We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. What to Buy Knives The Best Knife Sharpeners for Longer-Lasting Blades, According to Our Tests Extending the life of your blades is easy with our top picks. By Summer Rylander Summer Rylander Summer is a freelance food and travel writer who began by writing about Swedish cheesemaking traditions in 2018. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines and Jason Horn Jason Horn Jason Horn has spent nearly 20 years writing about food and drinks on the internet, including for Playboy, Serious Eats, Liquor.com. Travel Channel, and more. He lives in Los Angeles and loves the winter sport of curling. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on March 20, 2024 In This Article Expand In This Article Our Top Picks ReviewsOur Favorite Knife Sharpeners How We Tested Knife Sharpeners Factors to Consider FAQ Other Knife Sharpeners We Tested Our Expertise Photo: Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Those crisp, clean, precise cuts we all love from a brand-new chef's knife won’t last forever — not unless the blade is properly maintained. You could leave knife-sharpening to the pros, but it’s perfectly possible to safely sharpen your knives right at home, with no special skills required. The best knife sharpeners make the process simple and quick. Sharp knives make kitchen prep faster, but they also make it safer. Dull knives require more force to push through food, which increases the risk of slipping and catching a finger instead of slicing cleanly through tough produce. We tested 42 electric, manual, and rolling knife sharpeners from brands like Chef'sChoice, Mueller, and Tumbler. To find the best knife sharpeners, we evaluated each model's design by taking scientific sharpness measurements and cutting through lots of fruits and veggies. The 160+ Best Kitchen Deals to Shop During the Amazon Big Spring Sale—Prices Start at Just $4 Our Top Picks Best Electric Knife Sharpener: Chef’sChoice 1520 AngleSelect Professional Electric Knife Sharpener at Amazon ($94) Jump to Review Best Manual Knife Sharpener: Mueller 4 in 1 Knife Sharpener at Amazon ($14) Jump to Review Best Splurge: Chef’sChoice DCB1520 Rechargeable AngleSelect Electric Sharpener at Williams-Sonoma ($170) Jump to Review Best Value: Longzon 4-in-1 Knife Sharpener at Amazon ($13) Jump to Review Best Compact: Material Kitchen The Sharpener at Bespokepost.com (See Price) Jump to Review Best Rolling: Tumbler The Original Rolling Knife Sharpener at Amazon ($129) Jump to Review Best Electric Knife Sharpener Chef’sChoice 1520 AngleSelect Professional Electric Knife Sharpener PHOTO: Amazon $94 At Amazon $225 At Williams-Sonoma View On Chefschoice.com Pros One pass through this ultra-effective machine was all we needed for near-perfect sharpening. Cons It's fairly expensive, and quite bulky. A single session with the Chef'sChoice 1520 was all we needed to make the sharpest blade in all of our testing. Its electric operation is extremely efficient, with a separate pair of grinding wheels in each of its different slots — 15 degrees and 20 degrees for different types of knives, and a polishing slot to finalize the edge and make it last longer. It'll even work with serrated knives, a rarity in home sharpeners. Plus, there's a removable magnetic block on the bottom to collect steel dust and shavings. Using this sharpener requires practice, as you have to pull the knife through at just the right speed (around a second per inch) with just the right amount of pressure for optimal results. But you can feel it when the grinding wheels contact the blade, which helps manage things correctly. Knife sharpening requires a specialized technique no matter which method you use, so there will be a learning curve with any model. The Chef'sChoice 1520 is on the pricier side of knife sharpeners, and it's also pretty bulky for a tool you'll only need to use a few times a year. It's a little too tall to tuck in the back of most drawers, so it'll need a spot in a cabinet (or utility closet). Unless space is at a serious premium in your kitchen, though, it's a good investment. Type: Electric | Dimensions: 10 x 4.25 x 4.25 inches | Abrasive Material: Diamond | Options: 15 degrees, 20 degrees, polishing Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Manual Knife Sharpener Mueller 4 in 1 Knife Sharpener PHOTO: Amazon $14 At Amazon Pros This simple and inexpensive tool made it easy to get extremely sharp edges. Cons You can't choose your sharpening angle or use serrated knives. A manual sharpener like this one is much cheaper than an electric model and simpler to use. You can pull the blade through the slots at your own pace without having to worry that it'll get over- or under-sharpened. Manuals usually can't achieve quite the same sharpness as electric sharpeners, but the Mueller was an exception in our testing. It performed just short of the Chef'sChoice 1520 for significantly less money. The Mueller takes more time and effort to sharpen