The knife is the lifeblood of any functional kitchen. Ask any chef, and they’ll tell you the one thing they can’t live without is a good, sharp blade. Emphasis on sharp! Not only is a dull knife annoying to work with, it can actually be more dangerous. And, thanks to the modern advances of the 21st century, we no longer have to slave away over a whetstone to sharpen our knives. We have electric ones to do it for us. This list of the best electric knife sharpeners goes through all the important points to help you find the right machine for your needs.
Our Top Picks
  | Best Overall: Presto EverSharp This classic electric sharpener uses sapphirite abrasives and a two-stage system for reliable results every time. |
  | Best Budget: EdgeKeeper Electric In addition to being affordable, this retro sharpener looks as good as it works! |
  | Best for the Kitchen: Chef’s Choice 250 Hone Hybrid The Hone Hybrid combines electric and manual sharpening into one for unparalleled edges on your favorite kitchen blades. |
  | Best Belt Sharpener: Work Sharp Knife and Tool Thanks to the interchangeable exposed belt abrasive, you can sharpen pretty much anything with this handy tool. |
  | Best Professional: Chef’s Choice Trizor XV EdgeSelect The Trizor XV uses three stages to hone your store-bought blade’s normal 20-degree bevel into the 15-degree one used by professionals, so you can see professional-grade knife performance at home. |
  | Best for Hunting Knives: Presto 08810 Professional With three stages and three blade settings, anglers and hunters alike will rejoice at this machine’s versatility. |
  | Best for Knives and Scissors: Grocery Art 3-in-1 This 3-in-1 machine offers a two-stage sharpening system for knives, a specially-designed slot for scissors, and can even sharpen your screwdrivers! |
A Closer Look: Best Electric Knife Sharpeners
1. Presto 08800 EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener
The best electric knife sharpener overall
Brand: Presto Store | Stages: 2 | Abrasive: Sapphrite | Weight: 2.95 Pounds | Price: 💰
The Presto EverSharp is the perfect combination of form, function, and affordability. It’s easily the best electric knife sharpened under $50. It uses a two-stage system to quickly and easily sharpen most any non-serrated blade to a professional point. The angled slots guide your blade to keep it properly positioned against the sapphirite sharpening wheels, which offer the same results as more expensive diamond abrasive without the cost.
Reviewers Like
- Sharpen your blade from fully dull in less than a minute
- Two-stage system hones blades to a professional razor-sharp edge
- Sapphirite abrasive works like diamond abrasives at a more affordable price point
Reviewers Dislike
- Not compatible with serrated blades
- May scratch the surface of thicker blades
2. EdgeKeeper Electric Knife Sharpener
The budget best electric knife sharpener
Brand: EdgeKeeper | Stages: 2 | Abrasive: Diamond | Weight: 2.73 Pounds | Price: 💰
If you’re looking to take care of your knives without breaking the bank, the best budget electric knife sharpener has to be the EdgeKeeper Electric Knife Sharpener. This two-stage machine quickly hones your knives against diamond-coated sharpening wheels for a professional-grade finish in a matter of seconds. It uses the standard pre-defined slots to guide your knives at the perfect angle for an unbeatable razor’s edge at an unbeatable price. As a bonus, the machine itself comes with a retro design available in teal, red, or black.
Reviewers Like
- Non-slip feet and ergonomic finish offer safety and ease of use
- Easy to use 2-stage system offers convenience and unbeatable performance
- Attractive design combined with great ratings provides style without sacrificing on results
Reviewers Dislike
- Only suitable for straight knives
- You can only sharpen a few blades at a time before the machine gets too hot and needs time to cool down
3. Chef’s Choice 250 Hone Hybrid Sharpener
The best electric kitchen knife sharpener
Brand: Chef’s Choice | Stages: 3 | Abrasive: Diamond | Weight: 2.70 Pounds | Price: 💰💰
The Chef’s Choice 250 Hone Hybrid is a 3-stage sharpener that combines electric and manual methods for a razor-sharp edge. Perfect for all your straight and serrated kitchen knives (and even smaller sport and pocket knives), the diamond abrasives create a sharp finish with great polish and detail. To top it off, Chef’s Choice sharpeners are manufactured in the United States and come with a 1-year warranty and fantastic customer support. And, as one of the only machines on this list that can actually handle serrated blades, it’s certainly the best electric serrated knife sharpener we found.
Reviewers Like
- 3-stage hybrid technology ensures a sharp, arch-shaped edge
- Optional manual stage gives you full control over the final polish of your knives
- 100% fine diamond abrasives offer the perfect material for shaping and sharpening your blades
Reviewers Dislike
- Some reviewers noted that the machine scratched up the blade of thicker knives
- The size of the angled slots may not accommodate thicker blades like butcher’s knives or hunting knives
4. Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener
The best electric belt knife sharpener
Brand: Work Sharp | Stages: 1 | Abrasive: Belts | Weight: 1.90 Pounds | Price: 💰💰
As a belt sharpener, the Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener looks different than the other models on this list. The exposed nature of the abrasive surface makes it much more accessible to pretty much everything, so you can sharpen all sorts of tools to a razor’s edge. You can get a higher level of precision by adjusting the angle of the tool you want to sharpen as needed. For simple blades, there’s an integrated angle guide. Engineered and assembled in the USA.
