The 4 Finest Electrical Knives of 2024, Examined & Reviewed

Early in my high-quality eating restaurant profession, I began a brand new job and was shocked to see one of many cooks slicing roast rooster with an electrical knife. I wasn’t a stranger to electrical knives, as my mother and father had one after I was younger. I simply didn’t assume they’d a spot in a business kitchen.

Wanting again now, I perceive. Not each prepare dinner retains their knives as sharp as they need to, and the chef needed clear cuts with the pores and skin intact for texture and presentation. An electrical knife may do precisely that. To search out one of the best electrical knives, I took eight fashionable fashions into my kitchen and sliced a complete lotta bread, rooster, and ham. 

The Winners, at a Look

This high-bladed (it’s not a large blade, it’s simply tall in comparison with others) knife was surprisingly nimble slicing round ham bones. It additionally made quick work of slicing a roasted rooster. 

This electrical knife is a mannequin of simplicity. However don’t let the dearth of bells and whistles idiot you: It outperformed a number of different knives in its ease of use and effectiveness.

This electrical knife set from Nutrichef contains meat and bread blades, in addition to a picket stand to maintain every thing organized. It carried out very nicely slicing bread and ham.

The Hamilton Seaside set comes with a meat fork to stabilize roasts or poultry and a plastic storage case to maintain every thing organized. It produced skinny and medium-thick slices of rooster and ham with relative ease.

The Exams

• Bread Take a look at: To check every knife’s sharpness, design, and flexibility, I used each to slice a loaf of soppy bread. Every knife needed to do 4 cuts in progressively thinner slices, starting from one-half inch to virtually see-through.
• Roast Rooster Take a look at: My subsequent check concerned carving a roast rooster, as carving poultry is a standard activity for electrical knives. I wanted some extent of comparability to gauge how nicely they carried out. So I carved my first rooster with the Wüsthof Traditional Carving Knife, the winner of our carving knife evaluate. I disconnected the thigh on the spine (preserving the oyster, naturally), then eliminated the drumstick. I eliminated the wing and lower 5 slices of chicken as thinly as potential. With that baseline established, I repeated these cuts with every electrical knife, judging the benefit of separating joints, the thinness of the slices, and the general really feel and controllability of the knife. I then cleaned every knife per the producer’s directions.
• Ham Take a look at: The winners of the earlier assessments moved on to satisfy the ultimate boss: a bone-in ham. I sliced 5 items of ham, beginning with a thick lower and transferring to progressively thinner cuts, directing the blades across the bone to see how exactly every knife sliced. 

What We Discovered

How Do Electrical Knives Work?

I as soon as tried to clarify to a pal {that a} reciprocating noticed was a large electrical knife for slicing wooden and metallic. Now, I’ve to clarify that an electrical knife is a small, dual-bladed reciprocating noticed as a result of the recognition of those two instruments has since been inverted. The 2 blades of an electrical knife are barely offset and work in a push-pull movement, with one touring outward whereas the opposite travels in. That doubles the slicing energy for every stroke, creating cleaner cuts and, sure, superbly sliced poultry pores and skin. 

Finger Guards Had been Good However Clumsy

Once you’re coping with two quickly vibrating blades, a molded piece of plastic that retains the fingers away from them is a fairly stable security function. Nevertheless, when slicing gadgets like bread, the finger guard of a number of fashions made contact with the slicing board earlier than the blades lower right through, leaving the bread slices linked on the backside. I attempted angling the blades to tug them by the bread for a clear lower, however not each knife with a finger guard agreed with that concept. I needed to transfer the knife again in direction of me, the place the finger guard wouldn’t hit the board or counter, and lower perpendicularly earlier than the blades sliced right through. It might have been solely my notion, however I cringed for my countertop’s security all through this course of. 

Security Switches Had been Additionally a Good Thought, However Not All the time Properly-Designed

Among the knives I examined had a two-part security mechanism: a kill change that you just depress and an influence button that solely engages after participating the kill change. This association reduces accidents, however generally the concept was higher than the execution. The Brentwood Stainless Metal Electrical Carving Knife had a clumsy association that made it troublesome to maintain each switches engaged and continuously lower out mid-slice. The NutriChef Cordless Electrical Knife had a greater change association, however the knife ran for about half a second after releasing each switches—regarding!

Typically Less complicated Was Higher

Electrical knives aren’t new by any means, which leaves loads of room for function and security innovation over time. Nevertheless, most of my favorites employed a easy design much like the primary electrical knife I noticed as a child—that’s, only a deal with and blades. Most of the newer fashions’ security options decreased their precision and luxury throughout use, resulting in extra struggling whereas slicing with a vibrating blade, which hardly felt safer. 

The Standards: What to Search for in an Electrical Knife

The primary consideration is how nicely they lower. Can they lower clear slices and work round joints and bones? That flexibility is essential in an excellent electrical knife. The second consideration is identical with any knife: How does it really feel in your hand? A very good electrical knife needs to be snug to grip, with easy-to-use security options (if current), and never too heavy so that you can use successfully.

Our Favourite Electrical Knives

What we appreciated: If I had been to attain my favourite knives on a scale of 1 to 5 (which I did, as a result of I appreciated a number of of them) there can be solely 1 / 4 of some extent distinction between them. The Cuisinart, at first look, regarded clumsy with its tall, one-inch blade, however I used to be happy with the fragile cuts it made. It’s snug to carry and powered by rooster joints, lower skinny slices of bread and chicken, and gracefully slid round a ham bone. It was additionally simple to wash, solely requiring a lightweight scrub with soapy water.

