Best Electric Knife Sharpener 2024
by Bobby B. | Updated Jan. 6, 2021 | Sharpeners
It doesn’t matter if you’re an amateur cook, a professional chef, or you just need to get dinner made for the kids, everyone gets frustrated with using a dull knife! The best electric knife sharpener models make sure you will no longer have to work like that. You’ll always have nice sharp knives for slicing and dicing with a razor-sharp edge.
A common myth we hear is that if you just get good kitchen knives, you’ll never have to sharpen them again. Although it’s true that high quality steel knives will stay sharp longer, they will still dull over time and need to be sharpened. The most efficient, quickest way to do this without any special skills is with an electric knife sharpener.
In a hurry? Here are our favorites for the 3 best electric knife sharpeners…
Chef’s Choice 15
Trizor XV EdgeSelect
Top Features:
- 3-stage sharpener
- Sharpens serrated knives
- Increases blade life
Price: Click Here
Wüsthof
Electric Sharpener
Top Features:
- 3-stage sharpener
- Easy to use
- Great for Wusthof knives
Price: Click Here
Work Sharp Knife &
Tool Sharpener
Top Features:
- Extremely versatile
- Adjustable angles
- Also works on tools
Price: Click Here
Who Needs An Electric Knife Sharpener?
Electric knife sharpeners come in all shapes and sizes as you can see. Some are complex machines with multiple stages and angles, while others are very basic and less sophisticated. We cover the many reasons why consumers choose to buy an electric sharpener in the comprehensive buying guide below.
As a brief introduction however, the most common reason is because they are fast and easy to use. They require no real skill to get a perfect edge on your knife. In fact, many of the best electric knife sharpeners are able to sharpen more than just your standard kitchen knives. As you’ll see below, some can also sharpen pocket knives, hunting knives, and in some cases, even scissors and other blades.
Without an electric sharpener, you need to understand all the angles and other tricks for blade sharpening. These often depend on what knives you have and other factors. Electric knife sharpeners remove much of the guess work and shorten both the learning curve and the amount of time it takes to get your blades sharpened. Compare that to the mail-order blade sharpening services some companies offer. These requests can take weeks to get your knives back. What are you supposed to use while they’re gone?
Why a “Best Electric Knife Sharpener” List?
Electric knife sharpeners should not be an inexpensive kitchen gadget that will that will get tossed in the garbage in a couple of months because it doesn’t work. Just so you know, there are many of these types of knife sharpeners available, so watch out. Electric knife sharpeners are an investment, and they should be treated as such. Buying a good knife sharpener will ensure it stands the test of time and is flexible enough to do all the jobs you need it to do.
The BladeAdvisor team wrote the buying guide below to help you understand what to look for when purchasing an electric sharpener, how they can help you in the kitchen, and which one sharpens best. We cover the stages, the angles, the features, and the benefits. But before the guide, here’s our top 10 electric knife sharpener reviews. These reviews cover many of the top rated knife sharpener models provide details from actual customer feedback and reviews.
Best Electric Knife Sharpener Reviews
1. Chef’s Choice 15 Trizor XV Sharpener
SUMMARY
This professional electric knife sharpener is for anyone who cares about their knives and wants to keep them sharp. This is a 3-stage sharpener, making it versatile enough to quickly sharpen very dull blades and also be able to touch up those that are just becoming dull. The Chef’s Choice 15 Trizor XV makes blade sharpening easy and simple with automatic guides and provides ultra-sharp 15 degree edges. For these reasons and more, this is one of the most popular electric sharpeners. It receives great feedback and reviews from most consumers who use it.
Pros
- 3-Stage sharpener
- Easy to use
- 100% diamond abrasives
- Quiet operation
- Also sharpens serrated knives
- Made in USA
- 3 year warranty
Cons
- Sharpens to 15 degrees only
WHY WE LIKE IT
The Chef’s Choice Trizor XV professional electric knife sharpener provides a great value to the customer. In our opinion, it’s also the best serrated knife sharpener. Many other sharpeners of this caliber are priced 50%-100% higher than this one. It also converts your old 20 degree edges into high-performance Trizor XV 15 degree edges. Your knives have never been so sharp!
