Drosselmeyer Nutcracker - Black

I'm afraid that I am one of those blokes that find that nutcrackers bend and break in your hands rather than tackle the toughest nuts. This Christrmas I got fed up with it and bought two of the nut crackers that seemed to have the best write ups. The Drosselmeyer for £36.67 and the Oxo Good Grips for £17.50. The OXO Good Grips were excellent for most nuts and some of the smaller almonds - but struggled with the toughest almonds which became locked in a three way battle: nut -v- Cracker -v- my hand, and my hand lost (began hurting!). Importantly the crackers did NOT bend or break! I then turned to the Drosselmeyer with the same obstinate nut and though this was the biggest almond in the bag, it only popped out the bowl of the cracker a couple times and then gave in and the cracker (and I ) won: but neither cracker broke. The Drosselmeyer was superior - but then costs twice as much.

Bought this just before Christmas after reading lots of reviews on Amazon and other sites. This was the best rated nutcracker by far, and it lives up to that expectation. Not cheap but SO much better than the old-fashioned ones where the uncracked nut flies out at an angle and smashes something or someone. This nutcracker is so easy to use, has a fabulously modern design, and is very heavyweight in that it has the strength to crack the hardest nuts. Only one drawback ... some larger walnuts don't quite fit but I can happily overlook this because it cracks every other nut with ease and without mess. Highly recommend, well worth the money.

If you're anything like me, the only time you ever really have nuts still in their shells is around Christmas time and if you're like me, you've had enough of cheap (at least in the short term), poorly made nutcrackers that bend, or worse yet, break after only one Christmas' worth of cracking.I'm of the belief that if a product is well designed, well made and there's a good chance it'll last several years if not decades, then it's worth paying what might seem like a large sum if you get what you pay for. Which brings us to the question at hand... If you only use the Drosselmeyer at Christmas, is it still worth the money?Having used it this Christmas, my answer would be YES!The build quality is excellent as far as I can tell. The metal is well finished, there are no sharp enges, burrs or casting marks and it has a reassuring weight... it doesn't feel lighter than it should be to do it's job. The design is ingenious, not only due to the remarkable ease of cracking Hazelnuts, Almonds, Pecans and Walnuts but also the fact that short of sticking your finger into the cone, no matter how you place your palm over the opening of the Drosselmeyer, you cannot pinch your hand in the mechanism. Aside from some unseen fault in the metal, I really can't see any reason why it shouldn't last long enough to justify the price and well beyond that.It's not absolutely perfect though. So let me really nitpick. I have two issues with the Drosselmeyer. First of all, the coloured coating on the interior of the cone of my Drosselmeyer is already scratched. There are a few small scratches from the shells of this Christmas' nuts and a few larger scratches from the spring (that provides a counter force for the handle) rubbing against where it rests inside the body. As long as these scratches don't cause any corrosion of the metal underneath, they aren't an issue for me personally. The second issue that I have is that small fragments of what ever has just been crushed can slip between and even out of the small gap that's created between the cone and the crushing part of the handle when the handle is squeezed. This can result in dropped crumbs and a jammed handle. If the part of the handle that resides in the cone body were thicker and protruded from the cone slightly, there would be no gap and this wouldn't be an issue. It would improve the function but at the cost of form.In all, two very minor issues that make the Drosselmeyer just that tiny bit short of perfect in my eyes. Assuming that it stands the test of time, I'd have no hesitation in recommending the Drosselmeyer (for ~£30) to even occasional crackers like me.[EDIT] It's now the sixth Christmas for my Drosselmeyer and it's still a pleasure to use... not least because the design is so perfect. It's worked out as £5 a Christmas so far and it's still going strong and showing only the most minimal signs of wear and tear inside the cone. If I were to buy it again, I'd get the stainless steel one but I honestly don't think I'll ever need to buy another nut cracker... At least, not for myself.

For a nut cracker it's expensive... BUT don't let that get in the way. I've had two other crackers on amazon at the £10 mark and both broke, one broke 1st go. So I took the plunge.Update 20th Dec 2022... so far I've gone through almost 2 nets of nuts and this cracker hasn't skipped a beat. Almonds, Hazel, walnuts and Brazil nuts. It cracks them all with ease and zero mess.Pros, light to hold, all metal, easy to crack nuts including almonds, doesn't crush the nut, keeps the mess in and easy to operate.Cons, the price... at £35 its a premium cracker. Other than that I'm struggling to find any drawbacks.Don't just take my word for it, have a Google! It also came out on top as a Which? Best buy in their tests too.

The holy grail of nut cracking - extracting Brazil nuts whole - is truly within reach at last!These babies are so easy to use and don't result in an explosion of shell (as happens with most other crackers). I got these £10 cheaper than the usual price and it was well worth it, but not sure I'd have been tempted at full price.

If you want to crack a few nuts at home then spend around £25 on this and you will not be disappointed. Easy to use, very well made from high quality materials and looks good. Worked very well for me with hazelnuts (excellent), almonds (ok), brazilnuts (good), pecans (excellent), walnuts (good as long as they are not very large nuts which will not fit in the cup). Occasionally you might get a very hard individual nut such as an almond and common sense should tell you that if it does not crack with a reasonable amount of force after repositioning the nut in the cup a few times then give up. The nutcracker is made of metal and is a robust item, but if you use excessive force then you will risk fracturing the arm.I would say this item is for normal domestic use. If you grow nuts in your garden and plan on shelling hundreds of nuts at a time then you should probably buy a worktop mounted device designed specifically for your type of nuts. If you plan to use a hand held device to try and do that job then it is you that are nuts (just saying!).