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Best electric knife sharpener: Chef's Choice Trizor 15XV
Best budget electric knife sharpener: Work Sharp Culinary E2
Best manual knife sharpener: KitchenIQ Edge-Grip 2 Stage
Purchasing a knife—of any quality, really—is kind of like buying a car. Just as a car depreciates the moment you drive it off the lot, a knife begins to dull the first time you slice with it. Many of us continue to hack away with dull blades, risking amputating fingers in pursuit of a hunk of bread. Unlike a car, though, you can bring all that value right back to your knife. What you need, of course, is the best knife sharpener.
You may already have a honing rod, and it's possible you've seen professionals use a whetstone, but we won't be covering either of those here. Honing rods are important and can be used more frequently, but they have limited utility compared to knife sharpeners; they won’t bring a dull knife back from the dead so much as they will maintain a blade between sharpenings. Whetstones, on the other hand, require serious practice and technique mastery to use correctly. If you’re interested in learning to use a sharpening stone, you can read our guide here. Instead, we're concentrating exclusively on finding the best manual and electric knife sharpeners—products that should be simple for beginners to use, but effective enough that home cooks with high-end knives aren’t afraid to run them through. The former employs a pull-through system—you simply run your blade down the length of a static abrasive. The latter has a motor, often with more than one speed and setting, as well as different slots with abrasives for different sharpening tasks. The abrasives control how much metal gets taken off the knife. Materials like diamond are used for coarse sharpening, and have the power to totally reshape or reform an edge. Somewhat softer materials like ceramic are ideal for honing, refining a knife’s edge and buffing out tiny nicks. Flexible abrasives are perfect for polishing and sharpening serrated knives, as they gently conform to surfaces.
Both manual and electric sharpeners have pros and cons. Manual sharpeners are generally less expensive, don’t require a power source, and since they’re not automatic, offer better control. But they can take some experience to use effectively, and often don’t work on serrated knives. Electric knife sharpeners are user-friendly and speedy, generally offering multiple sharpening options for a variety of blades. The downside is they tend to be more expensive, require a power source, are often bulky, and offer less control.
It doesn't make sense to pick a single knife sharpener to rule them all—it would be an apples to oranges comparison—so we set out to find the best manual knife sharpener and the best electric knife sharpener, and—in the case of one of our top picks—an option for the best kitchen knife sharpener that actually straddles both categories.
Table of contents
The best electric knife sharpener
The best budget electric knife sharpener
The best manual knife sharpener
Other knife sharpeners we tested
How we tested
What a knife expert thinks
What we looked for
The takeaway
The best electric knife sharpener (especially for damaged knives): Chef’sChoice 15 Trizor XV EdgeSelect Professional Knife Sharpener
The Chef's Choice Trizor XV knife sharpener has three sharpening slots, each with a separate purpose. There's a honing slot, a sharpening slot, and a polishing slot. The sharpener employs 100-percent diamond abrasives on the sharpening and honing stages, while the polishing slot uses flexible abrasives that gently conform to grooves in order to sharpen serrated knives.
The Chef’s Choice was very tough to beat in this category thanks to one notable feature: It can actually convert the standard, 20-degree angle of your basic, inexpensive American or European factory knife into the 15-degree angle featured on coveted, handcrafted Japanese blades. What’s the upside to this, you ask? While the standard 20-degrees is good for chopping and exerting cleaver-like blunt force on tough cuts of meat, whittling down to a lightweight and razor-sharp 15-degrees reduces friction when cutting, which is ideal for precision tasks like paring, peeling, and working with vegetables and fish.
Even if you don’t want to full-on reshape your blade, this sharpener has the ability to resuscitate seriously nicked or banged-up knives. Prior to sharpening, our most-used German knife was no match for the hard hide of an acorn squash or the slippery skin of a tomato. Post-Trizor, the slimmed down edge, lined with tiny micro grooves designed to “push” food away from the blades, meant that no downward pressure was needed to break through the squash, and that the knife cleanly slipped through the tomato without crushing it. It’s also worth noting that the Trizor evenly sharpened the blade from end to end, without leaving random dull spots. The whole sharpening process takes minutes, and spring-loaded guides inside the sharpening slots ensure your blade won’t slip around in the process. Unsurprisingly, it’s amongst the most expensive models we tested, but that cost is offset a bit by a 3-year warranty.