2. Wusthof Electric Knife Sharpener
SUMMARY
Wüsthof is a world-renowned knife manufacturer based out of Germany that has been in business for over 200 years! Their PEtec (Precision Edge Technology) blades offer an extremely sharp cutting edge along the entire length of the blade. This Wüsthof knife sharpener brings these, and other blades, back to a perfect 14 degree sharpened edge.
- 3-Stage sharpener
- Easy to use
- Also sharpens serrated knives
- One-Touch pre-programmed controls
- 3 Year Warranty
Cons
- Designed more for Western-style knives
- More expensive than other options
WHY WE LIKE IT
The Wusthof “Easy Edge” electric sharpener is the perfect match if you’re using Wusthof-brand knives or a “Western-style” blade edge for your cutting. We like that rather than trying to build a sharpener themselves, Wusthof teamed up with the experts and had Chef’s Choice make it for them.
3. Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener
SUMMARY
Work Sharp’s Knife and Tool Sharpener is a versatile sharpener that works on kitchen knives, but also almost every other type of knife, including most pocket knives and hunting knives. In addition, it will sharpen scissors and does tool sharpening. Some of these tools include, but are not limited to axes, shovels, shears, scrapers, lawn mower blades and more! To be this flexible, it has coarse, medium, and fine abrasive belts and accommodates a wide array of edge angles. This tool will sharpen almost every blade you own!
Pros
- Most versatile electric sharpener
- Sharpens tool edges along with knives
- Multiple stage abrasive belts
- Adjustable angle guide, 15-30 degrees
- Variable speed motor
- Premium flexible abrasive belts
- Made in USA
Cons
- Not likely to reside in a kitchen
- 1 year warranty
WHY WE LIKE IT
The Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener is THE electric sharpener to have in your tool arsenal. If you’re looking for an edge sharpener for your tool shop, this is it, bar none! On the flip-side, if your idea is to keep your electric knife sharpener in the kitchen, this probably isn’t the best choice on the list as it’s more of a “tool” than a kitchen gadget. If this Ken Onion Edition is out of your budget, consider the less-expensive, Original Knife & Tool Sharpener with a few less features.
4. Work Sharp E3 Electric Knife Sharpener
SUMMARY
The Work Sharp E3 comes with two modes, one to sharpen dull blades and another to touch-up and smooth out edges. It’s marketed as the only kitchen knife sharpener to use flexible sharpening belts, which is the same technology that knife manufacturers and professional sharpening services use. This gives your old, worn-out knives a factory-new, sharp edge in this fixed angle knife sharpener.
Pros
- Uses flexible sharpening belts
- Versatile – sharpens many different knives
- Ceramic honing rod included in purchase
- 2 speeds (dull knife or touch-ups)
- Guides make sharpening easy
- 3 year warranty
Cons
- Only sharpens to a 17 degree edge angle
- Not made for serrated blades
WHY WE LIKE IT
Work Sharp’s E3 Sharpener is a slightly different technology than many of the other sharpeners on this list. It uses the flexible belts rather than the stages of abrasives. The guides make it nice and easy to use and are set at a 17 degree angle. This is a good compromise between the durability of Western knives and the precision sharpness of Eastern knives.
5. Chef’s Choice 1520 Angle Select Sharpener
SUMMARY
The Chef’s Choice 1520 Angle Select Diamond Hone Professional Electric Knife Sharpener works on both 15 degree (Asian-style) and 20 degree (American/European) angles, both fine and serrated edges. Like the Trizor XV, it has 3-stages for sharpening, honing, and polishing with 100% diamond abrasives in the first two stages to give you a better than factory edge.
