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If you go searching for the best knife sharpener on Amazon, you'll soon be inundated with similar looking, similarly low-priced knife sharpeners from brands you haven’t heard of before. It makes sense: A knife sharpener need not be an expensive or complicated thing. It’s why we actually think one of the best knife sharpeners fits in the palm of your hand and costs $10. But how well do these “highly rated” mystery brand sharpeners actually work, and how do they compare to the brands we recommend like Chef’sChoice or Work Sharp? We tested six of the most highly rated knife sharpeners on Amazon to find out.
Knife sharpeners to consider buying from Amazon
Weirdly enough, the primary selling point this knife sharpener for me was not its functionality—it has four different sharpening slots—or the fact it came with a pair of cut-resistant gloves (though those were nice little bonuses). Rather it was the instruction manual. A sharpener like this is really for someone (like me) who isn’t experienced or comfortable with a whetstone and feels better with a little hand-holding when it comes to sharpening knives. The Longzon, however, came with a nifty foldable instruction manual with descriptive instructions on what each setting did, how many times to run your knife’s edge through each slot depending on the state of the blade, and additional tips and tricks—something a beginner will find invaluable. On top of that, the performance of the gadget left my knives razor sharp. Plus, the price is pretty unbeatable. You get a pair of cut-resistant gloves and a solid, simple knife sharpener (that claims to work on scissors, though we didn’t test that) for about $21 at normal price and $14 on sale.
The Kitchexcellence and Longzon were pretty similar—three different sharpening settings for knives (including a diamond rod slot, a slot for tungsten steel blades, and another ceramic rod slot for fine-tuning), one cut-resistant glove, a straightforward manual, and a design that features a nonslip rubber base and ergonomic handle. They also sharpened about the same. The Longzon just has a slightly better version of everything the Kitchexcellence has, and, at the time of writing, a somewhat lower price. Ultimately, though, I don’t think you could go wrong with either.
I feel like I’ve seen this knife sharpener, or at least one like it, on top of every person’s counter. How it works is there’s a V edge grip on the bottom of the sharpener where you fit it onto your counter edge. Then you run your knives through each slot. It’s simple and straightforward. We actually ranked the KitchenIQ as the best value knife sharpener in our original knife sharpener review because of how it offers both sharpening and polishing settings and how well it actually performed, surprising us with “how much more bite it gave one of our duller blades.” (It also allegedly works on serrated blades as well, though I’m a bit skeptical of that.)
On the surface, this sharpening tool seems rather unremarkable. It’s a compact device with three settings. There’s one for scissors, a coarse carbide slot, and a fine-honing ceramic slot. It produced solid results—one of our knife suppliers, research director Ryan Harrington, even reported a “marked improvement” after slicing, dicing, and mincing. One additional feature I found to be a plus was its suction cup bottom, which helped the Sharpal stay affixed to the counter. I was a bit skeptical of how well this suction cup would work, but the sharpener actually did not budge from its spot without a very energetic pull.
Sharpeners we wouldn’t recommend
Before getting into this section, I do want to establish one thing: All of these models do sharpen knives pretty well. The reason we don’t recommend them, however, is just because we think their design is somewhat lacking or not quite as safe.
This model struck me as the type specifically geared toward campers and is almost meant to function as a pocket knife sharpener. It’s got two different sides—one with crossed carbide cutting heads and the other with crossed ceramic rods—and you flip the sharpener to the side you want before you get to work. It can also evidently float, if that’s something you care about in a knife sharpener. It’s super cheap, only about $5, and while it sharpened pretty well (knives did take fewer swipes through the slots to get sharp), I didn’t love how the design lacked safety features. You have to hold it up while you sharpen, which feels less stable.
Truthfully, I debated whether or not to put this in the “we wouldn’t recommend” section. I did not like this sharpener when I first pulled it out of the box. To sharpen the knife, you have to lay the knife on the counter and hold the handle so the sharp edge faces up. You then run the AccuSharp along the dull blade however many times you need to. It has only one sharpening setting, which makes it simpler but somewhat limits its sharpening abilities. Compared to something like the Longzon, it felt lacking and even a bit unsafe with nothing more than a guard strap to offer protection. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot, running it along two different knives about 10 times each, and I found the AccuSharp surprisingly effective. There was a noticeable difference in knife performance. Both sliced the tomato with ease and cut into each squash with little force required. The instruction manual also claims you can put the AccuSharp in the dishwasher. That said, the design is not something I love. It was fine while I was using it, and I suspect that would be the case for most knife owners if they make sure to use slow strokes, though I’m still somewhat wary.
How we tested
We used the same testing process that we used for our standard knife sharpener testing. First, we rounded up a bunch of different dull knives from a variety of makers—Victorinox, Wüsthof among them. Before we sharpened, we first used the knives to slice a tomato and then to cut into a yellow summer squash just to see how they did at their worst. Then we’d sharpen the knife, following the exact instructions provided for each specific mechanism. After sharpening, we used the same freshly cared-for knife to slice tomatoes and cut squash, and compared them to how well they did pre-sharpening.
The takeaway
The main reason to get one of these sharpeners is because of the price. All of them are $30 or less (with some even under $15 when on sale). The Longzon sharpener is probably the best deal because, in addition to being a pretty good sharpener at an affordable price, it also comes with those cut-resistant gloves. Truthfully, all the models we recommend do an impressive job sharpening considering their price, and if you’re new to knife care, you likely won’t be disappointed. Which one to buy mostly comes down to extra features, like safety and how many sharpening slots it has. But if you’re looking for a professional electric knife sharpener that might make things a bit easier for you, and you’re willing to spend a bit more money, we recommend the Chef’sChoice Trizor XV EdgeSelect Professional Knife Sharpener as the best electric knife sharpener for especially damaged knives (plus, it’s available on Amazon).