The only potential caveat is you can’t simply grab a knife, press the power button and go. At least, you shouldn’t, if you’re looking to get the most out of the machine and don’t want to risk damaging your knives. There’s an extensive (and we mean extensive) manual that you need to wade through first, which goes into excruciating detail about how to sharpen American vs. European vs. Japanese and flat vs. serrated blades. For instance, knives with only one bevel (the angle leading to the edge), such as traditional Japanese knives, should only be sharpened and honed in the left slot, while American/Euro and contemporary Asian blades require alternating right and left slot pulls. The booklet also advises pulling your knife through at different speeds when honing or polishing. Needless to say, this is all in pursuit of superior results, and with repeat use, the steps required to expertly operate the Trizor can become ingrained. They just aren’t intuitive.
The best budget knife sharpener: Work Sharp Culinary E2 Kitchen Knife Sharpener
In contrast, the Work Sharp is dummy-proof (unlike the Trizor, you can simply grab a knife, press the power button and go). It operates on a timer, so all you need to do is pull your knife in alternating swipes through the right and leftmost slots (the middle is used for manual pull-through sharpening), until the machine shuts off. This is intended to prevent over-sharpening, although if you find more time is needed, you can simply press the button again. The E2 sharpener also offers an impressive variety of sharpening options. In addition to the fact that it can be used manually or electrically, it accommodates chef’s knives, serrated knives, paring knives, pocket knives, scissors, and shears.
The E2 comes with a 3-year warranty and the ability to purchase replacements for the ceramic and flexible abrasive discs (used for sharpening and honing, respectively), although the company claims that you can sharpen up to 100 knives before needing to switch them out. The E2 is sturdy yet lightweight, easily storable, has a non-skid base to keep the unit steady, and comes in at half the price of our top pick. Work Sharp also makes upgraded, pricier options like the E5 model, which has the nifty addition of an interior vacuum for sucking up flyaway metal particles. But for the cost, we found the E2 had all the bells and whistles we needed for weekly touch-up and polishing.
Though the slots are snug enough to keep your blade at the right angle, what the E2 doesn’t have is the automatic grip of the Trizor. It doesn’t reshape, as mentioned before, and takes a bit longer to sharpen knives to peak condition.
The best manual sharpener: KitchenIQ Edge Grip 2-Stage Knife Sharpener
It’s hard to believe something that costs eight dollars could do much of anything, let alone stand a chance at sharpening a forged German chef’s knife. And yet, this palm-sized gadget is practically begging for a prime spot in your junk drawer (as in, up front, with the stuff you actually use). It offers both sharpening and polishing settings. For the price tag, you’d think the abrasives would be sandpaper, and yet it features coarse carbide for when you’re looking to recreate a sharp, snazzy edge on a dulled out knife, and ceramic rods when all you need is a gentle honing. We were honestly surprised at how much more bite it gave one of our duller blades. After about 10 swipes, it was able to slide swiftly through a tomato sans squashing, and a pass through the polisher created a noticeably smoother finish. The KitchenIQ works on serrated knives, which is another unexpected bonus for manual sharpeners.
Accepting that it is a tiny, inexpensive pull-through sharpener, the only negative is that it’s primarily meant for American/Euro-style knives that have a straight edge with bevels on each side.
How we tested:
We gathered a selection of our most battered and bruised knives and attempted to cleanly slice through a soft tomato and impenetrable winter squash for a base understanding of how they performed pre-sharpening. We then ran the knives through each sharpener, using every setting available (some included honing, others offered actual reshaping capabilities for truly damaged knives). We then returned to our squash and tomato to determine how much more easily and cleanly they cut. We tested each machine with as many types of cutting implements as we could (a few of the sharpeners accommodated scissors, paring knives, and serrated blades).