Pros
- Can sharpen to two different angles
- Easy to use compared to other multi-angle sharpeners
- Accommodates serrated blades
- Made in USA
- 3 year warranty
Cons
- Relatively expensive
- Multiple angles rarely needed in same kitchen
WHY WE LIKE IT
This model is very similar to our favorite electric knife sharpener, the Trizor XV. Really the big difference between the two is that the 1520 Edge Select has the ability to choose between two angles and therefore is a bit more expensive. Since it’s not common that the same kitchen has two different styles of knives, we don’t think it’s needed for the extra money. However if this fits your situation, you might find it worthwhile.
6. Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Sharpener
SUMMARY
This Chef’s Choice knife sharpener is another 3-stage version from this great producer of electric sharpeners. This particular model is a fixed angle knife sharpener, utilizing a 20 degree sharpening angle guide. It uses diamond abrasives in stage 1, super-hardened steel in stage 2, and flexible stropping disks in stage 3.
Pros
- 3-Stage sharpener
- Easy to use
- Creates long lasting edges
- Also sharpens serrated knives
- Made in USA
- 3 year warranty
Cons
- Fixed 20 degree sharpening angle
- Can take some time getting used to
WHY WE LIKE IT
This professional Chef’s Choice knife sharpener, 130 platinum version is in our opinion, the best looking good knife sharpener on the market. It’s sleek and clean design will fit right in with your kitchen, but still has the 3-stage technology you know we love.
7. Tormek T-2 Pro Kitchen Knife Sharpener
SUMMARY
The Tormek T-2 Pro Kitchen Knife Sharpener is a high-end, professional knife sharpener typically found in a chef’s kitchen. You can set your angle and produce a razor sharp edge on the slow, 600-grit diamond wheel.
Pros
- Can set your edge angle
- Uses diamond wheel
- Professional sharpener
- Sharpening angle guide
- 7 year warranty
Cons
- Very expensive
- Can take some time getting used to
WHY WE LIKE IT
If price were not a thing, the Tormek T-2 is really the best knife sharpener on the list. But, since it is one of the top considerations most consumers use in selecting an electric sharpener, it’s a bit farther down. What else can we say? You can’t beat this sharpener and you can’t beat the 7 year warranty. Where else can you find any product with a warranty like that these days? That alone tells you the quality of craftsmanship in this sharpener.
8. Presto EverSharp 08810 Professional Sharpener
SUMMARY
The Presto EverSharp Professional Edition (model no. 08810) is a 3-stage electric knife sharpener that allows for some flexibility in blade width. You can select the thickness of the blade-type to adjust the sharpening angle guide rails. Click below to see the video that shows more detail.
Pros
- 3-Stage sharpener
- Easy to use
- Adjustable angle guides
- Accommodates sport knives
Cons
- Sapphirite grinding wheels
- 1 year warranty
- Made in China
WHY WE LIKE IT
This professional Chef’s Choice knife sharpener, 130 platinum version is in our opinion, the best looking good knife sharpener on the market. It’s sleek and clean design will fit right in with your kitchen, but still has the 3-stage technology you know we love.
9. Chef’s Choice 320 Diamond Hone
SUMMARY
The Chef’s Choice 320 2-stage electric knife sharpener both sharpens and polishes blades of different shapes and sizes, including sport knives and those with serrated blades. The sharpening angle guide is fixed and set to 20 degrees for Western-type knives.
Pros
- Easy to use
- 100% diamond honing
- Accommodates sport knives
- Accommodates serrated knives
- Made in USA
Cons
- Fixed angle knife sharpener at 20 degrees
- Only 2 stages
- 1 year warranty
WHY WE LIKE IT
This is another good knife sharpener from Chef’s Choice. This one receives the highest marks and consumer feedback despite only having 2 stages. It is an inexpensive option to get into a Chef’s Choice sharpener that will do many of the same functions the more expensive models we’ve reviewed can do.
10. Chef’s Choice 270 Hybrid Knife Sharpener
SUMMARY
The Chef’s Choice Hybrid 270 sharpener combines electric stages 1 and 2 with a manual third stage for polishing/honing the blade after it’s sharpened. Like other Chefs Choice knife sharpeners, it’s high quality and made in the USA.
