Knife Storage

[johnder]

I use the drawer method myself. I have hotglued a magnetic knife holder in the center of the drawer (running front-to-back) in the center of the drawer. Holds all the knives in place and prevents them from banging into one another.

Running out of room though. :-(

[jsolomon]

I resort to traditional methods.

[BCinBC]

Don't know if it is just me, but the magnetic strips freak me out for 2 reasons.

1. I fear the strip will damage the blade of the knife - not by imposing it's magnetism on the blade over time, which shouldn't happen with stainless but might happen with carbon steel - but just the scratching motion everytime you remove a blade.

2. The falling off thing, and either damaging the blade / point, or stabbing some unsuspecting person leaning against the wall under the strip.

Personally I have a Henckels block with horizontal slots, but it is too small (holds 10" chefs, wife's 8" chefs (she prefers different knives than I do), 2 x 6" utilities, paring knife, bread knife and shears). I have a cleaver in the traditional Chinese homemade cardboard guard resting on top of the block, and a Santoku in its original guard in Other Tools drawer on its spine. It would be perfect if I could take out one of the 6" knives and put the Santoku in, but the blade is too wide to fit. So as it stands, I need more slots.

[winesonoma]

Between the top of the refer and the upper cabinet. Flat and easy to get to.

[viaChgo]

A (trivial) question (or 2) for those with magnetic strips -

Do you attach your knives to the strip with the blades up or down? Does it matter?

I have mine with the blades up but I've seen pictures both ways. I figure it doesn't matter really but I've noticed that pictures usually have the blade down.

[andiesenji]

I have most of my knives on magnetic strips, except for the non-magnetic ones that hang in a flat knife block at one end of a counter or rest in a knife holder in a drawer.

However, I do have some very old carbon steel knives that develop rust if the humidity goes above 40%, which is not too often here in the desert but during the rainy season.............

For storing just those knives, I took the advice of the man who made a couple of my knives several years ago.

In my pantry there is a plastic container, about 8 inches in diameter, 12 inches deep, filled with fine "sharp" sand. Into this has been poured about 2 quarts of mineral oil.

I do have to rinse and wipe the knives before I use them and they have to be washed and dried well before they go back into the oily sand, but they don't rust, which is my main concern and the blades are protected, which is my other concern.

[UnConundrum]

I store my knives handle up on my magnetic strips. If you reach for one, and bang the one next to it, it might drop, and I don't want my hand/arm in the "fall zone". Not that this happens very often, maybe once or twice a year, but it can happen. Also, I just don't like the idea of a knife pointing up. What if someone stumbled or fell near the strip. Natural tendancy is to flail your arm out, and with knive points sticking up there, it could be an issue.

[JayBassin]

A (trivial) question (or 2) for those with magnetic strips -

Do you attach your knives to the strip with the blades up or down? Does it matter?

I have mine with the blades up but I've seen pictures both ways. I figure it doesn't matter really but I've noticed that pictures usually have the blade down.

←

My strips are on the backsplash behind my corner kitchen sink, above a granite counter. I have to reach to grab a knife. I store them point up because I don't want a blade to fall point down on the granite and possibly chip the stone or the point.

[eJulia]

I read somewhere that an organization tested a number of wooden knife blocks and were horrified to see how much gunk/germs/bad stuff they found in them. It seems to me that they would be very hard to clean. I keep my few knives in guards in a drawer, but I like the idea of mounting a mag strip in a drawer.

[andiesenji]

I have my magnetic strips mounted vertically and the knives are horizontal with the bigger ones with flatter blades at the bottom and smaller at the top. Even the narrow, thin bladed cheese knives stick well. I don't put small bladed paring knives or bird-beak knives on the mag strips, they stand in a small container with some marbles covered by a sponge in the bottom. It is acutally a wire mesh pencil cup I got at Staples that is very handy. The marbles are to put enough weight in the bottom to keep it from tipping over.

You can mount a mag strip under a cabinet. You just measure the longest handle and mount the strip so that the handle doesn't protrude. Even with cabinets with fancy scrolled woodwork at the bottom, the mag strips are thick enough to make the knife handles easy to grab.

The "industrial strength" magnetic strips made by Mundial come in 12", 18" and 24" lengths. Prices are from 12.80 to 20.80 at Star Restaurant supply in Van Nuys, CA.

They are more expensive everywhere else.