than an electric one; we needed 20 strokes through the medium slot and 10 more through the fine slot to get our excellent test results. (There's a coarse slot to start with for extremely dull knives, but we didn't need it.) You also don't have any options for different sharpening angles or any kind of customization of the edge. On the other hand, there's a separate slot for kitchen shears, something many other sharpeners can't deal with. Type: Manual | Dimensions: 9.25 x 1.75 x 3 inches | Abrasive Material: Diamond | Options: Coarse, medium, fine, scissors Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Best Splurge Chef’sChoice DCB1520 Rechargeable AngleSelect Electric Sharpener PHOTO: Chef's Choice $170 At Williams-Sonoma View On Chefschoice.com Pros This electric sharpener will give your knives a precision edge with ease. Cons We're not sure the cordless capability justifies its increased cost. This sharpener is simply a cordless, rechargeable version of the top-rated Chef'sChoice 1520 above. It has all the same features, with 15- and 20-degree options alongside a polishing slot, plus a removable magnet that collects debris. A single charge is enough for up to 45 minutes of sharpening; that's perfect to bring to your friends and relatives' houses to give their knives a freshening-up. In testing, the rechargeable 1520 got our blade almost as sharp as the corded version and was the third-best overall. We did notice that it didn't do as great of a job on the very beginning of the blade; the heel of our test knife was duller than the rest of it. This model is slightly more compact than the standard 1520, but it's not clear if the rechargeable function is worth the significantly higher cost. Plugging in an electric sharpener isn't that big of an inconvenience in most cases. Type: Cordless electric | Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.2 x 2.9 inches | Abrasive Material: Diamond | Options: 15 degrees, 20 degrees, polishing Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Best Value Longzon 4-in-1 Knife Sharpener PHOTO: Amazon $13 At Amazon View On Walmart Pros The single cheapest sharpener we tested, this model still finished near the top of the pack. Cons A similar model that's only a bit more expensive worked even better. Longzon's budget sharpener is nearly identical to the Mueller, but it's even cheaper. It has a smart design, with effective non-skid padding on the bottom and a handle that ensures your off-hand stays well clear of blades. As with the Mueller, there are four different slots — three successively finer ones for regular knives and a wide opening for scissors. The Longzon gave us significant improvements in sharpness in testing. Its non-diamond abrasive may not have gotten the blade to quite as razor-edged as the Mueller, but it was nonetheless one of the best. We were able to precisely slice tomatoes with a knife that previously couldn't even break the skin. You really can't go wrong with this Longzon sharpener. It's a simple way to massively improve the quality of dull knives, at a price that makes it practically disposable. Get one for your kitchen, and another to leave behind on your next Airbnb trip. Future cooks will thank you. Type: Manual | Dimensions: 9 x 1.75 x 3 inches | Abrasive Materials: Tungsten steel, ceramic | Options: Coarse, medium, fine, scissors Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore The 7 Best Knife Sets of 2024, According to Our Tests Best Compact Material Kitchen The Sharpener PHOTO: Material Kitchen View On Bespokepost.com View On Materialkitchen.com Pros This travel-sized sharpener makes it simple to improve the edge of any standard knife. Cons It sharpens to an unusually shallow angle, and it costs more than other manual models. Material makes stylish versions of all kinds of kitchen essentials, from copper cookware to cutting boards, and this simple sharpener fits well in the brand's lineup. It's truly handheld and can be tucked away in a drawer or even a pants pocket. Nevertheless, its nonstick base didn't move on the counter during testing, and we saw significant improvement in sharpness. However, you'll likely need to run the blade through the single slot more times than you think for consistent results. The edge varied from one end of the blade to the other after the first round of sharpening, but it was much more even after a second set of swipes. Another unusual aspect of this sharpener is that it's set to a 13-degree angle, narrower even than typical Japanese blades. This matches Material's knives, but if you're used to a different angle, this sharpener will make your blades feel slightly different (not sharper or duller; just different). Type: Manual | Dimensions: 6 x 1.4 x 1.7 inches | Abrasive Material: Ceramic Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Best Rolling Tumbler The Original Rolling Knife Sharpener PHOTO: Amazon $129 At Amazon View On Tumblerware.com Pros This unique rolling model makes precision sharpening foolproof. Cons It's