Pros
- Electric stages 100% diamond abrasives
- Accommodates serrated knives
- Made in USA
Cons
- Fixed angle knife sharpener at 20 degrees
- 2 stages electric, 1 stage manual
- 1 year warranty
WHY WE LIKE IT
Yes, yet another Chef’s Choice knife sharpener review to round out our top 10 best electric knife sharpener list. The BladedAdvisor team thinks this is a great way to save money and still get a 3-stage knife sharpener. Yes, one of the stages is manual and we prefer it be electric, but if you can’t afford one of the more expensive models, this is a better option than an all manual knife sharpener in our eyes.
Curious how we came up with the order for the list above?
We followed the selection process outlined below in our buying guide. You can do the same thing and find the electric knife sharpener that best fits your needs.
Electric Knife Sharpeners: The Complete Buying Guide
The BladeAdvisor team has shared our selections and reviews for the the best electric knife sharpener options. Now it’s time for us to discuss how you can you make a good buying decision for yourself. This guide is intended to educate consumers on why you should consider an electric knife sharpener, what criteria to use when selecting the best model for your needs, and even show you how to use one. We understand that just because you’re not a professional knife sharpener, that doesn’t mean you don’t want, or deserve, getting the best sharpener for your money.
Reasons To Buy An Electric Knife Sharpener
There are many ways to sharpen knives including different rods, sharpening stones, and other manual devices. They even make self-sharpening knives. So why should you invest in an electric knife sharpener that costs more than most of these other options?
That’s a great question! There are several reasons why actually.
Here are a few of the most common reasons why consumers buy electric knife sharpeners:
Easy To Use
The best electric knife sharpeners are simple and easy to operate and require no previously acquired skill to use. They basically require the user to slide a knife in a slot and the sharpener does all the work. The slots are often angled in such a way that the user can’t mess it up. This is not true with most manual sharpeners where you can damage expensive knives if not used correctly. Using a traditional sharpening stone requires years of practice and built-up skill to perfect.
Performance
Professionals might be able to manually do a good job at sharpening their knives, but for the rest of us, a good electric sharpener will ensure we do it right. The sharpeners in the list above are made to sharpen knives to better than factory standards.
Saves Time
Attempting to cut with dull knives consumes time you’ll never get back. So does trying to sharpen said knives with a manual sharpener, hoping to get it right. Using an electric knife sharpener is quick and easy. You just plug it in, turn it on, and drag the dulling knife through the slots. If it hasn’t been long since you’ve last sharpened the knife, this will only take a few seconds.
Saves Money
Besides your time, an electric sharpener will also save you money! Everyone likes saving money, right? Rather than throwing out old, expensive knives, you can sharpen them so the blades are like new again. In many cases, the best electric knife sharpeners can actually make sharp blades that are better than new!
Versatility
As you’ve seen in our detailed reviews above, many of the best electric knife sharpeners will work on a wide variety of knives, including kitchen knives, pocket knives, and even hunting knives. Do you need a serrated knife sharpener? Some sharpeners will even sharpen scissors and other tools. Buying a sharpener that can cover a wide variety of blades makes it a more valuable tool for you, helping justify your investment.
Makes Life Easier
Dull knives make every cooking task that much more difficult. We just don’t have time these days to mess around with dull knives that require using too much force and potentially slipping off food and cutting us. We aren’t all chefs of experts in the art of sharpening with a stone or honing with a rod. Electric knife sharpeners just make blade sharpening a quick and simple task, even for a novice if you follow the instructions that come with it.
Safety
Another top reason for using an electric knife sharpener is your safety. This should be obvious, but knives that are being sharpened are well, sharp! They can cut you if you’re not careful with them. An electric sharpener is made to simplify the task of sharpening a knife and to let the machine do the hard work. If you follow the instructions included with your device, even a beginner can make a sharper, longer lasting edge on a knife blade with less manipulation and chance of cutting yourself in the process.