What we looked for:
Running a big blade through an electrified set of oscillating teeth can be dangerous if you’re not clear on what you’re doing. And if you need a Rosetta Stone to interpret the directions, there’s a good chance that you may not bother using your sharpener at all.
In the knife sharpening world, this may be referred to as levels of grit. Coarse, medium, and fine grit take different amounts of metal off the knife. Some models merely sharpen dull knives that aren’t actively damaged (medium), while others also hone, realign, and polish (fine). And, as outlined above, our pick for the best knife sharpener can actually convert a 20-degree edge to a 15-degree one (coarse).
The materials a sharpener uses as abrasives can really separate the best knife sharpeners from the rest of the pack. Diamond is the hardest and most durable, making it arguably the best. Polished ceramic, tungsten carbide, and sapphire are a bit softer, and also less expensive.
Whether you choose a manual or electric option, you shouldn’t end up with carpal tunnel in an effort to get a sharp edge. That said, we’d rather it take a few minutes and actually see results than waste 10 seconds on a fruitless endeavor.
Any effort to offset the inherent dangers of working with pointy objects is appreciated.
Finding a sharpener with long term durability, especially in its abrasive mechanism, was important to us.
Knife sharpeners vary widely in price. In many cases, you get what you pay for. In the cases that a company asks you to shell out big bucks, it helps if the machine comes with a reasonable warranty.
Remember that a knife sharpener is essentially shaving your knives, which can cause metal particles to get stuck inside. You’ll want it to be easy to clean them out.
Unlike honing steels, you can’t exactly stick a sharpener in one of the holes of your knife block. So we were looking for one that didn’t take up massive amounts of counter space.
Other knife sharpeners we tested:
Although the Work Sharp Precision Adjust earned high marks for its edge work (perhaps producing the sharpest knives of the bunch), setting up the device and the sharpening itself had a steep learning curve. This sharpener is the only one of its kind we tested: It comes in four pieces that need to be assembled, and then disassembled each time for storage. For sharpening, the knife is secured with a clamp, which didn’t feel that stable with larger knives. After the first side is sharpened, the knife is then rotated, putting it in a precarious position.
The Brod & Taylor Professional Knife Sharpener is a durable and effective manual model; it works on serrated knives, and its slim build makes it reasonably easy to store. But it’s less than intuitive to use, and 20 times more expensive than our top pick.
At $11, the SunrisePro Supreme Knife Sharpener came in at the bottom of the price spectrum and its performance was pretty much in line with its cost. We liked that it used suction to safely adhere it to the table, but were less than entranced with the terrible squeaking sound it made when we used it.
While the Zwilling V-Edge Sharpener had some upsides, including a very stable base and two sets of ceramic sharpening rods, both fine and coarse (one can be stored underneath the sharpener when not in use), the act of sharpening a knife blade, the point of the whole exercise, was awkward. At 8-plus-inches high, the Zwilling is significantly taller than most sharpeners, making it difficult, especially for those of shorter stature, to slide a knife straight across at counter height.
The Horl2 offered an intriguing sharpening system—stick a dull knife on an angled magnet and roll a two-sided sharpening disc (coarse and fine) over it—but at $189, the price tag didn’t align with the end result. On top of not producing as razor-sharp a blade, the sharpener’s magnets (there’s two, one for a 15-degree angle and another for a 20-degree angle) can be a bit of an issue. They were quite strong—they need to be strong to securely hold a knife—but they’re so strong that they can attract other knives (or metal objects) nearby, so you need to make sure to keep the board or counter where you’re sharpening clear of anything else magnetic.
The Tumbler Diamond Rolling Knife Sharpener, which more than one thread full of redditors called out as a Horl knockoff (Horl has been around longer and they do indeed look almost identical), also features a magnet and rolling disc sharpening duo. Even at a lower price point ($129 at the time of writing), the edgework left something to be desired, but more significantly, the magnets were weaker on the Tumbler than the Horl, which could be problematic when securing larger knives.