expensive, and difficult to use with extra-tall or extra-short blades. The rolling sharpener is fairly innovative in knife-honing, and the Tumbler stood out among the three rolling models we tested. It uses a diamond abrasive wheel that slides against a stationary blade held at the perfect angle by a magnetic base. You don't have to worry about the knife orientation or applying the right amount of pressure; you roll the sharpener back and forth a few times against one side of the blade, then flip it around to get the other side. The Tumbler set has a magnetic base with both 15- and 20-degree sides, and it includes nice post-sharpening accessories. The roller has a steel plate opposite the sharpening side to remove the burr, and then you can run your knife across the leather strop to give the edge a final polish. We didn't get quite as sharp an edge with the Tumbler as with the best traditional models, but it was near the top of the overall list — and well ahead of its fellow rolling models. It's almost entirely foolproof with medium-sized blades like an all-purpose chef's knife. It's a little harder to use with very small or very large blades, however. The magnetic base is taller than some paring knives and won't let the abrasive wheel touch the edge without some finagling. You also might need to elevate the rolling piece with a wooden cutting board so it'll be tall enough to reach the blade of a big cleaver. The Tumbler is pricy in terms of knife sharpeners in general, but it was the cheapest rolling model we tested. Type: Rolling | Dimensions: 3.5 x 2.25 x 2.25 inches | Abrasive Material: Diamond | Options: 15 degrees, 20 degrees | Includes: Dual-sided roller, dual-sided magnetic base, leather strop, display stand Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Our Favorite Knife Sharpeners The Chef'sChoice 1520 Professional Electric Knife Sharpener edged out the competition by creating the single finest blade of our entire testing. For a more affordable manual unit, the Mueller 4-in-1 Knife Sharpener did a very good job at an exceptionally low price. How We Tested Knife Sharpeners We tested 42 knife sharpeners for this story across two separate testing sessions. That includes 17 electric models, 22 traditional pull-through manual models, and three rolling sharpeners. We tested all the sharpeners using the same inexpensive model of a Henckels chef's knife, which we dulled before testing by running along a very coarse-grit whetstone. Food & Wine / Nick Simpson Sharpness test: Using the Edge-On-Up Professional Edge Tester tool, we took scientific measurements of each knife's edge. The tester works by measuring the amount of force required to cut through a reference material — lower numbers indicate a sharper knife. We dulled each knife pre-sharpening until it registered between 700 and 800 grams, then followed each sharpener's directions to restore the edge and measure again. (The best performer got down to 150 grams post-sharpening.) To consider the sharpness of the full blade, we took measurements at the heel, middle, and tip of each knife, then used the average of those three numbers for overall rankings. Cutting test: Before and after sharpening, we tested each knife's real-world abilities by cutting through paper, chopping a carrot into brunoise, and slicing a tomato as thinly as possible. We paid attention to how performance improved pre- and post-sharpening more than overall performance. After completing our tests, we revealed the retail prices of the sharpeners to consider value. At the time of testing, the sharpeners ranged from $5 to $210, with an average of $70. In general, electric models are slightly more expensive than standard manual ones, while rolling sharpeners are the priciest style. Factors to Consider Manual vs. Electric In a traditional manual knife sharpener, you pull the blade across a stationary abrasive. This offers a lot of control but takes a lot of work. An electric model uses rotating abrasive wheels or belts to save time and effort, at the cost of higher cost. The rolling knife sharpener is a newer invention, which holds the knife stationary while you move the abrasive wheel manually. Abrasive Material You need a pretty tough abrasive to sharpen a hard knife blade. The best option is diamond, which is quite common in knife-sharpening gadgets. As the hardest material on Earth, diamond can sharpen anything. A ceramic abrasive will also work for most types of steel, though not necessarily ceramic knives. Be wary if a sharpener uses steel; it might not work very well on hard knives. Versatility Any sharpener will work on a standard chef's knife, but they can't all handle every shape and style of blade. One important consideration is whether the sharpener can deal with serrated knives; if you plan to hone bread knives, steak knives, and other slicers, you'll want to choose one of these. Some models also have an adjustable-width slot to accommodate thicker blades like cleavers. Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Frequently Asked Questions How often should you sharpen your knives? “I sharpen my knives once a month, but that might be overkill for someone cooking infrequently,” says Jessica Randhawa, a chef and recipe creator at The Forked Spoon. “If cooking regularly, sharpening knives at least once a month is good practice. Otherwise, sharpening knives every two months is a safe practice.” To maintain the edge between sharpening sessions, it's a good idea to run the knife over a honing steel a few times before every use, What's the difference between a knife sharpener and a whetstone? A block of rough stone that acts as an abrasive against metal, the whetstone is the original way to sharpen knives. A whetstone can give you incredible precision and a better edge than any machine method, but it takes a lot of practice to hold the right angle and use one correctly. The knife sharpeners we tested for this story all help automate the process to make it beginner-friendly. Can you sharpen ceramic knives yourself? It's possible to sharpen an ultra-hard ceramic knife yourself, Randhawa doesn't advise it. “Ceramic knives are known to chip when sharpening at home,” she says. “It’s best to have a professional with experience in sharpening ceramic knives handle them accordingly.” Other Knife Sharpeners We Tested Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Strong Contenders Presto EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener (Amazon)The EverSharp sharpened very effectively, leaving a test blade 80 percent sharper than we found it. It also left scratches down the sides. That's only an aesthetic problem, but it's a problem. Presto Professional Electric Knife Sharpener (Amazon)Presto's higher-end sharpener costs almost twice as much as the EverSharp but is a lot more versatile. It can handle serrated blades, has an adjustable width, and offers three sharpening stages over the EverSharp's two. It improved edges significantly in testing but we wish it worked better on the very tips of blades. Wüsthof Easy Edge Electric Sharpener (Amazon) Like Wüsthof's knives, its electric sharpener is high-quality. It made our blade razor-sharp in testing, and it's foolproof to use. In the end, it was just too expensive to make the final list. Chef'sChoice 130 Professional Electric Knife Sharpening Station (Amazon) Chef'sChoice offers a wide...choice of knife sharpeners, with this model at the top of its range. It's great, but the Chef'sChoice 1520 above did just as well in testing and costs not quite half as much. Chef'sChoice 320 Diamond Hone Knife Sharpener (Amazon) The mere two sharpening slots on the Chef'sChoice 320 can't get a blade as sharp as its cousin the 1520. It's significantly cheaper, however, one of the more affordable electric models for its quality. Chef'sChoice 4643 Manual Knife Sharpener (Amazon) We're not kidding about Chef'sChoice making a lot of great knife sharpeners! This manual model can handle straight and serrated knives, which is a big plus. But it's awfully expensive for a manual. Cangshan SHARK 4-Stage Knife Sharpener (Amazon) This manual model has separate fine and coarse slots for both Asian-style and European-style knives so you can custom-hone either edge, but it didn't perform as well in testing as cheaper competitors. HORL 2 Walnut Rolling Knife Sharpener (Amazon) This rolling model works quite similarly to the Tumbler above but costs more and doesn't include a strop or stand. Work Sharp Ken Onion Knife Sharpener (Amazon) This machine is for the experienced only. It can handle scissors, garden shears, axes, and all kinds of other blades, with an angle guide completely adjustable from 15 to 30 degrees. It's complicated to use, though, and not for beginners. Kitchellence 3-Stage Knife Sharpener (Amazon) There are a lot of manual models out there with this same basic design and budget price. This one worked well but didn't stand out, as neither the best-performing nor the cheapest. Zwilling J.A. Henckels 4-Stage Pull-Through Knife Sharpener (Amazon) This manual sharpener did remarkably well in testing, creating an extremely sharp blade, and it's quite stable on the counter. It's also very expensive for a manual, and the cheaper Mueller above sharpened better. What Didn't Make the List The best knife sharpeners are largely quite similar in design, but we found wide gulfs in performance. With manual models especially, price and test results did not seem to correlate, and some budget sharpeners did far better than their costlier counterparts. Our Expertise This piece was written by Summer Rylander, a food and travel journalist who has written about food, beverage, and cooking products for Food & Wine, Allrecipes, Serious Eats, and The Kitchn. It was updated with further testing data by Food & Wine senior updates writer Jason Horn. He has nearly 20 years of experience writing about food and drinks, including for Cooking Light, Liquor.com, Serious Eats, Playboy, and more. 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