Kitchen Item Review: Chef's Choice Knife Sharpener

After reviewing a newish knife, it's only fitting that I review a newish knife sharpener.  I believe this was a Christmas present from my Competent In-Laws last year.  We'd had a manual knife sharpener for years that did something.  I honestly never felt like our knives got much sharper using it.  In fact, I took our chef's knife to a kitchen store and paid a nominal amount to have it sharpened because our manual one didn't seem to do much.  Failure of technique could 100% explain that.

I can definitely tell you that our Chef's Choice Hybrid 220 electric/manual sharpener does

something.  Starting with the left-hand slots and their terrifying-sounding whirring sharpener and moving to the right-hand manual slot to finish the job, this sharpener works quickly and effectively.  It makes me nervous that I will wear my knives out unevenly, but I really enjoy being able to make a real difference in how sharp my knives are in seconds at home.  The longer I cook, the more I realize that a dull knife can be far more dangerous than a sharp one.  Vacation home kitchens can be the worst.  With this, we can keep our knives at home nice and sharp and effective.

Here's a mesmerizing wordless video demonstration of someone cutting two things I'd probably never cut with my chef's knife: tomatoes and paper.  It's good to know I can, though.