They don’t come more basic than the KitchenIQ, but they also don’t come cheaper. If you just want something to maintain basic blades on the regular, this gets the job done surprisingly well considering its price.
What we love: Pull-through sharpeners can get a bad rep in the kitchen knife community for lacking precision, but, for less than $10 at the time of writing, we think the KitchenIQ Edge Grip sharpener does enough to warrant a recommendation. With simple construction—a coarse sharpening slot with a carbide “V” and a ceramic honing slot—this little sharpener did bring a sharper edge to some of the duller knives we tested. This is basically a more aggressive version of a honing steel—it won’t completely reset a knife’s edge the way a whetstone or electric sharpener will, but it will refine and sharpen the edge that currently exists on your knife. And because the KitchenIQ is so small and convenient, you could run your knives through the honing slot after every use or two.
What we’d leave: There’s no getting around it: This won’t perform as well as an electric sharpener or a whetstone. It’s more maintenance than revitalizing a knife. Also, the sharpening “V” is in a fixed position, meaning you’re stuck with 20º blade angles. But for something this cheap, it delivers what we expect it to.
How we tested knife sharpeners
We used the dullest knives available on tough vegetables like butternut squash and delicate foods like tomatoes. After noting the results, we sharpened each knife according to the manual’s instructions, and performed the same cutting tests again. We also evaluated each sharpener for ease of use and overall design.
What to look for in a knife sharpener
The key elements for any knife sharpener are simple: Does it sharpen knives well and is it easy to use. We looked for sharpeners that were made from high-quality materials (like diamond-coated abrasives and ceramic) and didn’t leave us feeling like our knives were in danger as we ran them through. We also looked for features like adjustable angles to make sure the edge is set correctly, safety features to avoid unnecessary nicks and cuts, and overall design and build quality.
In our whetstones we looked for stones that sharpened knives efficiently, with few passes.
Ultimately, the most important factor in picking a good sharpener was how well it actually sharpened knives. In our testing, we were surprised at how many knife sharpeners we tested that just did not cut it (pun intended).
Other knife sharpeners we liked
Horl
3 Rolling Knife Sharpener
We weren’t huge fans of the previous Horl 2 sharpener (you can read why below) but with the updates made to the Horl 3, we’ve changed our tune. The Horl system is easy even for someone with no sharpening experience. It uses a magnetic block that holds your knife at either a 15º or 20º angle, combined with a rolling tumbler that has a diamond disc on one side and a ceramic disc on the other. Once your knife is locked into place on the magnet, simply roll the tumbler along the edge to sharpen it with the diamond side and hone the edge with the ceramic side. The HORL 3 features a stronger magnet to better hold your knives in place, along with a more abrasive diamond disc. This greatly improved how quickly it sharpened an edge—something that took ages with the Horl 2. The tumbler also felt more secure when rolling, giving us fewer safety concerns. We liked that the Horl 3 offered good control over the whole sharpening process and how gently it removed metal—electric sharpeners and pull-through sharpeners can peel away steel quickly, wearing down the knife. What we don’t love is the price—the Horl 3 costs more than most knives we’d recommend, even if we did like the sharpness of the results. This is a good option for someone who doesn’t want the full whetstone experience but also wants to extend the life of their blade. Just know you’re going to have to pay for it.
