Jacques Pépin’s Must-Have Tool for Sharp Knives

As a food and shopping editor, I spend hours each week testing out kitchen appliances, cookware, and tools. Still, my kitchenware knowledge can’t compare to that of expert chefs who have been cooking professionally for decades. When a culinary icon like Jacques Pépin recommends a kitchen item, I know I have to heed the call.

Over the years, Pépin has famously said that his most vital tools in the kitchen are his hands. The French chef is a minimalist in the kitchen, except when it comes to knives. In a Facebook video, he showed off his vast collection (Pépin estimates that he owns 50 knives) and explained what he looks for in a knife. His criterion is simple: “A few of you have asked me about my knives and which knives I prefer. The short answer is, a sharp knife,” he wrote in the caption. 

Kitchellence 3-Stage Knife Sharpener

Pépin has stressed the importance of sharpening your blades for years. “Doesn’t matter the brand — it’s got to be sharp,” he said in a 2008 interview with Food & Wine. If the blades in your collection are looking dull, there’s no need to replace them — especially when Amazon’s No. 1 best-selling Kitchellence 3-Stage Knife Sharpener is just $16. 

Operating this sharpener is intuitive; even beginners say it’s “easy to use.” Just hold the ergonomic handle in one hand, and pull your blade through with the other. It has three slots: one for repairing metal blades, a second stage for sharpening, and a third for polishing. It comes with a safety glove to prevent accidental injury.

The sharpener has nearly 26,000 five-star ratings, with one shopper saying it’s a beginner-friendly “labor-saver” that requires far less effort than other models they’ve tried. They went on to note that “using it has restored even our oldest cutlery to a useful condition again.”

There are many ways to sharpen a knife, Pépin explained in a 2013 how-to video with his daughter Claudine. Whether you’re using a stone, honing steel, ceramic plate, or pull-through model like this one, he said, you can tell a knife is properly sharpened when you can easily slice through an overripe tomato. 

You don’t have to be an expert to cook like Jacques Pépin. The Kitchellence knife sharpener makes it easy to keep your chef’s knives, paring knives, santoku knives, and boning knives in top shape. Head to Amazon and snag yours for just $16.

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At the time of publishing, the price was $16.