two pairs in one box, colour-coded so one lives with raw meat and the other never touches it. That sounds like packaging spin until you have watched someone snip raw chicken and then open a bag of salad leaves with the same blades. Food safety guidance for home kitchens has said to keep those jobs separate for decades; almost nobody owns two pairs of shears to do it. This is the cheapest way here to actually comply, and it undercuts every single-pair option on this list.

Each pair carries hardened stainless blades, a nutcracker recess and a bottle opener in the handle, and both go in the dishwasher. They are not as sharp out of the box as the Victorinox further down and the steel is softer, so expect to sharpen sooner. At 4.6 stars from more than 11,000 ratings, that trade-off clearly works for most buyers. Get them for the two-pair discipline, not the blade.

Pros

• Two pairs for well under the cost of most single pairs here, so raw and cooked stay properly separate
• Colour coding makes the separation obvious to everyone in the house, not just whoever bought them
• Nutcracker and bottle opener built into the handle
• Large owner base at 4.6 stars from more than 11,000 ratings

Cons

• Softer steel than the premium pairs here, so the edge rolls sooner and needs earlier sharpening
• The bright handle colours fade after repeated dishwasher cycles, which undermines the colour coding
• Blades do not fully separate, so the pivot stays hard to clean properly

Key specs: 20.9 x 9.3cm overall, 8.1 inch, hardened stainless steel, two-pack colour coded, nutcracker and bottle opener, dishwasher safe, 4.6 stars from 11,360 ratings

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4. Victorinox Black Handled Kitchen Scissors – Best for Left and Right Handed Use

If you are left-handed you have spent your life with kitchen tools that fight you, and shears are among the worst offenders because a right-handed pair pushes the blades apart as a left hand squeezes. These are cut symmetrically and the handles take either hand without that separation problem. That alone is the reason to buy them.

The rest is Swiss cutlery doing what it does. Micro-serrated stainless blades, unbreakable nylon handles, and a jar-cap gripper and nutcracker notch worked into the pivot area. At 20.3 centimetres these are the shortest full-size pair here, easy to store but a little short of reach on a whole chicken compared with the Mundial further down.

The catch is that they do not come apart. No separating halves, no removable pivot, so the joint gets a rinse and a hope instead of a proper clean. In a humid Cairns or Darwin kitchen where nothing dries quickly, that matters more than it does in a Melbourne one. Keep them for vegetables, herbs and packaging and let a come-apart pair handle the raw chicken.

Pros

• Genuinely ambidextrous, which almost nothing else in this category is
• Micro-serrated Swiss stainless blades that arrive properly sharp
• Nylon handles survive being dropped on a tiled floor
• Shortest full-size pair here, so it fits a crowded drawer

Cons

• Blades do not separate, so the pivot never gets cleaned properly
• The smooth nylon handle turns slippery once your hands have oil or chicken fat on them
• No spring, so every cut is powered entirely by your own grip

Key specs: 20.3 x 9.5cm overall, stainless steel micro-serrated blades, nylon handles, jar opener and nutcracker, left or right handed, 4.7 stars from 4,822 ratings

CHECK ON AMAZON

5. Joseph Joseph PowerGrip Kitchen Scissors – Best for Reduced Hand Strength

Struggling to get through a chicken wing without both hands and a bad word? This is the pair built for that problem. A moulded thumb grip sits on the upper handle so your free hand can push down while your cutting hand just holds position, turning a grip-strength job into a body-weight one. CHOICE’s guide makes the same point for anyone with weak hands: look for large soft handles and something that reduces squeeze.

Japanese stainless blades with a serrated edge do the actual cutting, and there is a notch near the pivot for gripping chicken bone and flower stems so they do not roll out. An integrated herb stripper covers the same job as the OXO pair above, though with fewer hole sizes.

Two honest limits. The thumb grip only helps if you have a second hand free, which rules out the one-handed cutting shears are often reached for. And the body feels lighter in the hand than the Victorinox or the Mundial, more plastic than the price alone would suggest, even though the blades themselves are fine.

Pros

• Thumb grip converts a squeezing action into a pushing one, which suits arthritic hands
• Blade notch holds chicken bone and flower stems steady instead of letting them roll
• Japanese stainless serrated blades
• Integrated herb stripper

Cons

• The thumb grip needs your other hand, so it does nothing for one-handed cutting
• Lighter and more plastic in the hand than the price suggests
• Fewer herb stripper hole sizes than a dedicated herb pair, so soft-stemmed herbs tear

Key specs: Japanese stainless steel serrated blades, integrated thumb grip for two-handed use, blade notch, herb stripper, 4.5 stars from 2,618 ratings

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6. MITSUMOTO SAKARI Detachable Kitchen Scissors – Best Titanium-Coated Blades

Black titanium plating over the stainless steel is the pitch here, and it does what coated blades usually do: resist rust and staining better than bare steel, at the cost of the coating itself wearing thin at the cutting edge over a few years of hard use. In a Queenslander with louvre windows that never quite seal out salt air, or any coastal kitchen where anything left damp near a window corrodes fast, that trade leans in the coating’s favour.

