Kitchen

[beanie]

The knife grabber.  It magnetic and hangs on your wall/whatever.  I've heard that the wooden block that holds knives can get dusty/dirty.  Someone in my family has asked for this for Christmas and I'd like to hear your thoughts on which is bettter.  TIA  beanie

[DoneTryin]

I once had one of those knife blocks & hated it.  Not only did it get dusty, all knives could fit into all slots, & I could never remember which one was in which slot.  I was constantly pulling up different ones to find the one I wanted.  Now I have a set of colored knives in a clear plastic stand that I got at QVC a few years ago. It holds 5 knives & I can always see which one I want. I don't know if they still have it since I haven't seen it shown on-air for a long time.  I'm not a gourmet cook, so not a knife snob either.

[denisemb]

Maybe a knife block that fits in a drawer, like this one?  A Google search shows them available in all price ranges and sizes...

[sidsmom]

Man those things scare the pants off of me.  

My luck, the magnetic strip would stop working the second I'm staying close to it!

A lot of foodies & chefs have them...makes sense not to waste counter space, but I just...can't.  =:0

[chickenbutt]

I have a wood block and I like it.  I don't have a hard time keeping it clean.   

While I love the idea (if only I had a whole extra drawer!) of the one shown above that lays in the drawer there would be a conundrum for me - You should never store them with the blades DOWN, as shown in the beauty shot, but if you place them in blade up there might be peril for others, especially if you have kids digging around in your drawers. (uh, not like that sounded. hehe)

The magnetic one has never appealed to me.  I would feel like they would fall down, plus the whole knife is exposed so they probably get dirtier.

All that said, however, I would gauge my choice to what the gift recipient would most like to have.  

[beanie]

'll probably go with the wooden block...that's what he asked for.  I think he's never seen the knife grabber, though.  In my opinion, that knife grabber is risky.  Maybe if it was under a cabinet...maybe/but definitely not on a wall in my kitchen.

[151949]

I have the wooden block and I've never noticed it to be dusty or dirty. I suppose the housekeeper must wipe it off when she is here because I don't.I think it is a perfect way to store knives, and i cook a lot. i too think those magnetic knife grabbers are scary.

[KYToby]

I have a magnetic bar, amd I love it.  Wjile I never had the issue of my wooden block getting dirty, it did take up a lot of room on the counter.  The bar has all of my knives on display and makes them easily available.  Another plus is that the bar helps to preserve the edges as they are not rubbing against wood when being iserted/remoed from the block.

In regards to safety, the magnets are strong, anf I have nine knives on the bar -- ranging from a 3" bird's beak parer to a 14" chef's knife -- and they are all help quite securely and firmly.

[soonersis]

I LOVE my magnetic knife strip I have hanging on my wall next to my kitchen sink.  It is much better than the knife block I used to use which just took up counter space and became a germ recepticle.  I was afraid maybe my knives might fall off the magnetic holder, but it has 2 strips and they are very strong, you really have to pull hard to remove a knife.  I also think it's much safer to use than storing them in a drawer.

[lovinglife]

I use both the magnetic strip and a knife block with bristles...the bristles are removable in most so you can clean the block and bristles easily.  Use and like them both!