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Dec 13, 2023

Best Knife Sharpeners 2023

It’s an unfortunate reality of owning kitchen knives: No matter how well you

It's an unfortunate reality of owning kitchen knives: No matter how well you care for them, their blades will eventually dull over time. While sharpening them at home might initially sound intimidating, the best knife sharpeners make the necessary maintenance a little bit easier and infinitely more convenient. If you’re looking for an intuitive sharpener that delivers consistently sharp edges, Chef'sChoice Trizor XV EdgeSelect Professional Electric Knife Sharpener is our favorite, though we stand behind all the picks on this list.

Knife sharpeners, like this electric model from Chef's Choice, keep your knives at their sharpest.

How can you tell when your knives need sharpening? When straightforward tasks like slicing onions and chopping parsley start to feel a lot more difficult. "Sharp knives slice right through whatever you are trying to cut, where a dull knife can easily catch and slip," says Dru Tevis, corporate pastry chef at SoDel Concepts and a contestant on Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship. But there's more to it than that. "It is so much easier to slip and cut yourself with a dull knife," Tevis adds.

When considering all the sharpening options on the market, you keep in mind ease of use, durability and budget. For instance, while you can easily find a manual knife sharpener for less than $25, electric knife sharpeners are pricier—though the machine's powerful motor sharpens knives quickly and without minimal, if any, effort on your part. There are also sharpening blocks that are often favored by professional chefs for their ability to remove less steel from the blade than other methods. However, these come with a learning curve.

Featuring tips and recommendations from top chefs, here are our favorite knife sharpeners, including both manual and electric models (plus a bestselling sharpening stone).

Amazon

This electric knife sharpener comes with three different slots that sharpen, hone and polish straight-edged or serrated knives. The sharpener uses diamond-coated abrasive disks to sharpen and hone 15 degree edges in the first two stages, while the third stage relies on "flexible disks" to give the knife a finished polish. It makes knife sharpening a breeze as you don't have to do much. Plus, the company says it takes just one minute to sharpen a knife the first time, and you can expect resharpening to take 10 seconds.

Amazon

If you’re in the market for a straightforward, intuitive and budget-friendly model, look no further than the KitchenIQ Deluxe Edge Grip 2-Stage Knife Sharpener. While it doesn't offer many bells and whistles, this petite model can tackle most home needs. Designed for Western-style knives (including serrated blades), this two-step manual model comes with two sharpening slots: fine (to refine a blade's edge) and course (to polish and set the blade's edge). It also features a unique V-Grip design that you can neatly position against the edge of your counter for easy sharpening.

Amazon

This sharpening stone is nestled into a bamboo base, which helps keep the whole setup stable as your sharpen away. It's made with two sides, one that's lower grit for knives that have lost their edge, and another that's higher grit and can be used to sharpen and finish your knife. The kit comes with a guide that attaches to the knife's spine and helps you keep the blade at the right angle relative to the stone's surface as you sharpen. The company claims its whetstone, which uses water for sharpening, provides a mess-free process—a bonus if you’re looking for something that's easy to clean up.

Amazon

This knife sharpener from Presto offers a two-stage sharpening system. The first stage provides "precision grinding" to begin the process and create a precise edge that's angled. The second stage makes the blade honed, polished and, most importantly, sharp. The sharpener is designed for straight edge (aka non-serrated) knives.

Williams-Sonoma

Whereas electric models tend to be faster and more user-friendly, manual models provide better control and precision. Featuring V-shaped ceramic sharpening stones, this model from trusted German knife brand Zwilling has interchangeable adaptors for Western- and Japanese-style knives, allowing you to achieve the right angle for your blades. It also includes ceramic sharpening rods for fine or coarse grinds. When it's time to sharpen your dull blades, simply insert an adaptor and pull your knife through; when their factory edge is restored, you can pack up all the accessories in the handy built-in storage compartment.

Amazon

Wüsthof, another well-known German knife company, also makes its own electric sharpener. A top-of-the-line model for those willing to invest, this premium knife sharpener has three stages you can select from: shape, sharpen and refine. It has slots on either side of a central abrasive belt, which allows you to get uniform sharpness on both sides of your knives. It also works on serrated knives.

We’re well versed in knives at Forbes Vetted, as we’ve researched, tested and reviewed the best knife sets, chef's knives and steak knives, to name a few. Consequently, we know a thing or two about the most essential knife accessories—namely, sharpeners. To determine the best options currently on the market, we tapped into our existing knowledge and consulted top chefs to learn what they look for in knife sharpeners. We then scanned the market, taking note of top-rated electric and manual models, as well as whetstones. After identifying bestselling models that met our criteria for quality, we analyzed their durability and ease of use while factoring in reviews from real users.

Most professional chefs agree that the best knife sharpener is a whetstone. That said, this method of sharpening comes with a learning curve and tends to be more time-consuming, which is why manual and electric knife sharpeners are more common among home cooks. Our favorite model overall is the Chef's Choice ProntoPro Diamond Hone Knife Sharpener, which uses diamond abrasives and offers two blade angles.

However, not everyone can use manual or electric models. "If you have true Japanese knives—which are an investment in their own—you can only use a sharpening stone," points out Dan Kluger, chef at New York City's Loring Place. Compared to their Western-style counterparts, Japanese knives are sharpened to more acute angles, yielding in sharper, more delicate blades.

So long as you use your knife sharpener properly—and said sharpener is high quality—it won't ruin your precious blades. "I've never had a knife be less usable after a running it through a sharpener," says Abra Berens, the executive director at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, Michigan, and author of Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Seeds, and Legumes. "I've had a knife be unusable because it is so dull." That said, if you try to sharpen delicate Japanese-style knives made of high-carbon steel in a subpar electric sharpener, you will shorten their lifespan.

If you’re really worried about damaging your blades in a sharpener, consider having them professionally sharpened at a kitchen or knife store like Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma.