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Sep 01, 2023

4 Best Knife Sharpeners of 2023, Tested by Experts

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process. Sharpen up your go-to knives

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

Sharpen up your go-to knives with these top-rated picks.

If you've ever been frustrated by chopping onions or slicing a tomato, chances are it isn't you — it's your knife. A dull knife is not only frustrating to use, but dangerous too, since it is more likely to slip as you cut. Whether you need to spruce up your old standby or if you just splurged on a fancy chef's knife or Japanese knife, regularly sharpening your knives is a great habit to get into to maintain its pristine edge and make cooking easier and safer.

The best knife sharpeners make it possible to sharpen your knife at home and keep it sharp, which is essential to good cooking. The three main types — electric, manual and sharpening stones — work by shaping the knife's edge with a coarse abrasive, then polishing it with a finer abrasive.

We evaluated knife sharpeners from popular and top-rated brands through frequent testing in our GH Test Kitchen and the GH Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab as well as at-home experience, and relied on the combined expertise from culinary professionals to determine the best.

Read on for details on our favorite knife sharpeners as well as how we evaluated knife sharpeners and what to consider when shopping for a knife sharpener.

This electric knife sharpener features a three-step process that creates a razor-sharp blade using diamond abrasives. First, it sharpens the primary bevel, or the part of the blade that tapers from its full thickness to the cutting edge, then the secondary bevel (the thinnest part of the blade at the cutting edge), and finally it polishes the newly sharpened knife.

Our Lab pros found that it was sturdy with slip-resistant feet, and offers a good amount of space to rest your hand and secure the unit while it’s in use. This all helps to stabilize the knife as you pull it through, so you can sharpen it evenly. It sharpens at a 15 degree angle, which is suitable for most Japanese knives, but if you sharpen your German knives with this sharpener, they will require more frequent sharpening as they can't maintain the thinner edge for as long.

Measuring about six by four inches, this compact, affordable electric knife sharpener can easily fit on your countertop or in a cabinet for convenient storage. It features two abrasive discs to sharpen your knife on both sides, plus a ceramic honing wheel to polish off your sharpened knife and maintain the sharp edge daily. We love that the sharpening discs are removable and easily replaceable once they start to get dull. The scissors sharpener is another bonus. The built-in 20-degree angle guides are perfect for German-style knives, but not for Japanese knives.

Looking for a more affordable, manual Chef’sChoice knife sharpener? This model was a top-tested favorite in the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, with sharpening options for both 15- and 20-degree knives. Our experts loved its slim, storage-friendly design with a good, stable hold.

Like the electric model, this pick also features diamond abrasives and a specialized slot for polishing your knife after it has been sharpened. Since you'll have to pull your knife through manually rather than rely on the precision of an electric knife sharpener, this model might require a bit more of a learning curve. However, the slots make it easy to steady your knife as you pull it through the sharpener.

More advanced users looking for a sharpening stone, also known as a whetstone, instead of a manual or electric sharpener, will enjoy this model. The aluminum oxide stone combines pro-level functionality with beginner-friendly features. It stood out to the pros in our Lab for its non-slip bamboo base for holding the stone securely in place as you sharpen, and a sharpening angle guide set to 20 degrees that clips to your knife and helps maintain a consistent angle as you slide the knife back and forth: Typically, you'd have to place the stone on a wet towel to secure it and then hold your knife perfectly steady as you sharpen to get the right angle.

Our experts also loved that the stone has two different grits — a coarser 1,000 grit for sharpening the blade and finer 6,000 grit for honing and polishing the blade. We wish that it also included a 15-degree angle guide, which is more suitable for Japanese knives, though more advanced users can sharpen their knives without an angle guide at all.

Pros in the Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen and Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab regularly use and test knife sharpeners in our Labs and home kitchens. We compare different styles and brands of knife sharpeners, starting with dull knives to test each pick out for performance, ease of use and functionality, among other factors. To make this list, we relied on our in-house testing and research, sourced favorites from editors and researched additional top-rated brands and popular models.

