A knife is one of the most important tools in the kitchen and it's extremely important to keep them sharp. Keeping your knives as sharp as possible as often as possible will ensure you make the most precise cuts and the finest chops. Some keep it old school with the sharpening method but we're huge fans of electric sharpeners. We've found five of the top knife sharpeners.
• Edgeware Ceramic Electric Knife & Scissor Sharpener, $149.95 at Williams Sonoma: Features two extra-fine interlocking ceramic wheels that sharpen both sides of a straight-edge blade simultaneously. Includes two manual slots; one made with cabide blades and one with ceramic stones for serrated blades.
• Presto Pro EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener, $29.95 at Amazon: Uses professional grade sapphirite sharpening wheels to ensure the sharpest blade using a two step process. The small body makes it easy to store away in the kitchen and it comes with a 1 year warranty.
• Two Stage Knife Sharpener, at WUSTHOF: This old school style knife sharpener works in the standard two stages. Step one uses diamond rods to sharpen the dull blade while step two uses ceramic rods to hone and finish the edge. There's also a scissor sharpener!
• Chef's Choice M130 Professional Sharpening Station, $149.95: It may not be the prettiest knife sharpener on the market, but you know what, that doesn't always matter. Sharpens both fine edge and serrated blades through the use of diamond edges and steel.
• Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twin Sharp Duo Knife Sharpener, $19.85 at Amazon: We were initially attracted to appearance of this sharpener and once we read the reviews and description we were sold. This sharpener works for both right and left handed people and works in two ways; one for coarse and one for fine sharpening. Includes rubber feet to avoid slipping on the countertop.
Related: Weekend Project: Sharpen Your Knives!
(Image credit: Williams Sonoma, Amazon, Wusthof, Amazon, Amazon)
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I was under the impression that these were actually bad for knives, and that the best solution is to take them in to a professional old-school knife-sharpener. Of course, I don't know of any where I live, so I've never done it myself. I use a sharpening steel, but I know that once you get little nicks in the blade you need to take it in.
The fellow who makes the world's best knives, that's how he started out, sharpening knives. I believe that he has trained someone to take over that part of the business (people mail in their knives).
I've always been scared to use sharpeners such as these on my knives...
mschatelaine- I was always told the same thing. Get them professionally sharpened or do it yourself with a whetstone, which is what I do currently.
I have the wusthof sharpener pictured above. got it at williams sonoma a couple of years ago. we've only used it a few times but found it to be very easy and very effective.
I too have always heard you should take your knives to a pro, but we don't really have time to do that. we do try to use this sharpener sparingly and have seen no ill effects on our knives so far.
Nothing beats learning how to sharpen your own knives on a wet stone.
I have the very first one in those search results, it works quite nicely.
after trying many sharpeners, I have a conclusion; manual sharpening using water stone is the best. Needs little skill but not difficult at all.
My boyfriend requested and received this for Christmas (best 20-year-old ever!):
http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77
I have the M130 as well and really like it. Like others above, I have always heard that knives should be taken to a pro, not put in one of these machines. However, I've since learned that knives shouldn't be put in one of those cheapo at-home machines b/c that will ruin them, and to be careful which slot you use for the serrated knives. All those famous chefs on your tv and at your once-in-a-lifetime dream date restaurant: probably using a ChefsChoice on their knives. It's everywhere in the restaurant business and that's how foodies heard about it.
We have no complaints with our M130. It's worked great on our Henkels 4 & 5 star knives, Sabatier steak knives, and my inherited antique silver wedding cake knife (best bread knife ever) for the last 3+ years.
New whetstone user here. Very happy with the results and it takes up very little space - there was just no way I was getting one more appliance into my tiny kitchen.