Before You Buy
Before you just go out and buy one of these bad boys, make sure you know what you’re getting and understand what it can do to your knives. First, make sure you find and read through many knife sharpening tips online to understand edge angles and which abrasives to use for what blades and when. For example, If you’re not careful and you sharpen a high-quality knife in stage-1 of a 3-stage sharpener that doesn’t match the angle on your blade, you will re-shape and change the angle from the factory. In some cases, that’s just fine. In others, you ruined an expensive knife!
Selecting the Top Electric Knife Sharpener
Not sure what you’re looking at when talking about electric knife sharpeners? That’s okay, don’t worry. The BladeAdvisor team will help to educate you enough to feel good about your purchase. There are so many options, all with different features and benefits. No one person is an expert in every field, so we’ll help you with this one.
Below are some of the most important factors to consider when you’re looking for an electric knife sharpener. These are exactly the criteria we used in choosing the best sharpeners for the recommendations and electric knife sharpener reviews listed above, with a special emphasis on a couple of them.
Number of Sharpening Stages
The number of stages a sharpener has is closely related to the cost of the device, mainly because as the manufacturer adds stages, they also add complexity and additional components. In most 3-stage knife sharpeners like the one you see here, stage 1 is for course sharpening of dull or damaged blades. Stage 2 does fine honing on the blade, while stage 3 is for touching up and polishing the blade. Those that have fewer stages will not do as nice of a job on your knives. There are a few belt knife sharpeners that don’t use the staged concept, and they work well too. However, BladeAdvisor believes that the best knife sharpener is one that has 3-stages for the functions mentioned above.
Knife Sharpening Angles
Edge angles are something else you’ll want to keep an eye on when purchasing a sharpener. Knives from different manufacturers comes from the factory with different edge angles. Typically, knives made in the Western part of the world have larger angles (around 20 degrees) and are more durable. Conversely, Asian-style knives more typically have smaller angles (around 15 degrees) and may seem sharper due to their thin profile, but the edge will likely last less time before it needs sharpened again. Matching your sharpener to your favorite kitchen knife sharpening angle is the best bet. As you saw in the list above, some of the best electric knife sharpeners can accommodate multiple knife edge angles. Lower cost options include fixed-angle knife sharpener. Either way, there should be a sharpening angle guide for the user to follow to remove the guesswork.
Abrasives
Sharpeners all use some type of abrasive material, whether in belts or disks that remove, hone, or polish the metal in your knives. The most common abrasives include diamond, alumina ceramic, and carbide. These are listed in hardness order, starting with the hardest material, diamond. As they’re used in friction, these abrasive materials will wear down in time. This another reason to purchase a good sharpener, which likely uses a harder abrasive material. It’s worth checking before purchasing if the abrasive material can be replaced in a sharpener when it becomes worn down. This is usually the case in models that use belts similar to those pictured here and those found in the Work Sharp electric knife and tool sharpeners discussed above.
Versatility
Another thing to keep in mind when looking for a top rated knife sharpener is versatility. Today you’re looking for sharp kitchen knives. Tomorrow it might be your pocket knife or a pair of scissors. Do you need a serrated knife sharpener? Make sure to consider all the blades that you might want to sharpen before you spend your money. This is one of the reasons the BladeAdvisor team took the time to research and write the electric knife sharpener reviews above, so you could see what each sharpener model could and could not do. This includes angles covered, blades covered, and which one sharpens best. Now is the time to think about all these things before spending your hard-earned cash on something that won’t take care of all your needs.
Price and Warranty
Yes, I’m going to use the cliché…”you get what you pay for.” This is true in most things, and is also definitely true in the best rated knife sharpeners. More expensive sharpeners use harder abrasives and have longer-lasting components, more stages, etc. In addition to price, there is a large discrepancy in the warranty offered on several of the top rated sharpeners, including those on the list above. While most sharpeners carry a 1 year limited warranty, there are several that have 3 year warranties, and a few that don’t list one at all. The Tekmor T-2 on our list above actually carries a 7 year warranty! Do you think Tekmor would offer that if the sharpener was junk or if it was going to break after a few blade sharpenings? No, we don’t think so either.