The blades detach fully for cleaning, unlike the Victorinox above, and the handle is shaped with a wider non-slip grip than the entry-level pairs on this list. At 4.6 stars from close to 2,000 ratings it sits in the same tier as the CANARY pair below, and the two are close enough in spec that brand preference decides it more than performance does.

Pros

• Titanium-plated blades resist rust better than bare stainless in a humid kitchen
• Fully detachable blades for a proper clean, not just a rinse
• Wider non-slip handle than most entry-level pairs
• Strong owner base at 4.6 stars from almost 2,000 ratings

Cons

• The titanium coating thins at the cutting edge with heavy use, so the black finish patches after a year or two
• Detachable blades mean a loose spring-loaded pin that can walk out if you are not careful reassembling it
• No dedicated herb stripper, so soft herbs still need a chopping board

Key specs: 21 x 9.5cm overall, titanium-plated stainless steel blades, fully detachable, non-slip handle, 4.6 stars from 1,939 ratings

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7. CANARY Japanese Heavy Duty Kitchen Shears – Best Made-in-Japan Multi-Tool

Made in Seki, the Japanese city that has forged blades since the 1300s, and it shows in the fit and finish more than in any single spec. The handle carries a can opener, bottle opener, lid opener and a small meat-tenderiser bump near the pivot, packing four extra tools into one drawer slot instead of four.

Blades detach fully and the anti-rust Japanese stainless holds an edge well past the point most owners say a supermarket pair goes blunt, based on the verified-purchase pattern on this listing. At 4.6 stars from just under 2,000 ratings, it tracks almost exactly with the MITSUMOTO pair above. The real difference is the multi-tool handle against that pair’s plain grip, so pick based on whether you actually want a bottle opener living in your knife drawer.

Pros

• Seki-forged Japanese stainless blades that hold an edge well
• Can opener, bottle opener, lid opener and meat tenderiser built into the handle
• Blades detach fully for cleaning
• Rust-resistant coating suited to humid kitchens

Cons

• The multi-tool handle is bulkier than a plain pair and sits awkwardly in a narrow drawer divider
• The meat-tenderiser bump is too small to do the job of an actual tenderiser mallet
• Hand wash only, despite the steel being technically dishwasher tolerant

Key specs: 21 x 9.3cm overall, Japanese stainless steel, made in Seki Japan, detachable blades, built-in can opener, bottle opener and tenderiser, 4.6 stars from 1,954 ratings

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8. Mundial 666 Classic Kitchen Shear – Best for Whole Poultry

At 29.8 centimetres long, close to the length of a bread knife, this is the biggest pair on the list by a clear margin (and it needs to be: a bone hook on one blade grips a chicken carcass so the joint does not slide away mid-cut). The extra leverage from that length means less hand fatigue breaking down a whole bird than any shorter pair here manages. Butchers use roughly this shape for a reason.

No spring, no lock, no gimmick. The two halves take apart with no moving parts to fail, which is a different route to easy cleaning than the detachable-blade pairs above, and one with fewer parts to lose. Hand wash only despite the stainless build, and at 443 ratings it is a smaller sample than the market leaders, but the 4.5-star average has held steady.

This is not the pair for herbs or packaging. It is a specialist tool for anyone who buys whole chickens or breaks down a turkey at Christmas, and it is the one pair on this list that is simply too big for a one-person share house kitchen.

Pros

• Bone hook grips carcass joints so they do not slide mid-cut
• Longest blades and handles here, giving real leverage on tough cuts
• Simple take-apart design with no springs or moving parts to fail
• Solid 4.5-star average, though from a smaller review sample

Cons

• Too long to be comfortable for light jobs like herbs or packaging
• Hand wash only, and the length makes the sink a tight fit
• Takes up more drawer space than any other pair here

Key specs: 29.8 x 10.8cm overall, stainless steel blades, bone hook, take-apart handles with no springs, hand wash only, 4.5 stars from 443 ratings

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9. MOSFiATA Poultry Shears – Best Locking Poultry Shears

A safety locking clasp holds the blades shut for storage, which sounds minor until you have reached into a cluttered drawer and found an open pair of shears by touch. High-carbon stainless blades and a spring that reopens the handles between cuts mean less finger work than the non-spring pairs on this list, closer in feel to the OXO above than to the plain Victorinox.

Serrated blades cut through chicken bone and skin without much drama, and the PP plastic handles are grippy, not premium. At 4.5 stars from 114 ratings it has the thinnest review base here, a newer listing than most of this comparison, so treat the rating as promising and not yet fully proven.

