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What I wanted more than anything when I moved into my first adult apartment—and could organize a kitchen exactly how I liked it—was a big, magnetic knife strip. Sure, cool art and nice dish towels were on the to-do list, but the priority was getting my knives on the wall.
Functional and impressive, magnetic strips keep knives accessible but out of the way, and lend an air of professionalism to any kitchen. I thought I’d look like someone who knew what she was doing once I had one of my own—rather than someone who carelessly kept her prized chef’s knife in a cheap wooden knife block.
All I had to do was screw the strip into the wall and arrange my collection in size order to feel like a real grown-up. There was only one problem: My kitchen didn’t have any walls. Tiny and wedged into the corner of the main room, it was all ugly stone backsplash and ill-placed outlets, with no accessible wall space whatsoever. To screw a magnetic strip into the nearest available surface would’ve meant displaying my knives above the couch.
So I did the next-best (extremely dumb) thing: I bought heavy duty adhesive, and affixed my knife strip to the side of the refrigerator, where it stayed for exactly 16 hours. That night, while I was thankfully safe in another room, the strip (and all the knives with it) clattered to the ground, leaving a scene I can only describe as NC-17 material. The sole casualty was a paring knife, bent beyond repair after its nose-dive into my wood floor—but I was a changed woman. I bought a pack of knife protectors the very next day.
Knife protectors were not my first choice for kitchen cutlery storage, but they were absolutely the right one; years later, I’m as reliant on them as ever, and can’t imagine storing my knives any other way. In particular, I use Noble Home & Chef’s “edge guards,” which are long, thin sleeves made of hard plastic that are lined with felt. Enveloped individually in these solid sheaths, my collection stays safe and sharp in a drawer, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.
While many knife protectors on the market are made from PVC plastic, Noble uses ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene—don’t worry, there won't be a quiz), which is stronger and more durable than PVC, BPA-free, and non-toxic. They’re the sturdiest protectors I’ve ever interacted with, which is very important to me: I cook a lot, especially now, and when I’m opening and shutting my knife drawer constantly, I need to know that the contents aren’t getting dinged up. The hard plastic covers keep my knives from banging into each other or the walls of the drawer, which dulls the blades. On the whole, the protectors extend the time between sharpenings and keep my knives looking as good as the day I got them.
One thing to note if you’re considering outfitting your knives in edge guards: Size does matter. It’s important that the soft interior of each protector holds snuggly onto the blades, to keep the knives from sliding out and also to prevent scratches. Noble sells guards in a wide variety of sizes, individually and in sets, so measure the dimensions of your knives before you buy to ensure you get the proper fit.
Sliding a knife out of a plastic protector takes a second or two longer than pulling one off a magnetic strip on the wall—and definitely looks less badass—but I’ve found that it’s the best way to keep them looking and performing their best in my tiny, busy kitchen. I'm not happy I ruined a paring knife in the Falling Blades Incident of 2016, but I am grateful it happened (and especially so that I wasn't standing in the way); now I know that no matter what happens, both I and my knives are safe.