The first question on our home page is the one most people ask before they buy anything left-handed: why should I use these when I've managed fine with regular tools? It is a fair question. Many of the products look almost the same as the ordinary versions, and left-handers have been making do for a lifetime. Here are six of them, with what customers wrote in their reviews after trying them. The reviews are quoted as written, with obvious typing errors corrected and in some cases shortened. We have specialised in left-handed products since 1968, so we hear from a great many people who have made the switch, and this is what they told us.

1. The bread knife

A left-handed bread knife looks just like any other bread knife, which is exactly why people doubt it. The difference is in the edge. A left-handed bread knife is serrated on one side only, so it cuts straight instead of twisting the way a double-edged knife does in a left hand. We explain how in what makes a knife left-handed.

One customer wrote: “We were confused because they look exactly the same as all the other bread knives we already have… my son was amazed at how straight he was able to cut the bread!” (2023). Another reviewer, whose husband ordered it after a disagreement in the pub about her bread-cutting, reported back: “I'm now wondering how I've got to nearly 50 without a left handed bread knife? I can now officially say it was definitely the knife” (Mrs S, Derbyshire, 2025).

The doubt comes through in the older reviews too. “Wasn't sure about spending a largish sum but now every time I cut bread I smile,” wrote Dave B in 2017. “I can finally cut a loaf of bread without the loaf falling apart,” said another reviewer that year, and a third wrote that it was “the first time I have ever been able to cut bread thinly and straight” after owning “lots of bread knives”. In 2019, Arlene wrote that she “didn't even realise there was such a thing” until she found our website. All ten reviews on the bread knife page give five stars. One of our customer testimonials says the same: “it makes cutting bread sooooo easy it is a pleasure – even stale bread for the birds!” (Jean, Cornwall).

2. The tin opener

If any kitchen gadget seems too small to matter, it is the tin opener. Yet it is the one that the most reviewers wrote about. On our left-handed tin opener (also called a can opener) the geared mechanism sits on the opposite side to a right-handed one, so you position it on the left side of the tin and turn with your left hand in a natural motion. It has a built-in bottle opener too.

A mother wrote that her 16-year-old left-handed son “manages perfectly well with all right handed products, BUT not tin openers”, and that he now “finds opening cans as easy as I do” (Paula, 2014). A grandmother wrote that her grandson “can now open tins as fast if not faster than his twin brother” (R Copeland, 2013). Sue wrote: “Right handed ones used to cut into my hand. After years of struggling I can open a can in a couple of minutes” (2014).

The doubters were not only the buyers. JShackelford (2017) wrote: “I keep trying to attach it to cans like I would with my old righty can opener”, and that his daughter walked out of the kitchen asking, “Is this a left-handed can opener? I can't use this thing!” And Tom Rich (2010) bought four, one for each left-handed friend, so that they could hand them to right-handed acquaintances “so they could appreciate what it is to be left handed in a right handed world”. Of the 51 reviews on the page, 50 are four or five stars.

3. The corkscrew

A corkscrew seems too simple to need a left-handed version. A left-handed T pattern corkscrew has a reversed, anti-clockwise thread, so you turn it into the cork in the direction your left hand wants to go, instead of holding it still and turning the bottle. There is also a pocket and travel version that packs away in its own box.

One reviewer called it “such a simple item, but such a huge step for a left handed person” (2011). Another admitted that it “took a while to adjust to it after years of ordinary corkscrews” (2012), which is a fair warning that the first bottle may feel odd. A parent wrote of a left-handed son who “couldn't work out 'normal' corkscrews” (2011).

4. Everyday scissors

Many left-handers have used right-handed scissors for years and learned to compensate. A reviewer of our soft-grip left-handed scissors wrote: “After putting up with right handed scissors for near on 60 years, these felt strange to begin with. But, wow, they're brilliant. I can see the cutting line. No more zig-zag cuts” (2015). A parent wrote that it was the “first time ever I have seen him cut without cursing and frustration” (2014, for a teenage son). The mother of 61-year-old twins, one of them left-handed, ordered a set of three scissors and wrote that her daughter “was sceptical at first but what a difference she has found they made” (Mrs I C, Scotland, from our customer testimonials).

If you are not sure what to look for, read how left-handed scissors differ from right-handed scissors, and browse our full range of left-handed scissors.

5. Carving and paring knives

The same single-edge design applies across our left-handed knives. A customer who bought a carving knife wrote that “the struggle is gone and so are my Right handed knives” (Sharon B, 2019). Another, buying for her husband, said he was “delighted after years of right-handed hopeless knives” (2019). A reviewer who bought a paring knife wrote: “In my seventh decade this is my first left handed knife and what a difference it makes” (Lenabee, 2019), adding that it is very sharp and needs careful use.

6. The keyboard and mouse

For desk work the doubt is usually whether it can matter. A left-handed keyboard puts the numeric keypad on the left, within easy reach of the left hand. One reviewer, who bought it for work, wrote: “I have previously had to use the rsi guard program to alter the tab and delete keys… keys are in the right place, very easy to get used to” (Lynn R, 2013), and another reviewer said “I'm now on my third keyboard!!” (Carol L, 2013). The Minicute EZ mouse is a vertical design shaped for the left hand. A reviewer wrote: “Takes a bit of getting used to but overall I am very pleased” (2014). You can see both in our keyboards and mice range.

What customers said that was not glowing

Not every review is a rave, and we would rather you read them. The one two-star review of the tin opener, from 2012, said the mechanism “felt instantly natural & comfortable”, but that the build quality was not as good as hoped and the cutter would often “not actually bite through the top of the tin”. Another reviewer that year found it hard to get the opener to break through the lid, and a third reported that the rivet snapped after a right-handed visitor “got angry with it”. Of the keyboard, one customer would have liked “the delete and up and down keys there as well” (2014), and another thought the numbers on the left should be inverted (2013). A reviewer of the T pattern corkscrew found “the actual screw is a bit on the flimsy side” (2011). Of one of our left-handed tape measures, the complaint was that the belt clip is on the wrong side of the case (2018). Some products take a little practice, too. That is normal when you have spent years adapting to tools made for the other hand.

If you are still not sure

Try one thing first, not a whole kitchen. The bread knife, the tin opener and the everyday scissors are the easiest places to notice the difference, because you can see it in the cut or feel it straight away. Browse the left-handed kitchen range or the left-handed scissors, and if you have your own experience of switching, please add it in the comments below. You will find more practical answers in our Left-Handed Advice Centre.