Chef’sChoice Professional Electric Knife Sharpeners AngleSelect for 15- and 20-Degree Straight-Edge and Serrated Knives with Diamond Abrasives & Precision Angle Control, 2-Stage, Metallic

For those who appreciate and prefer very sharp knives for food prep. My needs are relatively simple insofar as kitchen knives are concerned. Have 6 blades used for slicing, chopping & peeling. One --a serrated Victorinox--for loaves of bread. While the Chef's choice knife sharpener is still in it's honeymoon phase, it does precisely what it claims, namely sharpening your knives regardless of being Easter or Western to surgical sharpness. Seems to take one or two passes less for carbon steel blades than stainless, but both are will served. The build quality is very good, and I suspect I'll get many years of reliable service from this. It is easy to use, by simply drawing the blade toward yourself three times per side in each of the stepped grinders and then finally the strop stage which polishes the final result. Completed the sharpening of all my blades in less than half an hour including a Henckles pairing knife. Bonus is that the serrated bread knife can be run through the strop stage (don't use the other steps) and it benefits too. Reasonably sure anyone who gets this kitchen tool, and follows the directions will see value in the purchase. Finally, as good as this sharpener is, I always employ a honing steel prior to using any blade. Perhaps habit, but was the recommendation of two very gifted chefs who imparted that advice. Be wary of your knives afterward, they will be that sharp.

I decided to try this item out as it got good reviews on the internet. I am not trying to sharpen my cutlery by learning angles, honing stones, and the rest of that nonsense. I will leave that to the professional cooks. I ran my steak knives and cutting knives through the Chef's Choice, and it gave back a sharpness and life to those dull utensils. I am pretty impressed. There was a feel you get when you are in the grove and the device is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing.

I have wet stones, sharpening sticks and several other options to sharpen knives and I am pretty good at all of them. But once in a while you just want to sharpen a knife quickly. This works very well, I have used on some kitchen knives and a couple pocket knives. I would buy again, if I would ever need to replace this unit.

The media could not be loaded. This sharpener is the best I have ever had. I was so very tired of the little hand held jobs that only sharpened knives that still had a good straight edge and that were just somewhat dull. This sharpener took all my old dull knives and turned them into pieces of "Ahhhhhhhhhhh" to use! My serrated edge knife was so dull, I had to use the full routine on it of removing some of the metal with the sharpening blades, then using the strapping band. It was nothing but burrs when I took it from the drawer, but when I was done, it was smooth as silk and cut better than new!Another knife I have is thick and had a beaten up wobbly edge. Needless to say, it was dull city! A few time on the full routine and I am in love it with all over again. I was able to straighten the edge and put a super sharp edge on it. I use it quite often (at least weekly) for cutting raw semi-frozen chicken and the bones and it once again cuts thru it like butter. You don't realize how much time you waste trying to use dull knives and cutters. Cutting the 10+ pounds of chicken each time used to take about an hour or more because the cutter was so dull and had a hard time cutting up all the bones. Now I breeze thru it in about 10 minutes! I no longer dread the chore!I keep it on my counter and use it quite regularly now the moment I see a knife is not cutting as well as it should. Takes me all of 30 seconds to bring it back to perfection! We had so many knives, none of which had been sharpened correctly in decades before I got this. Husband flipped the first time he went to use one of our knifes after I had sharpened them all. I had warned him they were sharp so that he would be extra careful, but the first time he used one, he came running into the other room to tell me how he just cut a tomato like it was butter! I don't know who was happier - him or me!If you have seriously dull or wobbly edged knives, don't waste your money on lesser hand held or less feature models. You really need the features this one offers. We all have different angle knives (15 & 20). So many times the strapping band/honer feature is all you need to bring your knife back to life once you did a good job sharpening it. Using the strapping band instead of the grinder saves TONS of blade and metal and extends the life of your knives. The grinder takes off metal to form the edge whereas the strapping band hones the edges and removes the micro burrs that make a knife dull.Do read the manual. It is very easy to understand and grasp the concept of what goes where, when to use the 15 degree, when to use the 20 degree and when to use the strapping band. I chose this manufacturer over another similar product that was less money as this one had double the warranty. I figured that if I was going to put out this much cash, I wanted all the warranty I could get.Would I buy it again? You bet - in a heartbeat!I hope this is helpful to those considering purchasing a knife sharpener, especially this model in particular.