What to Buy Knives The Best Electric Knife Sharpeners to Revive Dull Blades Performance and safety—this is what you need to focus on. By Nick DeSimone Updated on February 14, 2023 In This Article Expand Jump to a Section Our top picks Reviews Our Favorite The Tests Factors to Consider FAQ What Didn’t Make the List Our Expertise We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore A dull knife is a dangerous knife. While a razor-sharp blade may feel intimidating, it is infinitely safer than a dull and poorly maintained knife. Sharp knives easily sail through tough butternut squash and chicken joints with little pressure needed. With a dull knife, you need to press harder, upping the probability of a slip and increasing the chances that you’ll injure yourself or make a mistake. That said, proper knife care can turn any knife, even cheaper ones, into sharp and effective tools. Honing, or realigning the blade with a large steel rod, helps maintain the edge of your knife and prolong the amount of time between sharpenings. Once sharpening day rolls around, electric knife sharpeners are an easy and convenient way to maintain your knives at home. Manual sharpeners can take a lot more time and lack power. And whetstones, the favorite of many professional chefs, takes a lot of time, precision, and practice to master. These high-tech gadgets, however, can make the dullest blades razor-sharp again with just the push of a button. In order to find the best available on the market today, we put the top performers to the test, assessing their performance and ease of use. Keep reading to find plenty of great options depending on your knife’s needs. Our Top Picks Best Overall: Wüsthof Easy Edge Electric Sharpener at Amazon Jump to Review Best Value: Mueller Professional Electric Knife Sharpener at Amazon Jump to Review Best Splurge: Chef’sChoice Professional Electric Knife Sharpening Station at Amazon Jump to Review Best Entry-Level: Presto EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener at Amazon Jump to Review Best for Different Blade Types: Presto Professional Electric Knife Sharpener at Amazon Jump to Review Best Professional: Chef’sChoice EdgeSelect Electric Knife Sharpener at Amazon Jump to Review Best for Ceramic: Work Sharp Culinary E5 Kitchen Knife Sharpener at Amazon Jump to Review Best Overall Wüsthof Easy Edge Electric Sharpener Amazon View On Amazon View On Williams-Sonoma View On Crate & Barrel Pros This sharpener excels at ease of use, precision, and versatility. Cons We felt disappointed that the sharpened knife still needed a lot of force to use. This sharpener performed well in our tests; the knife was much sharper after using it. We also loved how user-friendly and easy to use it was. There are stages for shaping, sharpening, refining, and the instructions were easy to follow. In addition, we appreciated the non-slip layer on the bottom, making it easy to pull the knife through confidently. However, we were slightly disappointed that after sharpening, we noticed it still required a lot of force to get through the paper test. Still, our testers loved this model overall and said they’d recommend it to avid home cooks and professionals alike. Price at time of publish: $200 Material: PlasticDimensions: 12 x 8 x 6 inchesGrit type: CoarseAbrasive Material: Stainless steel Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Value Mueller Professional Electric Knife Sharpener Mueller Professional Electric Knife Sharpener. Amazon View On Amazon Pros We loved the extreme value and user-friendly nature of this sharpener. Cons We didn’t like that this sharpener sharpened the edge unevenly. Quality kitchen tools don’t always have to break the bank, and this Mueller sharpener is proof of that. Our testers loved how easy it was to use and its incredible value. We found the instructions thorough, and guided us through how many times to pull through different stages of dull knives. One tester raved, “50% sharper blade for less money than many of the other electric brand sharpeners. Maybe a couple more times through the sharpener, and I might have had a blade closer to brand new.” It performed well in our tests, but one tester did note that while it easily sharpened the middle of the blade, it was more difficult to get the tip and heel as sharp as the middle. Price at time of publish: $32 Material: Stainless steel Dimensions: 9.13 x 3.75 x 3.45 inchesGrit type: Coarse and fineAbrasive Material: Diamond Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Splurge Chef’sChoice 130 Professional Electric Knife Sharpening Station Amazon View On Amazon View On Target View On Williams-Sonoma Pros This sharpener got our knives razor sharp, and we loved the thoughtful design. Cons The instructions and use of this sharpener took a lot of work to understand. We were thrilled with the performance of this sharpener. One tester said it “significantly sharpened the middle of the knife,” and the knife easily sailed through our tests after this sharpener — we were particularly impressed with the extra clean tomato slices it produced. Our testers also loved the design of this sharpener, noting that it felt smartly designed to ensure the entire length of the blade gets sharpened evenly. However, the instructions were a bit challenging to decipher, and we didn’t love that the user has to detect the burr since that can be difficult for most cooks and isn't as intuitive as we would like. Price at time of publish: $210 Material: Stainless steelDimensions: 12 x 6 x 6.25 inchesGrit type: Coarse, medium, and fineAbrasive Material: Diamond and stainless steel Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore The 5 Best Knife Sharpeners for Longer-Lasting Blades, According to Our Tests Best Entry-Level Presto EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener Amazon View On Amazon View On Target View On Wayfair Pros We loved the easy use of this sharpener due to the clear instructions and angled slots. Cons This sharpener didn’t sharpen the heel as evenly as the rest of the blade. If you’ve never used an electric knife sharpener, this is the model for you. The instructions are clear and walk you through exactly how to pull through your knives, what stage to use, when, and most importantly: what not to do. The angled slots make it easy to pull your knife at the right angle with no wiggle room for error, and our testers said this feature gave highly consistent results. The knife performed well after sharpening, except when the paper and tomato got to the knife's heel; we were disappointed in the sharpener's uneven sharpness. Price at time of publish: $45 Material: PlasticDimensions: 9.9 x 7.2 x 4.8 inchesGrit type: FineAbrasive Material: Sapphirite Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best for Different Blade Types Presto Professional EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener Amazon View On Amazon View On Target View On Walmart Pros Our testers loved the versatility and incredible precision of this model. Cons This sharpener left scratches on the blade. We loved the jack-of-all-trades nature of this sharpener — it can sharpen serrated knives, cleavers, boning knives, and even hunting knives. We were also impressed with this sharpener's effectiveness with just one sharpening cycle. One tester said, “It was quite effective, giving me about a 60-70% sharper blade than what I started with,” which is an astounding improvement. In addition, you can toggle between different blade thicknesses, making each shape customizable and more precise, resulting in extra sharpness. However, our testers noticed that this sharpener left some scratches on the blade and said that any additional pressure would lead to more scratches. Price at time of publish: $70 Material: PlasticDimensions: 18.43 x 11.25 x 2.18 inchesGrit type: Coarse, fine, and super fineAbrasive Material: Sapphirite Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore We Tested the Best Chef's Knife for Every Type of Task Best Professional Chef’sChoice Model 15XV 3-Stage Professional Electric Knife Sharpener Amazon View On Amazon View On Walmart View On Wayfair Pros We loved the precision 3-stage sharpening as well as the quality performance of this model. Cons Our testers thought this sharpener was challenging to use and understand. The Chef’s Choice brand is ubiquitous among professional chefs, and this particular model can be found in restaurant kitchens worldwide. Michael Murdy, food scientist and chef behind Robust Kitchen, always recommends Chef’s Choice sharpeners. He loves this model because “[it's] a more advanced model with features such as three-stage sharpening and a diamond abrasive wheel.” This sharpener left us with a professional-level sharp blade due to its thorough 3-stage process. The knife breezed through the paper and carrots tests in our tests, but we were especially impressed with how perfect and clean the tomato slices came out. What we didn’t love was how confusing the instructions and process were. “This product would be best for someone with significant knife sharpening experience,” commented a tester. “It took several times reading through the instructions to figure out how to use it.” Price at time of publish: $180 Material: Plastic and stainless steelDimensions: 10 x 4.25 x 4.25 inchesGrit type: Coarse, fine, and extra fineAbrasive Material: Diamond Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best for Ceramic Work Sharp Culinary E5 Kitchen Knife Sharpener with Ceramic Honing Rod Amazon View On Amazon View On Walmart Pros Our testers loved the versatility of this sharpener as well as the preset settings. Cons We wish extra belts were included. We found this sharpener’s programmability to be a big asset. There are preset settings for each stage, and with the push of a button, you’re on your way to perfectly sharp knives — no more guesswork. We also thought it was highly versatile since there are belts for different types of knives. You can even sharpen single-edged blades — something almost no other sharpener can do. That said, we were disappointed that this model doesn’t have additional belts for varying grits or different types of knives. Without those, you can only get a knife so sharp on a single grit, and it’s a more considerable investment. Price at time of publish: $150 Material: PlasticDimensions: 7.25 x 4.5 x 5.2 inchesGrit type: CoarseAbrasive Material: Ceramic Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore The 7 Best Knife Sets for 2023, According to Our Tests Our Favorite We love the Wusthof Easy Edge Electric Sharpener for its all-around stellar performance in our tests and its precision and versatility. The Mueller Professional Electric Knife Sharpener is the way to go if you’re looking for the best value that’s easy to use. The Tests Our product testers started with ten pull-through style electric knife sharpeners. To establish a baseline, they used the Edge-On-Up Professional Edge Tester tool to tell how sharp each blade was starting out to adequately measure the effectiveness of each sharpener. Once the knives were sharpened, we put them through practical tests to assess performance, including slicing tomatoes and baguettes, slicing through sheets of paper, and very finely dicing carrots. Testers rated each sharpener on usability, design, effectiveness, and value metrics. Factors to Consider Ease of Use Sharpening a knife with an electric sharpener is one of the easiest ways to restore the edge to your blade. But some have more steps and are more complicated than others. If you’re