What we didn’t like: I couldn’t get a clear bread slice till I held the finger guard previous the sting of my counter, which I discovered unnerving since I didn’t wish to slice into the butcher block.

Key Specs

• Weight: 23 ounces
• Blade size: 7.75 inches
• Deal with size: 9 inches
• Complete size: 17.5 inches
• Twine or cordless: Corded
• Supplies: Plastic, chrome steel
• Equipment: Plastic stand, slicing board, meat fork
• Care: Hand wash the blades and wipe the deal with with scorching, soapy water earlier than drying totally

What we appreciated: What you see is what you get with the Proctor Silex. It’s a easy, easy-to-use knife with no further options. There’s a deal with, a set off, and blades. It dealt with rooster joints with no second thought, made skinny chicken parts with the pores and skin intact, and will lower medium and thick slices of ham with little effort.

What we didn’t like: The blades skipped throughout the bread crust and had been hesitant with the ham’s bark, making very skinny cuts difficult. To be honest, it lower skinny slices, however not as skinny because the Cuisinart.

Key Specs

• Weight: 21 ounces
• Blade size: 7.5 inches 
• Deal with size: 9.5 inches
• Complete size: 19 inches
• Twine or cordless: Corded
• Supplies: Plastic, chrome steel
• Equipment: None
• Care: Hand wash the blades and wipe the deal with with scorching, soapy water earlier than drying totally

What we appreciated: The NutriChef is a single-button knife with a finger guard for security. It was light-weight and straightforward to carry and maneuver. The skinny blades carved high-quality slices of ham and chicken throughout my assessments, though the knife struggled when making an attempt to separate the thigh from the spine within the rooster check. This set has a picket stand holding the deal with, carving blades, and a bread blade set.

What we didn’t like: The finger guard acquired in the best way of slicing bread utterly by, and the knife struggled to get by the thigh joint, but it surely nonetheless sliced skinny lobes of meat.

Key Specs

• Weight: 13 ounces
• Blade size: 7.75 inches
• Deal with size: 8.75 inches
• Complete size: 16 inches
• Twine or cordless: Corded
• Supplies: Plastic, chrome steel, wooden
• Equipment: Picket stand, bread blade, meat blade
• Care: Hand wash the blades and wipe the deal with with scorching, soapy water earlier than drying totally

What we appreciated: That is one other knife that looks as if a throwback to older designs however is a good instance of not fixing what’s not damaged. The Hamilton Seaside is a simple design that felt snug in my hand. It sliced by rooster joints simply and lower skinny slices of chicken with out tearing the pores and skin. It has a finger guard, however I appreciated that I may angle the blade and get an entire, clear, skinny bread slice. This set got here with a meat fork, which was useful for preserving the meat securely in place and my fingers at a protected distance. 

What we didn’t like: The bone-in hams I used for testing had a thick bark from curing and smoking, and the Hamilton Seaside required some effort to slice by it, so very skinny ham slices weren’t on the desk with this mannequin. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 21 ounces
• Blade size: 7.5 inches
• Deal with size: 9 inches
• Complete size: 18 inches
• Twine or cordless: Corded
• Supplies: Plastic, chrome steel
• Equipment: Plastic storage case, meat fork
• Care: Hand wash the blades and wipe the deal with with scorching, soapy water earlier than drying totally

The Competitors

• Elite Connoisseur Cordless Electrical Knife with Twin Serrated Blades: The Elite Connoisseur carried out nicely within the bread and poultry assessments, but it surely actually struggled to chop by the ham’s bark, leading to thicker slices than I’d have appreciated. It was an excellent knife in all different points.
• BLACK+DECKER Consolation Grip Electrical Knife: The Black + Decker was very snug in my palms, and the protection toggle change was simple to depress whereas slicing. Nevertheless, the blade jiggled when firmly put in, and though it lower cleanly and simply and the blades held firmly, I didn’t have full confidence in it.
• Brentwood TS-1010 7-Inch Electrical Carving Knife: The Brentwood wasn’t snug to carry whereas slicing as a result of my hand acquired drained from activating the protection options. Maintaining the protection change depressed whereas holding the set off was difficult, and the knife repeatedly stopped mid-cut in the course of the bread and rooster assessments.
• NutriChef Cordless Electrical Knife: This cordless knife merely lacked the ability of the opposite fashions I examined. It struggled by the bread and rooster assessments, and the knife stored working for a couple of half-second after releasing the ability and security switches, which left me doubting its security.

FAQs

How do you clear an electrical knife?

Some producers make dishwasher-safe blades, however, typically talking, washing the blades with scorching, soapy water is the easiest way to clean any blade. Wipe down the deal with and twine with a towel or sponge soaked in scorching soapy water to take away any meals residue. Dry totally earlier than storing.

Is an electrical knife value it?

That basically is determined by what you need in a knife. An electrical knife doesn’t outperform a well-sharpened slicing knife—the 2 are about on par. However an electrical knife works sooner. 

Do electrical knives get boring?

Sure, electrical knife blades get boring, identical to some other blades. However most blades are serrated, preserving them sharper for longer. An electrical knife may additionally not see as a lot use as many different kitchen knives, prolonging the time between sharpening. Electrical knives have two blades, so sharpening them will value double what a single serrated blade prices. Weigh the price of sharpening versus substitute (as a lot as I hate to advocate that).

Can you employ an electrical knife to chop bread?

You completely can. Most of the knives I examined did an awesome job of slicing bread, and a few fashions got here with a set of bread blades.

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