Electric Knives: Reviews

Best Electric Knife Review

Electric knives take most of the work out of carving game, roasts and thick loaves of bread. The main advantage of using an electric knife is that it produces thin, even food slices, with no tears or shredding. They can also cut closer to the bone than a conventional knife, giving you more meat on the platter.

Although many people buy electric knives specifically with holiday meals in mind, they can be useful year-round. An electric knife can produce thinner slices of meat than a traditional knife, and it can also be used on bread, cake and sandwiches. Some electric knives come with two separate blades, one for meat and one for bread. Reviews indicate that these knives generally perform better at both functions than those equipped with a single blade for both tasks. Although a few electric knives are cordless, we did not find any positive reviews for electric knives of this type. Corded knives are easier to use when they come with a long cord -- ideally about 4 feet, reviewers say. This feature is especially important if your electric outlet is far from the space where you plan to carve.

Professional tests of electric knives are scarce. We found only two: one from Cook's Illustrated and an older one from Good Housekeeping, for which only the names of the two winners are still available. Thus, to choose the best electric carving knives, we relied mostly on user feedback from retail sites such as Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Cooking.com and other dedicated kitchen retailers. Drawing on these sources, we chose top-rated knives based on evaluations of their slicing performance, ease of use, ease of cleaning and durability. The best performers are in the $50 range, but we also found some good reviews for knives priced at $25 or less.