Edited November 11, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[JAZ]

I've been using a magnet for my knives for years, but unfortunately, there just isn't a space for it in my new kitchen. I don't have the drawer space for an in-drawer knife block, but for several reasons I'm just not crazy about blocks on the counter -- they never seem to have the right sized slots, they collect crud in the slots and they take up way too much room.

I saw this block at Bed Bath and Beyond and thought I'd give it a try. The "Kapoosh" blocks use an insert of tightly packed platic fibers that let you put knives in anywhere instead of being limited to pre-cut slots. (Click here for a better view of the insert.) Seemed like it was worth trying. I got the larger block because I have a lot of knives and also liked the looks of the stainless model.

Unfortunately, the lower section is only about 4 inches deep, so it was virtually useless to me. I have one knife that could fit there. And although the back section was the depth of the whole unit, I still couldn't fit my slicer (10") or bread knife (9.5") in it. Plus, I don't know how the reviewer possibly fit 15 knives in the smaller unit. I managed to fit three 8" chef's knives, two utility (6" blades), my 6" chef's. I could possibly have fit one or two more small knives, but that would have been the capacity.

So I read through this topic again and ended up returning it and buying the block mentioned here:

I have a ludicrously expensive knife 'block', bought in a fit of insanity, which has turned out to be worth its weight in gold.  It is from a Danish designer, brand name Eva Solo here it is.  A metal outer case (aluminium?) like a rectangular box with no top and bottom, houses a removable concertina-like plastic insert into which the knives slide.  Mine is plain box-shaped, so the knives stand vertically and the blades don't rest on the plastic.

v

←

They're still being manufactured, although they now have a base rather than being hollow. (The knife blades don't touch the bottom.) The inserts are removable and the unit can be washed, so I won't have to worry about the crud factor. It doesn't take up much room at all, and not only do all my knives fit, I also have room for several more -- more if I wanted to crowd them a little.

Here's a current link to the item on Amazon.

I'd still rather use a magnet, but given the alternatives, I'm very happy with it.

[jgm]

This is an interesting discussion. I am currently using a magnetic strip, and store my knives handle-down on it. It's meeting my needs adequately at this time, but we're planning to build another house, and knife storage is one of the issues I'm concerned about.

We're smack in the middle of tornado alley. In '99, an F4-F5 hit our neighborhood, destroyed our garage, took part of the roof, and left the front door hanging by one hinge. When I finally got up the guts to enter the house, I found that the living room furniture looked as though it had been gathered by a giant pair of arms, rotatated around the room, and set back down again. Stuff from the bedrooms was in the kitchen, at the opposite end of the house, and vice versa. But the knives were still attached to the strip. I had a momentary blanch of horror, though, when staring at them and thinking about what could have happened, had they come loose. We weren't home, but could have been, and the pets definitely were. I would not have enjoyed the sight if one or more had come into contact with the cats or the dog. I probably won't use a magnetic strip, or at least an exposed one, in the new house. I like the idea of mounting one in a drawer and using it there.

I've left the strip alone because we have very little drawer space and very little counter space, but I'm not crazy about it. A few weeks after the tornado, our home was entered by an intruder late at night while I was home. The situation ended up being harmless enough, (crackhead looking for a bathroom; too high to worry about stealing anything or hurting me), but there's merit in the idea of not having knives visible and handy to someone with bad intentions.

Jenny

[scubadoo97]

I have a bunch of knives some that I found on the cheap on sale as open stock that needed some clean up and sharpening/re-profiling. I have many in a drawer since I didn't want to put up a magnetic strip in my tile back splash and my wife always feels there is too much stuff on the counters. I use plastic page binders. Very inexpensive solution that has worked very well. You can get these at the office supply store

They can be cut to size up to 11 inches and offer a low tech inexpensive way to protect knives that are in a drawer

[jgm]

Plastic page binders? Genius! Especially for those occasions when you have to transport knives, and don't like the sight of blood (especially your own).

[persiancook]

I keep mine in knife "safes" in a drawer. It works if you have only a few knives.

Lamson Sharp Knife Safes

[chappie]

So, what I'm reading on this and other knife storage threads I've dug up is that the Kapoosh is a big no. I was thinking of ordering one, too, because I'm tired of my knives, which range from decent to two excellent, stored in a drawer.

Is there really no better universal block than the eGullet-described "Crapoosh?"