The Presto EverSharp requires more know-how and precision than our top electric sharpener picks because it’s motorized but not automatic. We appreciated that the two slots (sharpen and hone) are clearly labeled, and that it sits securely on tables. In the end, though, its performance wasn’t as impressive as the Trizor, nor was the Presto as versatile as the Work Sharp.
At $200, the Wusthof Easy Edge, which uses belt technology, was the most expensive sharpener we tested. It comes with one belt, but the (quite lengthy) user guide goes on to explain you can purchase several other belts to maximize performance. (The knives sharpened with the belt provided didn’t have impressive edges.) Although smaller than the Chef’sChoice, the machine is bulky. One thing we did like: The one-touch timer: Press one button and the machine runs through three stages of sharpening, then turns off when the process is complete.
What a knife expert thinks:
Automatic knife sharpeners make sense for a lot of people, but it's good to recognize that they aren't perfect. “The automatic machines are the crudest approach to putting the right angle on a knife,” says Dereck Glaser, a knife expert and bladesmithing instructor at the New England School of Metalwork. While automatic knife sharpeners are desirable to those who may not want to go through the effort of learning how to properly sharpen and hone knives, they can't deliver the same amount of precision and care that traditional sharpening provides.
Automatic knife sharpeners can to grind down more material than necessary, which could potentially shorten the lifespan of a blade, or cause it to wear faster. In contrast, a diamond sharpening steel or whetstone can restore an edge quickly with minimal wear to the blade, but they do require practical knowledge. For the majority of knives in any given kitchen, this isn't that big of a deal, but if you have a special blade—say something handmade that you spent more than $500—Glaser recommends learning how to effectively use manual options or using a professional sharpening service if you want to keep your blade in optimal condition.
“It’s important to understand that a majority of the time, a knife just needs to be honed. Sharpening removes metal, and if the cutting angle is still good, all your knife usually needs is a good honing to restore the edge," says Glaser. Honing is the process of refining the knife by laying back the flexible microscopic burrs on the cutting edge. Some automatic knife sharpeners have a honing setting, but the best way to hone a blade’s edge is with a honing steel, the rod-shaped tool you might've seen professional chefs use or the thing you may recognize as the one non-knife item that comes in a knife set. In fact, regardless of what knife sharpening method you use, honing is an essential part of the process, as without it you can not restore a knife to its full potential.
Figuring out whether a knife should be honed or sharpened seems tricky, but anybody can figure it out if they just pay attention to how their knife is performing. “If you pick up a knife and cut through a tomato and it squishes it instead of cutting it, your first thought should be: I need to hone the knife. Assuming the angle is still good, we will run the hone on it. If that doesn't restore the edge and it's not cutting cleanly, then perhaps it needs to be sharpened through the grinding process.”
Honing should happen fairly regularly, and how often you actually sharpen your knives depends on how often you use them. Glaser suggests around once a month for a frequently-used blade. And for those with really high-quality knives, willing to take the sharpening on themselves, consider taking them in to a professional sharpening service once or twice a year. “In a way,” Glaser says, “it would be like going to your primary care physician to check everything out to make sure everything looks good and that the appropriate angle is being kept. Also that person then can confirm whether the work you are doing is good or not.”
The takeaway:
electric person. Would you rather focus on ease of use or better control? Does your cutlery require merely an occasional tune-up, or are you after a full-on reshaping? Are you determined not to spend more than $20 or are you willing to drop $100+ on a sharpener built to last?
If you’re looking for a powerful electric sharpener (and are comfortable spending more money), opt for the Chef’sChoice 15 Trizor XV EdgeSelect Professional Knife Sharpener. For a versatile, user-friendly sharpener that can tackle a variety of sharpening tasks, like scissors and serrated knives, choose the Work Sharp Culinary E2 Kitchen Knife Sharpener. Finally, for a very inexpensive but still effective manual sharpener, choose the best manual knife sharpener: the KitchenIQ Edge Grip Two-Stage Knife Sharpener.