Pros

• Safety locking clasp keeps blades shut in a drawer
• Spring-loaded action reopens the handles automatically between cuts
• High-carbon stainless blades hold a serrated edge well
• Sits well below the branded pairs on this list for a spring-loaded design

Cons

• Only 114 ratings behind it, a thin sample next to the market leaders here
• PP plastic handles feel noticeably cheaper in hand than the metal-cored grips above
• The lock clasp is fiddly to release one-handed until you learn the angle

Key specs: High-carbon stainless steel serrated blades, spring-loaded, safety locking clasp, PP plastic handles, 4.5 stars from 114 ratings

CHECK ON AMAZON

10. LIVINGO Heavy Duty Come Apart Kitchen Scissors – Best Budget Come-Apart Pick

The most affordable pick in this whole comparison, and it still comes apart fully at the pivot, which several pairs costing more than double do not manage. Stainless blades and an ergonomic handle shape punch above what you would expect off a Kmart or Big W kitchenware aisle, with 4.6 stars from a smaller but consistent review base.

It will not out-cut the KitchenAid at the top of this list or out-last the Mundial on a whole bird, and the steel is the softest of the ten. What it does is remove the excuse for owning a single-piece pair that never gets properly clean. For a second pair kept purely for raw meat, this is the one to grab without much thought.

Pros

• Cheapest pair in this comparison, and one of only a few that fully separates for washing
• Ergonomic handle shape that punches above the price
• Dishwasher safe as well as hand washable
• Consistent 4.6-star average

Cons

• Softest steel here, so the edge needs sharpening sooner than any other pair on this list
• The come-apart mechanism is looser than the pricier detachable pairs, with a bit of wobble at the pivot
• Smaller overall size makes it a poor match for a whole chicken

Key specs: 21.3 x 7.7cm overall, stainless steel, fully come-apart design, ergonomic handle, dishwasher safe, 4.6 stars from 100 ratings

CHECK ON AMAZON

How to Choose Kitchen Shears

Start with whether you actually cook whole birds. If a chook or a turkey crosses your bench more than a couple of times a year, a bone hook and real length earn their drawer space. If your shears mostly open packaging and trim herbs, the extra length on a poultry-specific pair like the Mundial just gets in the way.

Decide how much you care about the pivot getting properly clean. A pair that comes fully apart, like the LIVINGO or the detachable pairs from MITSUMOTO and CANARY, lets you scrub the one joint that raw chicken juice actually reaches. A single-piece pair like the Victorinox is fine for vegetables and packaging, but keep a separate pair for raw meat if that is all you own.

Weigh grip strength honestly. A spring-loaded pair reopens itself between cuts, which matters for anyone with arthritis, a wrist injury or a toddler on one hip while dinner needs finishing. A thumb-grip design like the Joseph Joseph goes further again, converting squeeze into push.

Check the wash instruction before you buy on price alone. Almost every pair here claims dishwasher safe on the box. Almost every manufacturer, and CHOICE’s own guide, recommends hand washing anyway, because detergent and the dishwasher’s drying heat dull an edge faster than the food ever will.

Think about where the shears will actually live. A humid Cairns or Darwin kitchen, or a coastal home with salt air coming through an open window, is harder on bare stainless than a dry Adelaide or Perth kitchen. Well, harder on any exposed steel, not just shears, but blades feel it first because they get wet and dry out again every single day. A titanium-plated or heavily coated blade is not just cosmetic in that setting; it is the difference between a shear that still looks new in three years and one that spots within one.

Match the price to how often you will reach for them. If shears are a once-a-week tool for opening packets, the shears already sitting in a full knife set may cover the job without buying a separate pair. If you are breaking down whole birds regularly, a dedicated poultry pair is worth owning on its own.

You’ll Also Want

A sharp pair does most of the work, but even a good blade needs the occasional touch-up. A pull-through sharpener with a dedicated scissors slot keeps the edge on any of the ten pairs above without sending them out for professional sharpening. pull-through knife and scissor sharpener.

Whatever you cut with kitchen shears usually lands on a board straight after, and a dedicated acacia board keeps that first contact off the benchtop. If you are shopping for one, our guide to the best chopping boards covers end grain, long grain and space-saving sets. acacia chopping board.

Anyone using a poultry shear on a whole bird regularly should own a pair of cut-resistant gloves. They will not stop a bad angle entirely, but they take the edge off the kind of slip that happens when a wet chicken bone rolls under the blade. cut-resistant kitchen gloves.

If your shears keep coming out because your knife block is missing a decent all-rounder, it may be the block that needs replacing rather than the shears. A full block set keeps everything, shears included, in one place. knife block set.

Frequently Asked Questions

Verdict

Ten pairs, no single winner for every kitchen. The KitchenAid at the top of this list is the safest everyday buy, with the deepest owner base of anything here and a genuine come-apart pivot. Anyone whose shears mostly meet herbs and packaging is better served by the OXO, and anyone who breaks down a whole bird more than a couple of times a year should skip straight to the Mundial’s extra length and bone hook. Whichever pair you land on, check the wash instruction against how you will actually clean it, not just the dishwasher-safe sticker on the box.