new to knife care or don’t have the time to labor over a sharpener all day, you’ll want to look for one with fewer steps and just one or two slots that will be super easy to use. If you want a more precise edge with more customized options, it makes sense to invest more time and effort into a more complicated model. Grit Type Grit describes the level of abrasion the sharpener has. The higher the grit, the finer the abrasion, meaning fewer abrasive bits per plate and thus making it softer. To sharpen a knife on any type of sharpener, you first start with a low-grit, coarse abrasion to do the bulk of the work and work your way to finer, high-grit abrasion to finish and polish the blade. Most home cooks don’t need super coarse or super fine grit the way that many professionals who use their knives for hours and hours on end do. Generally, one coarse and one fine greit slot will be best for most cooks. Though, a super fine setting may also be useful if you do a lot of precision work like cutting fish for sushi or other fine, delicate work. Abrasive Material Several types of abrasive material can be inside any type of knife sharpener. Diamond is popular because it’s incredibly strong and effectively never wears down. Sapphirite is also common in some sharpeners, which is a strong, abrasive material often found in professional knife sharpening equipment. Stainless steel and ceramic are also common on finer grit plates as they’re strong and can have slight, soft abrasive textures. They’re all strong and work well, so you really can’t go wrong with any of these materials. Number of Stages Most electric knife sharpeners will have at least two stages, but some have more. Generally, you’ll find a coarse and fine grit sufficient for most knives and home use levels. Some have a third “superfine” stage or ones meant for “honing” or “polishing,” these aren’t necessary, but if you’re serious about taking care of your knife, they’re nice to have. Frequently Asked Questions How does an electric knife sharpener work? Inside an electric knife sharpener are two oscillating plates set at a specific angle to match the most common angles of a knife's blade. The plates are coated in an abrasive material, and how coarse or fine depends on the model and how many gradations the particular sharpener has. The plates rub up against the surface of the knife as you pull the blade through, pulling nearly microscopic filaments of metal from the blade, sharpening it. How often should you sharpen your knives? How often you sharpen your knives depends on how often you use them and what you use them for. Kam Talebi, CEO and head chef of The Butcher’s Tale, a meat and butchery forward restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, cuts down on how often he has to sharpen by regularly maintaining his knives. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, '' he says. “I always hone my knife before each use... We teach all of the cooks to keep the knives honed and to never use them for anything they aren’t designed for...But cooks are going to keep using knives as hammers, so the electric sharpener helps.” So if you’re like Kam and his cooks and find yourself regularly cutting through bone or otherwise being hard on your knives, sharpening more often is the way to go. But also, like Kam and his staff, honing regularly helps prolong the time between sharpening. A dull knife is a dangerous knife, so if you’re honing each time you use your knife and putting it to work daily, a monthly sharpening should do the trick. If you use it less often for less intense tasks like quickly slicing up an apple for a snack, sharpening every two or three months should do it. Can you use an electric knife sharpener on any type of knife? Electric knife sharpeners are great for most types of knives. Most standard and popular chef’s knives and other kitchen knives have a Western 50/50 style blade. This means that the angle of the blade is the shape on each side — it’s symmetric. If you were to look at it under magnification, it would be shaped like a “V.” Some Japanese-style knives have blades for carefully cutting fish at an aggressive bias angle. These blades are usually an 80/20 or 90/10 style, meaning in no symmetry. It doesn’t have the same equal “V” shape and therefore has different angles on each side. You should never put these knives in any pull-through knife sharpener; it will completely ruin the blade's edge. These knives are much better suited to professional sharpening. It is also generally unwise to put a serrated or bread knife in an electric knife sharpener unless it specifically says it’s safe. This is because the teeth and shape of the blade are not conducive to the plate sharpening method used in electric sharpeners. Some people still use these types of sharpeners on their serrated knives, but it significantly wears down the internal abrasive material and can ruin the blade, depending on the serrations. What Didn’t Make the List Strong Contenders Work Sharp E2 Kitchen Knife Sharpener ($50 at Amazon) Results Still Simmering Shenzhen Electric Diamond Knife Sharpener ($50 at Amazon) Our Expertise Nick DeSimone wrote this list using the data compiled during our testing. They’re a professional cook with nearly a decade of experience. Nick also has owned many knives over their cooking career and has spent hours meticulously caring for and sharpening them, so they’ve tried almost every brand and model on the market. Nick also spoke to two culinary professionals, Michael Murdy of Robust Kitchen and Kam Talebi of The Butcher's Tale. Both are fellow chefs who spend the bulk of their day handling knives, so they know the importance of a sharp knife and, more importantly, an effective sharpener. 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