Reviewers Like
- Made in the USA and backed by fantastic consumer ratings
- Versatile sharpening system works with knives and other tools in your tool chest
- Abrasive belts come in coarse, medium, and fine depending on your sharpening needs or for a multi-stage sharpening process
Reviewers Dislike
- As with most belt sharpeners, it’s not suitable for short blades
- Since the belt is exposed and there’s no collection chamber, fine metal shavings end up in the air – reviewers recommend wearing a mask or respirator
5. Chef’s Choice 15 Trizor XV EdgeSelect Professional Sharpener
The best professional electric knife sharpener
Brand: Chef’s Choice | Stages: 3 | Abrasive: Diamond | Weight: 4.10 Pounds | Price: 💰💰💰💰
This feature-rich sharpener is not for the faint of heart. The 3-stage edge-defining system adjusts your standard 20-degree blades into 15-degree bevels, just like the pros prefer. Chef’s Choice’s patented spring guides help maintain accuracy to get the perfect edge on your blades, be they serrated, straight, or otherwise. Thanks to the 100% diamond particle abrasive, your blades will be sharper than ever.
Reviewers Like
- Diamond abrasives offer the perfect finish on all your blades
- Works with nearly every knife, including straight-edge and serrated
- Three stages gradually take store-bought 20-degree bevel edges to 15-degree professional edges
Reviewers Dislike
- Professional-grade quality comes with a professional-grade price tag, and this sharpener is much more expensive than the other options on our list
- When you first sharpen a 20-degree bevel blade, it may take up to a minute or more to correct the angle to 15 degrees, which is longer than other sharpeners
6. Presto 08810 Professional Electric Knife Sharpener
The best electric knife sharpener for hunting knives
Brand: Presto Store | Stages: 3 | Abrasive: Sapphirite/Ceramic | Weight: 5.07 Pounds | Price: 💰💰
For the avid hunter or angler, you need a knife sharpener that can handle tougher blades. The Presto 08810 Professional uses three separate stages to gradually transition your blade from dull to sharp. The first two stages use sapphirite abrasive, but the third stage completes the process with extra-fine-grit ceramic designed to both hone and polish your blade to a near-reflective finish. Easily adjust the sharpener to a specific blade by toggling between the thick, medium, and thin settings. When set on to thin, this machine is easily the best electric fillet knife sharpener.
Reviewers Like
- Quiet operation even while you’re sharpening
- Three stage system with two different abrasives for ultimate sharp finish
- Three blade settings to choose from to suit a variety of kitchen, hunting, and filleting blades
Reviewers Dislike
- Not designed for serrated knives
- The internal motor makes the sharpener vibrate, and some reviewers had issues with it staying still on their counter during use
7. Grocery Art Electric 3-in-1 Sharpening Machine
The best electric knife and scissor sharpener
Brand: Presto Store | Stages: 3 | Abrasive: Ceramic | Weight: 5.07 Pounds | Price: 💰💰
This versatile little sharpener is here to meet all your domestic sharpening needs. Whether it’s a straight kitchen knife, your favorite fabric scissors, or that old trusty screwdriver, the Grocery Art 3-in-1 can handle them all. It comes in a compact, lightweight housing that takes up much less space than its versatility would suggest. For standard blades, there’s two stages to work through to take blades from dull to sharp. The scissors sharpener is much wider and set into the side of the machine, making it easier to hold the tool while you sharpen.
Reviewers Like
- Easily sharpen kitchen scissors, fabric scissors, and more
- Two-stage system sharpens most kitchen and straight blades with ease
- Even sharpens screwdrivers, which you didn’t know was a thing you needed!
Reviewers Dislike
- Not suitable for serrated knives
- Difficult to sharpen the full length of smaller blades
What to Look For
So…what is the best electric knife sharpener? That all depends on your needs and what you plan to use the sharpener for. Here are some factors to keep in mind to help you figure out what you’re looking for.
1
Abrasive
Electric knife sharpeners fine-tune the blade of your knife into a fine point by grinding it against an abrasive. This is basically a hard, rough surface, and can be made of everything from ceramic to stone to sandpaper. Professional electric sharpeners might even use diamond or other gemstone abrasives for higher-quality sharpening.
2
Stages
If you’re at all familiar with the concept of sandpaper, you’ve probably heard the term “grit” before. Grit refers to how coarse or fine the sandpaper is. The finer the grit, the smoother the surface will be once you’ve sanded it. But you can’t start with the finest grit. You have to start at a coarser grit and work your way up to get the smoothest possible surface.
The same principle applies when it comes to knife sharpening. The best electric knife sharpeners will have multiple different sharpening stages, each with progressively finer abrasives, to take your blade gradually from dull to razor-sharp.
3
Blade Compatibility
Not all knife sharpeners are created equal. While most machines will easily handle a straight blade, not all are compatible with serrated blades or kitchen scissors, which are the other two most common blades you’ll need to sharpen. Professional-grade machines can even sharpen different tools (kitchen or otherwise). So be sure to think about what you want to sharpen and make sure the sharpener you pick is up to the task.
4
Speed
Most electric sharpeners will only take around a minute to take a knife from dull to sharp, but be sure to double-check. If you’ve got family sitting at the table demanding dinner and a blade that just won’t cut through the pork roast, the last thing you want is to spend twenty minutes getting your knife sharp enough to serve up supper.
5
Size
Knife sharpeners are, on average, about the size of a 2-slice toaster on its side. Smaller ones are available, of course, and there’s no denying their convenience. But remember that nicer electric sharpeners have more sharpening stages. These machines will have to be bigger and heavier to accommodate more steps.
6
Noise Level
Noise isn’t really something you think about when you think about a knife sharpener, but some of the machines out there can get loud. As an electric device, you aren’t going to find any silent options, of course. But check to see what reviewers say about noise level. If you’ve got an anxious dog or a sleeping baby (or even temperamental neighbors), you don’t want your blade maintenance to disturb them.
Further Reading
