This knife may not be the most beautiful of its kind, but the functionality is pretty outstanding. So much so that you may even dismiss the eyesore factor. It slices the most soft, sticky cheeses into beautiful slices with incredible, stick-less ease. And if you surround it with lots of beautiful cheese, who's looking, anyway?

The name of the knife is The Cheese Knife. And it glides through cheese like air. Crumbly blues, gooey bries, and super soft fresh cheeses are the ideal contenders for this knife; it's a food stylist's dream, as it also neatly slices some of those other tricky things: cream cheese, hard boiled eggs, and cakes.

The Cheese Knife design has been around since the 1940's, and was invented to cleanly cut Velveeta. There's something special about the ridges of the knife and the smooth plastic blade that makes for perfect, clean slices.

I've never been much of a believer in the knives that have hollowed-out circles; I don't find that they necessarily make much of a difference. This knife, on the other hand, makes for excellent cheese presentation, even if you only have Velveeta to work with.

• Find it: The Cheese Knife can be found at TheCheeseKnife.com for $16 to $21, or at Amazon for $9.75.

Related: How To Cleanly Slice Soft Goat Cheese

Nora Singley is an avid lover of cheese, and for some time she was a Cheesemonger and the Director of Education at Murray's Cheese Shop in New York City, where she continues to teach cheese classes for the public. She is currently an assistant chef on The Martha Stewart Show.

(Images: Nora Singley)