[Octaveman]

The J.K. Adams Kangaroo blocks are very nice. I have the large one and it fits quite a bit of stuff.

https://www.jkadams.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi...dd=action&key=H

[andiesenji]

So, what I'm reading on this and other knife storage threads I've dug up is that the Kapoosh is a big no. I was thinking of ordering one, too, because I'm tired of my knives, which range from decent to two excellent, stored in a drawer.

Is there really no better universal block than the eGullet-described "Crapoosh?"

←

Yes there is. I have given two of these "universal" knife blocks to friends who love them.

I have a lot of knives and use magnetic bars but if I had limited space, as does my best friend, I would definitely have one of these.

The wider bladed knives, like the Asian vegetable knives will fit in this block and is the reason I gave one to my friend for Christmas.

Chick on the View link and you can see that these poly rods are anchored at the bottom so can't pull out when the knives are removed.

[chappie]

That looks very similar in design to the Kapoosh. Any idea how they

might differ? Also, I used to use magnet strips but have since been told by several chefs that they can damage some blades permanently.

[andiesenji]

That looks very similar in design to the Kapoosh. Any idea how they

might differ? Also, I used to use magnet strips but have since been told by several chefs that they can damage some blades permanently.

←

It is quite different because in the Kapoosh are loose bamboo skewers (you could make your own box and fill it with skewers and have the same thing.

They don't stay in the box. When you remove a knife, one or more of the skewers may be pulled out of the box.

With this one, as is clearly shown in the adjunct photo, the rods are attached to the base and remain in place when blades are pulled out. My best friend, who is not much of a foodie, has a very small kitchen and only a few very good knives (mostly gifts from me so I will have something to use during my visits) is very happy with it. It holds all the larger knives and paring knives and even the six steak knives they use almost every day.

I use magnetic strips because I have way too many knives to fit into one knife block and want them out where I can see them, not in a drawer. I've been using them since forever and have never noticed a problem with my blades, some of which are very expensive, except in a couple of cases the blades have become mildly magnetic and will pick up paper clips and staples - not always a bad thing when a staple gets loose from a package and is difficult to see on a granite countertop! I'm 70 and my vision is not as good as once it was.

[Octaveman]

That looks very similar in design to the Kapoosh. Any idea how they

might differ? Also, I used to use magnet strips but have since been told by several chefs that they can damage some blades permanently.

←

They can damage blades if you're careless with how you put them on and take them off. Always lift off edge side first and always put on spine side first. You're edges will not be affected. As Andiesenji said, slight magnetization will not harm the blade. There is a very nice magnetic knife rack that has no steel bars running across them that might scratch your blades. Very strong and very attractive. I have one of these too.

http://benchcrafted.com/

edited to fix url.

Edited April 10, 2009 by Octaveman (log)

[JAZ]

The Kapoosh looks just like the photo Andie linked to. Perhaps there was an early version with bamboo inserts, but when I bought one, it had the plastic rods, not bamboo. A friend of mine has one now and it also has the plastic.

My problem with that style knife block was simply that it didn't hold very many knives. I think if you only had a few knives, and especially if you had cleavers and other large knives that don't fit into an ordinary block, it would be an okay choice.

[chappie]

Yeah, the Kapoosh definitely doesn't use bamboo rods, but I believe the Lee Valley model may hold a deeper blade?

[RDCollins]

I keep both my German and Japanese kitchen knives in a 22-slot Shun Knife Block. It's made of bamboo, a renewal resource, and all the slots except the steak knife slots are horizontal. It's big enough to hold a 300mm Gyuto and a 10" bread knife, as well as a Chinese cleaver. It's $90 from Amazon, no tax, free shipping. Here are some photos:

Photo of My Knife Block

Another Photo of My Knife Block

[cbread]

My too many knives, two steels, and a pizza paddle are stored in somewhat the same way as Fat Guy's system. All my counters are 30" deep. I have something like 8 feet of butcher block counter. In it's 30" depth, the front 24" in depth is solid Boos oak butcher block, behind which are three solid oak pieces, each slightly less than 2" wide, separated by spacers to form two grooves that I slip my knives between.

Not a very good description, but if you imagine that the handles of my knives stick up above counter level from grooves near the back, you're getting it. Under the knives is a slot that can be opened for cleaning by lifting the 2 inch wide blocks.

Edited April 12, 2009 by cbread (log)