Customer Ratings & Reviews
We left one of the best tools in searching for almost any produce these days and that’s ratings and reviews. This could be helpful product reviews that compare different models like you read above, or direct consumer feedback ratings from online retailers like Amazon, Walmart, or Ebay. Consumers are typically pretty honest in their feedback, attempting to build a good database of information for others that are looking to purchase those same products. When you’re disappointed in something you’ve bought, you want to let others know about it so they don’t make the same mistake you did. The same goes when a company goes above and beyond to fix an issue for you. You want others to know so they can feel comfortable buying from the same people. If most others are giving it a thumbs up, chances are, it’s a good product. This is an extremely important and powerful tool in today’s online world!
How To Use an Electric Knife Sharpener
Although operating one may not immediately seem intuitive, learning how to use an electric knife sharpener is quick and easy to do. Most of these machines were made with a novice consumer in mind. One of the main reasons electric knife sharpeners exist in the first place is because we aren’t all a professional knife sharpener. It’s a tool that simplifies blade sharpening. Besides, we’ve already covered the selection process, and that was the hard part.
Please keep in mind that each electric knife sharpener is different and each will have its own guidelines and nuances. There is no replacement for the instructions that come with your particular sharpener, including this page. This is meant as a generic guide to impress upon you how easy they can be to operate. Not all electric knife sharpeners work the same way, and they can damage your knives if they are not used properly.
As you can see in the video above, the process is very simple. Here are the steps Chef Eric Crowley covered in case you missed anything.
Using an Electric Knife Sharpener: Step-by-Step
1. The Grip
Grip the knife with a standard grip, similar to if you were going to cut with it.
2. Angle Guides
For most electric sharpeners, there is no need to be concerned with the sharpening angle. This is why the preset guides are there, assuming you purchased a good knife sharpener. As we discussed above, this was one of the selection criteria when you were looking for the sharpener.
3. Stage 1
For really dull knives, pass the blade through slot-1 a few times on each side. Fewer passes or no passes are needed in this slot if the blade is not very dull. This is the coarse sharpening slot that reshapes the blade, so usage depends on the condition of the blade. Follow the instructions that come with your sharpener for more guidance here. Don’t over do it!
4. Stage 2
The 2nd slot is for the fine honing on your blade. Again a couple of passes on each side of the blade should suffice. This stage is cleaning up the rough passes you made on the more coarse stage-1.
5. Stage 3
For the final stage, you’re basically just polishing the edge to make it extra smooth. Again, a couple passes on each side of the blade should be good.
6. Wash and Dry the Knife Blade
We’re almost done now, but don’t forget this very important last step. Keep in mind that sharpening removes some metal in the process. By thoroughly washing and drying the blade, you can make sure to wash away all of the filings prior to using it. Some sharpeners may have magnets that assist in pulling them away from the edge, but this is still a necessary step to ensure all are gone.
Best Electric Knife Sharpener: The Final Cut
Time to start wrapping up. We provided our best electric knife sharpener reviews and this list of our favorite 10 models. You have had an opportunity to read through our comprehensive buying guide. This included topics and detailed info on why you should consider an electric knife sharpener and what you should look for when buying one. You even saw a video on how to use an electric knife sharpener.
As a quick recap, looking for a sharpener that includes angle guides that match the angle you need or want on your knives is key. After that, we recommend buying one that has 3-stages. These typically include coarse sharpening for blade shaping, fine sharpening for cleaning up the edge, and a final polishing stage. You want to make sure you find a sharpener that is versatile enough to cover most, if not all, of the knives you are going to want to sharpen. The final step is to make sure you budget properly to invest in a good knife sharpener.
The BladeAdvisor team chose the Chefs Choice Trizor XV as the best electric knife sharpener based on these criteria. We’re not the only ones either. Here’s a video from America’s Test Kitchen naming the exact same sharpener as their favorite! I think we’re in good company.
Thank you for taking the time to read through our recommendations and buying guide on the best electric knife sharpeners. We hope you enjoyed reading through them, but also learned a few things. That was the point. If you still have questions on something covered, or feel like we missed something all together, please feel free to contact as us the link below. Thanks!