11 Best Knife Sharpeners of 2023 [Tested and Reviewed]

KITCHELLENCE's 3-Stage Knife Sharpener has three slots for manual sharpening.

This sharpener earned the top overall score in the four categories we tested for. Sharpening is as simple as sliding the knife through each of the three slots in order according to the numbers written on the sharpener. The handle has a rubber cover which makes it easy to hold in place and get a good polish on the knife you're using.

Thanks to how easily you can apply force to the knife during sharpening, it excels at making blades sharp again. Knives sharpened with it went straight through tomato skin and cut them into clean pieces without squashing them. We were also able to cut smoothly into harder foods like carrots with little resistance. One tester said, "It cuts just like a new knife without needing to use much force."

It's also worth noting its compact size of 8.3 inches. Most people will appreciate that you can take it out of a drawer and put it back with one hand. And it's compatible with four blade types: double bevel, single bevel, serrated blades, and pocket knives.

Since it's easy to hold steady and apply pressure to the knife you're sharpening, this sharpener makes dull knives cut like new again. People who cook frequently should consider it for a comfortable culinary life.

The Adjustable Manual Knife Sharpener by Smith's is a manual-type sharpener with two slots for regular knives and a separate slot for serrated blades. The maker claims that the adjustable knob at the top allows for compatibility with many different knives.

This particular sharpener scored highly when it came to ease of use. Most people will find it intuitive thanks to having the instructions written directly on the body. The handle is made of nonslip material so you can keep it in place while sharpening.

It's also sufficiently compact, a mere 1.19 inches tall, which makes it easy to store, and it will fit comfortably in a shallow drawer or other small space in your kitchen. It works with double bevel, single bevel, serrated blades, and pocket knives.

However, it isn't a frontrunner in the sharpening category. Knives sharpened with this sharpener did cut through tomato skin but required some extra force to cut through completely. Harder foods like carrots were harder to slice, so the sharpness of the blade fell short.

We appreciated this sharpener for its ease of use and simple storage. Its sharpening ability doesn't match the number one product on our list, but it is a good option if you are looking for a hassle-free sharpener.

The Manual Knife Sharpener by maker Chef's Choice has three slots that all use 100 percent diamond as their polishing material. It claims that this allows for fast and easy sharpening.

The directions are written directly on the sharpener, making for intuitive use. The handle is curved and made of nonslip material, so you can hold it firmly in place. It doesn't feel like a hassle to use, even if you need to sharpen knives frequently.

At 9.25 inches, it's about as long as a kitchen knife and compact enough to store easily. Because of its lightness, pulling it out and putting it away doesn't feel like a chore. It's compatible with double bevel, single bevel, serrated blades, and pocket knives.

As for sharpening ability, this sharpener is tolerable. Knives sharpened with it cut through vegetable skin easily but required a bit of force and some hand motion to complete the cut. We felt some resistance when trying to cut through harder foods like carrots, and it took some effort to get the job done.

While it can't compete for the number one spot in sharpening ability, the solid handle design will appeal to people looking for a sharpener they can use casually every day.

Chef's Choice's Hybrid Sharpener uses diamond polishing material for its three sharpening slots. The first two slots are electric and the third is manual, which is supposed to make knives extremely sharp.

Other than scissors, this sharpener is compatible with all of the blade types we looked at. It can be difficult to keep in place since it lacks a handle, but sharpening only requires the user to move the nife through the slots. It is bulky and heavy, so it will take up a noticeable amount of space in your kitchen drawer.

Knives sharpened using this sharpener came out sharp enough to cut even hard foods like carrots with little resistance. The blade went in smoothly and made clean slices with no problems. But it couldn't cut cleanly through tomato skin and ended up squashing the fruit when making slices. The sharpening ability isn't top of the line, but it's more than enough for cutting hard ingredients.

True to its name, Work Sharp's Electric Culinary E2 Kitchen Knife Sharpener is an electric type sharpener with two sharpening slots. It claims you can get a consistent result just by inserting the knife.

This sharpener received high ratings for being compatible with five different types of blades. It works with double bevel, single bevel, serrated blades, pocket knives, and scissors, which people using many blade types will appreciate. We had no trouble cutting through the skin on a tomato using a knife that had been sharpened with it, but we noticed it took some force to cut completely. The blade didn't get stuck when trying to cut through carrots, and the slices came out smooth and consistent.

All you need to do is turn on the power and put the knife into the slot to start sharpening, but we found it was hard to keep in place firmly. It's a smaller than some of the other electric type sharpeners on the market. However, its weight makes it unsuitable for storage in kitchen drawers.

