Best Electric Knife Sharpener

In a previous article “Best Way to Sharpen a Knife” I talked about how to sharpen your knife using traditional tools like a Whetstone and utilizing a Honing steel, however in today’s modern kitchen more and more chefs are now moving towards electric knife sharpeners for sharpening their kitchen knives.

You will however still find a handful of chefs that still prefer the edge that the traditional knife sharpening tools give, but when faced with a busy kitchen the ease of use and speed that you can give your knife a new edge “on the fly” with an electric knife sharpener makes it desirable for the most chefs.

Electric knife sharpeners can sharpen your knife within 1 to 2 minutes from start to finish due the automation of the sharpener, if you are just looking for a quick sharpen before you tackle some fruit or vegetables 30 seconds may just be enough to give you a nice sharp cutting edge..

Electric knife sharpeners will not make the traditional knife sharpening tools obsolete; there will always be a place for the Whetstone and the Honing steel. Utilizing a Whetstone at least once a month is definitely beneficial in keeping your kitchen knives in tip top shape and using the Honing steel before every knife use is just good practice, ensuring your knife is correctly aligned before each use and task in the kitchen.

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What is an Electric Knife Sharpener?

Most of the modern electric knife sharpeners come with a coarse and fine stage, running your knife through the knife sharpener is a two stage process. Some of the more expensive electric knife sharpeners will have three or more stages that will allow you to sharpen the dullest of blades with ease as well as Honing your knife blade very finely.

You can pick up cheap electric knife sharpeners for around $5 however these tend to have only one knife sharpening stage which is typically a coarse stage that will remove more metal from your knife than is needed and will shorten the overall life of your kitchen knives, you definitely don’t want to be running your brand new set of Global knives or Wusthof knives through a $5 electric knife sharpener – that would be Knife suicide!

The majority of the economy knife sharpeners tend to have composite sharpening stones and you will find that most do have diamond based abrasive stones.

Some electric knife sharpening models can sharpen serrated knives but the economy models usually don’t so make sure you check the manufacturer’s documentation before you invest in your knife sharpener.

You’ll find that if you invest in a one of the top electric knife sharpeners you will be able to sharpen your kitchen knife to the precise angle required many of the best electric knife sharpeners will give you the option to sharpen your knife at a set angles like at a 20º or 15º sharpening angle, with a total of 40º or 30º inclusive.

The 15º angle is ideally suited for your Asian, Japanese style knives while the 20º angle is best suited for European style Kitchen knives. You will find that the lower the quality of the knife sharpener the less information will be available about it and they will not specify any sharpening angles.

What is the Best Electric Knife Sharpener?

As with anything in life “you get what you pay for” finding and investing a top electric knife sharpener is no different. You can pick up a cheap electric knife sharpener for around $5, but in all honesty it’s going to be crap (excuse my French). You might get a dozen knife sharpens out of it then it will be ready for the garbage bin.

If you browse on Amazon you’ll find a lot of electric knife sharpeners for under $50. Are the cheap electric knife sharpeners any good? They should be fine for a novice home chef but for a commercial kitchen they won’t be able to keep up with the harsh treatment that professional line chefs would put them through.

Our Top Rated Electric Knife Sharpeners

I have picked out 2 of what I think are the best electric knife sharpeners for the money, these electric knife sharpeners should be a good investment for anybody and there is no reason why they should not last for many years.

Presto EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener

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A Professional EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener that works great on kitchen knives, hunting knives and even fillet knives.

• Two-stage sharpening system quickly and easily sharpens most any non-serrated blade for professional results in the convenience of your home.
• No guess sharpening; Precision blade guides position the kniffe at the ideal sharpening angle for perfect results every time
• Creates a razor sharp edge in seconds using Sapphirite sharpening wheels, the same ultra-hard material used by professional shops
• Stage 1- Precision grinding begins the sharpening process by creating a precisely angled edge
• Stage 2- Fine honing completes the sharpening process by polishing the blade to a razor sharp edge

Chef’sChoice 15 Trizor XV EdgeSelect Electric Knife Sharpener

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Ultra-sharp EdgeSelect technology you can hone your knives to a high performance 15 degree angle. The three stage process and efficient flexible stropping disks sharpen the edge with minimal metal removal, helping to extend the life of fine knives.

• Converts 20-degree factory edge into high-performance Trizor 15-degree edge
• Three stages include diamond abrasives and flexible, abrasive stropping disks
• Sharpener for American-, European-, and Asian-style knives, including straightedge and serrated
• Flexible spring guides automatically adjust for the proper angle; simple on/off switch

In closing; As convenient as electric knife sharpeners are as far as I’m concerned you still can’t beat the edge you get from a traditional Whetstone and Honing steel and are the only sharpening tools you should use for your best kitchen knives.

What are your thoughts? Drop me a message below.