You might not know this, but a dull kitchen knife is 10 times more dangerous than a sharp one.
Trying to cut anything with a dull knife, makes prep time much longer and more frustrating than it needs to be. Making a healthy and delicious salad is a snap with a sharp kitchen knife at hand.
Simple tasks like cutting ripe fruit, a tomato, onions or meat is much harder with a dull knife, and you have increased the risk factor of injury immensely. This healthy green salad you see above features cut up chicken, strawberries, peppers and mushrooms. It was created in minutes using a sharp kitchen knife.  A dull knife is truly an injury waiting to happen.
Here are my Top 5 Tips for keeping your kitchen knives sharp:
- Never store your kitchen knives in a drawer with the rest of your kitchen stuff, use a knife block or edge protectors.
- Always use a cutting board, plastic or wood is recommended.
- Ban your kitchen knives from the dish washer, simply wipe them after each use and dry with a hand towel.
- Hone the knife blades regularly with a honing steel, this will re-align the blade elements.
- Use a recommended sharpening tool or have your kitchen knives re-sharpened professionally once a year.
How can you tell if your kitchen knife needs to be re-sharpened?
Here is a quick test for you… Rest your knife on a ripe tomato or piece of fruit, there is no need to apply pressure or an ‘incentive’ to cut.
Move the knife lightly back and forth on top the tomato. If your knife starts slicing on its own or bites into the skin of the tomato, you have a sharp knife and can postpone sharpening for another time.
If your knife can’t cut through the skin of a ripe tomato then you have a dull knife on your hands and better get it sharpened pronto.
Do you like the knife block set I’m featuring on this page? You can purchase the Mercer knifes with German steel and the cool looking tempered glass knife block from Amazon. The high carbon, no-stain German X50 Cr Mo V15 cutlery steel resists rust, corrosion, and discoloration. With over 700 positive reviews you can’t go wrong with eye-pleasing, high quality knife set.
Do you sharpen your own kitchen knives or have it professionally done? Leave me a comment below.
Nick
Silke
I appreciate your suggestion to have your knives professionally resharpened at least once a year. My husband is an avid cook in our family, and I want to make sure that he uses safe supplies to do so. I’ll have to send our kitchen knives to a sharpening service so they can remain safe and easy to use.
Hello Charlotte, Thank you for your comment. It’s awesome that your husband likes to cook and yes, safe supplies are a must. A lot of times you can find a professional to sharpen knives at your local farmers market. That way you don’t have to mail out your knives, they can be sharpened right there and it usually just takes a few minutes. – Silke
Thanks a lot for sharing such a helpful post. No doubt! I am so much impressed by your tips. keep posting such kind of information on your page. You’ve performed an incredible job. I will certainly dig it and personally suggest to my friends. I’m sure they’ll be benefited from this website.
Thanks again.
This very delicious & spicy cooking i like it very well. When you would like to make some veggies, herbs, meats and also fishes kitchen knife must be needed for succeed your cooking.
Great post, as always. Almost all the points are valid but I am not commenting to talk about the points made in the above article. I am actually commenting to congratulate the writer for coming up with such a creative headings for all the 5 points. In short, all the 5 points are just perfect!
What is the danger of washing your knives in the dishwasher? I personally hate washing dishes and utensils by hand, but don’t want to damage my kitchenware. I will have to remember to get some manual cleaning tools at the store next trip.
Thank you Devid, Amimul and Taylor for your comments. I’m glad you found our article on dull kitchen knives helpful.
I agree that a dull knife is definitely an injury waiting to happen. My husband isn\’t good at cutting vegetables, so he\’s cut himself a few times with the dull knives. Luckily, it was just the dull knife and not a sharp one. Although, I do need to look into buying a new set of knives.
very informative post about sharp knife.
thanks for sharing.
Hi, Silke
Great tips, indeed! Specially tips #5 is very essential for everyone.
I think one of the most important safety measures on handling kitchen knives is to make sure that it is out of reach for toddlers aside from the fact that you have stated it already. I can also add some more tips on how to determine if your knife needs resharpening. You can either use your nail or your thumb by gently sliding your blade through your nails perpendicularly like brushing gently or using your thumb through the knife edges a perpendicularly – if you didn’t feel any friction that means your knife needs a resharpening. Just be careful not to hurt yourself in the process.
Thank you James, that’s a great tip on when to sharpen your kitchen knives. When there are young children in the household it’s best to keep all sharp kitchen utensils in a locked drawer versus a knife block. My son was a notorious kitchen counter climber when he was young, ha, ha.
You are absolutely right Ramon, don’t use a kitchen knife to pry open lids or cut plastic, wood, etc. It will only dull the blade and might even ruin the knife altogether. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave us a comment.
Always keep your knife clean and try to only cut those thing which are allowed to be cut by this knife. It helps your knife stay sharp long.
thanks