The Edge Grip 2-Stage Knife Sharpener by Kitchen IQ is a manual sharpener with two slots for coarse and fine sharpening. The V-shaped indentation on the bottom allows you to set it at the edge of a table, which should come in handy for sharpening longer knives.

We appreciated the sharpener's small size, which makes it easy to store and portable. It's compatible with serrated blades and pocket knives on top of the standard blade types, making it a good fit for camping and other outdoor activities.

The small size comes with the caveat of there being no handle, so it is a challenge to hold steadily. This also affects its sharpening ability as the blades we sharpened with it still required some force to cut through both tomatoes and carrots, resulting in poorly shaped slices.

Maker Chef's Choice claims its Trizor Electric Sharpener's diamond polishing material makes for fast and easy sharpening. It's an electric type sharpener with three levels of sharpening slots.

The numbers written next to each of the sharpening slots make this sharpener user-friendly and intuitive. All you need to do is power it on and move the knife through each of the slots. Additionally, it's compatible with four blade types: double bevel, single bevel, serrated blades, and pocket knives.

A knife sharpened with this sharpener cut through tomato skin with no issue but didn't fare as well with harder foods like carrots. At 10 inches wide and 4.25 inches deep, it's big enough that you'll need to store it in a larger space along with pots and pans. The weight also makes it feel like a hassle to take out and put away frequently.

Accusharp's Knife & Tool Sharpener uses tungsten carbide which doesn't rust even when washed with water. The sharpening blade is replaceable, meaning you can use it for a long time.

This sharpener is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, making it extremely easy to store. You can keep it in a drawer or other small space or even put it in your pocket and carry it with you. It boasts excellent sharpening ability, and a knife sharpened with it will make quick work of tomatoes. Even hard foods like carrots were easy to cut through from start to finish. It works with double bevel, single bevel, serrated blades, and pocket knives.

This sharpener requires that you hold the blade of the knife upward and then slide it back and forth along the blade, which made us feel that it could cause an injury if you're not cautious. You also need to adjust the amount of force you apply onto the knife manually, leading to a low score in the ease of use category.

Presto's Eversharp is an electric type sharpener that uses sapphire for both of its two sharpening slots. It claims that the sapphire polishing material can make a knife as sharp as a razor blade.

There are numbers written next to the sharpening slots, so you're not likely to get the sharpening order mixed up. But with no handle, we felt it was hard to hold in place. Being an electric sharpener, it's quite large at 7.2 inches wide and 9.9 inches deep, so you'll need to make sure you have the space to store it.

This sharpener is only compatible with two blade types: double bevel and pocket knives. As for sharpening ability, a knife sharpened with it had no trouble cutting through the skin on a tomato, but didn't cut through carrots as smoothly, as we needed to press down all the way from the start of the cut to the finish.

Work Sharp's Precision Adjust Elite Knife Sharpener is a manual type sharpener with five types of materials, such as diamond, ceramic, and leather strop that make up a total of seven options for sharpening.

We were thoroughly satisfied with its sharpening ability. A knife sharpened with it went through tomato skin easily and cut through the flesh effortlessly. We were even able to slice carrots without needing to apply extra force. It works with a total of three blade types: double bevel, single bevel, and pocket knives.

The only downside is that you need to assemble it every time you use it, which prevents you from getting started immediately. It's also complicated enough that you'll need to read the instructions the first time, resulting in a poor rating for ease of use. This also means you'll need to take it apart for storage, which will feel like a burden. Its complicated operation and extra time needed to store prevent it from scoring as high as the other sharpeners we tried.

ALLWIN-HOUSEWARE's Professional Carbon Steel Knife Sharpening Steel is a steel rod type sharpener which, as the name suggests, is made from carbon steel and uses nickel electroplating. Its ergonomically designed handle earns it recognition.

It's thin enough to store in small spaces or crevices in your kitchen, but at 12 inches long, you won't be able to store it in a cutlery drawer. It's compatible with double bevel, single bevel, and pocket knives.

When testing its sharpening ability, we found that the knife had no problem cutting carrots into smooth slices, but we needed to move the knife back and forth with considerable effort to cut into a tomato, which resulted in poorly shaped slices.

Sharpening knives with this sharpener requires you to slide both the knife and the sharpener against each other, but it lacks stability since you must support both the knife and sharpener yourself. You will need to read the instructions and practice a bit before you get the hang of it, so it's not a tool you can use intuitively.