✔️ Electric vs. manual: Electric knife sharpeners work by running a knife through a slot with tiny spinning sharpening stones, whereas manual knife sharpeners are handheld and require users to slide the knife along the blade manually. Electric options tend to be easier to use since the machine does the work for you, but more expensive. Manual sharpeners require more effort, since it's important to make the appropriate strokes for your knife, but tend to be more affordable. Consider your skill level and the amount of effort you want to put into each round of sharpening.

✔️ Pull-through vs. stone: Pull-through knife sharpeners are user-friendly and great for beginners. Most pull-through sharpeners include at least two pre-set slots, one for sharpening and one for honing. Just pull your knife through the slot a few times for an instantly sharper edge. The slots are great for newbies because they ensure that you're sharpening your knife at the proper angle, but the abrasives in pull-through knife sharpeners are generally set at specific angles that cannot be adjusted, so it's important you're getting the right angle for your blade. A sharpening stone, like a water stone or whetstone, is a more advanced sharpening option that works by first soaking the stone in water and using it as an abrasive to sharpen your knife. The water acts as a lubricant for sliding your knife across the stone's surface and creates a method that offers the most control over the sharpening process, since you can control the angle that you hold your knife as you slide it over the stone, instead of pull-throughs' pre-set angles. Some users find that sharpening stones also make their knives sharper than a pull-through, although it requires more precision, skill and time.

✔️ Sharpening angle: Different types of knives have edges (a.k.a. where the knife cuts) set at different angles. For example, Japanese-style knives tend to have 15-degree blade edges whereas German knives have 20-degree blade edges. This means that the knife's cutting edge is cut at a 15- or 20-degree angle into the side of the knife to form the sharp tip. Smaller angles are super-sharp and great for detailed slicing and dicing, while larger angles are sturdier. The knife sharpener will say what angle it's set at in the product description, and you can check the manufacturers instructions on your knife to determine its angle.

FYI: It's possible to sharpen German knives, which tend to have an edge that is closer to 20 degrees, with a 15 degree sharpener. They will just require more frequent sharpening as they can't maintain that thinner edge for as long as a Japanese knife.

✔️ Functionality: Look for knife sharpeners that offer more than one setting. The best ones will have a coarse abrasive for sharpening your blade, plus a finer abrasive for honing it (for sharpening stones, a coarse grit of 1,000 and a fine grit of 6,000 is recommended for most knives). If you'd like to sharpen more than one tool, look for a sharpener that includes multiple sharpening angles and/or a scissors sharpener.

Yes, but they should be used sparingly. To maintain everyday sharpness, consider honing instead. Honing realigns the metal and can be done frequently, while sharpening removes some of the metal to create a new, sharper edge and should be saved for when your knife really needs it.

As for those serrated knives? Leave it to a professional knife sharpening service. "Serrated knives are very hard to sharpen at home. They can't be used on a pull-through sharpener, and if you use a stone, you have to be very careful each side is sharpened the same way in each section," says Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab Director Nicole Papantoniou.

How often you sharpen your knife should depends on how often you use it, but it usually ranges from every couple weeks to every couple months. Once it starts struggling to cut a tomato, it's probably time! Serrated knives likely need to be sharpened eventually, but not nearly as often as a chef's knife.

Samantha MacAvoy is an assistant food editor on the Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen team. She researched and reviewed dozens of knife sharpeners, interviewed expert editors and has road-tested knife sharpeners. She also appreciates a pristine edge — sharp enough to slice a tomato like butter — in her home kitchen and is an advocate for keeping those blades at their absolute best.

Samantha (she/her) is an Assistant Editor in the Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen, where she writes about tasty recipes, must-try food products and top-tested secrets for home cooking success. She has taste-tasted hundreds of products and recipes since joining GH in 2020 (tough job!). A graduate of Fordham University, she considers the kitchen to be her happiest place.

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