# Designed Home Kitchen Knife Storage



## ChefCosta (Apr 16, 2017)

I'm designing my home kitchen and want advice on how to store knives. I don't like butcher blocks and am reluctant about the effects of magnetic bars on my knives edges. Do leather magnetic blocks exist? What do you all like?


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## mille162 (Apr 16, 2017)

Ive seen a few magnetic with different covers. Wood, acrylic...dont see why you couldnt cover a strip with some leather. Skins are fairly cheap on ebay: ive used goat for a bunch of projects and its fairly thin and durable. Only issue I can see is if you have carbon knives the leather might hold moisture


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Apr 16, 2017)

If you have a drawer to spare, why not get a big wood insert. Or even fit it with a couple of balsa (or other soft wood) plywood bulkheads that you put appropriate cutouts in -
which can be surprisingly much effort though. Currently up to my socks in wood shavings doing a similar thing. Definitely use or make a plywood, soft woods with can be really weak at right angles to their fibers so you'd be constantly breaking stuff while making/adding cutouts...


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## milkbaby (Apr 17, 2017)

Many people make magnetic knife racks with wood, so that is much less likely to damage knife edges unless you bang the knives against each other. I'm sure you could easily make or commission a custom one that is covered with leather. From my research, many people suggest epoxy for attaching leather to wood, though I've used wood glue successfully too.


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## Panamapeet (Apr 17, 2017)

I use a magnetic knife rack made out of oak. I would recommend using one long magnetic strip though. My rack uses several magnets, which means that not the whole surface area of the rack can be used.


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## ChefCosta (Apr 17, 2017)

Is there any legitimacy to the idea that the magnet itself affects the thinnest part of the edge?


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Apr 17, 2017)

That would be easily solved with a strop - there's another reason I don't fancy magnets: I don't like sharp steel objects magnetized


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## DaveInMesa (Apr 17, 2017)

Spipet said:


> I use a magnetic knife rack made out of oak. I would recommend using one long magnetic strip though. My rack uses several magnets, which means that not the whole surface area of the rack can be used.



That's actually an opportunity that I haven't seen anyone exploit, yet. The separate magnets mean the knives won't be banging into each other, unlike a strip, but all the ones I've seen have used uniformly spaced magnets. That means your narrowest knife takes up as much space as your widest knife. It would make a lot more sense to space them for different size knives. 

I've been trying to find a block to hold my knives, without any success. They all are designed with too many narrow slots and too few wide ones.


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## Panamapeet (Apr 17, 2017)

DaveInMesa said:


> That's actually an opportunity that I haven't seen anyone exploit, yet. The separate magnets mean the knives won't be banging into each other, unlike a strip, but all the ones I've seen have used uniformly spaced magnets. That means your narrowest knife takes up as much space as your widest knife. It would make a lot more sense to space them for different size knives.
> 
> I've been trying to find a block to hold my knives, without any success. They all are designed with too many narrow slots and too few wide ones.



Knives bumping into eachother can be a problem wit individual magnets as well, that is my experience at least. Different spaces for different knives does sound like a good idea though


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Apr 17, 2017)

A sawtooth shaped strip with a soft covering would certainly stop the collision problems..

....

Store how many knives anyway? People probably have 1 to 100 serviceable knives here in the kitchen, the typical 3-6 doesn't always apply 

Think about whether you want all your knives always in your work area, or keep most of them stored and have only your current "essentials set" (would be "one carbon gyuto or santoku, one stainless good/laser gyuto, one beater gyuto, one ajikiri, one stainless beater petty" with optional 1 nakiri, 1 chuka, 1 beater cleaver, 1 good petty for me...) handy...


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## ChefCosta (Apr 18, 2017)

Looking to store essentials, and by essentials I mean 10 knives or so.


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## khashy (Apr 18, 2017)

LifeByA1000Cuts said:


> A sawtooth shaped strip with a soft covering would certainly stop the collision problems..
> 
> ....
> 
> ...



I like this list of essentials


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## bjg1 (Jun 30, 2017)

I've kept my knives on a magnetic rack for years and have never had one magnetize, or become damaged. In fact I believe that storing knives like this has kept mine in the best shape possible. 

Think about how a block works, just by placing the knife inside it the edge comes in contact with the block, dulling it. And think about the environment surrounding the knife, dark and damp, a great breeding ground for all kinds of nasties. 

Magnetic racks are versatile too. You can put them anywhere and you're knives stay within arms reach.


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## swarfrat (Jun 30, 2017)

If a block has vertical slots and you put blades in edge up there's little to no contact. Horizontal slots are even more of a non-problem.

Magnetic blocks take more vertical surface area than my crappy little kitchen has to spare. So it's a not an issue for me.

But, out of curiosity, for you guys that use them, do they hold up shears? How about a steel?

My ceramic rod definitely wouldn't work. And I'd rather not toss it in a drawer. Nor would the plastic "lettuce knife" I keep at hand for foods in glass or ceramic dishes. A Wusthof block sucks them all up just fine.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Jun 30, 2017)

Shears get treated as non knives, hung from nails and put into the dishwasher - otherwise I'll go crazy


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## zetieum (Jun 30, 2017)

I use a magnetic bar one the top of which I glued leather 2 strips of leather on the top and bottom of the surface on which you put the knives. So it is very gentle on the knives and it is very convenient and cost effective. (I copied this idea from @krassi)


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