A dull knife is a useless knife. Testing a knife can help you tell whether it’s sharp enough. Try cutting through a ripe tomato; if the knife is sharp it will cut through the tomato with ease, if it’s not it will smash the tomato. But don’t throw a dull knife away because it can be easily sharpened.

There are two main kitchen knife sharpener options; metal sharpeners and ceramic sharpeners. Knives made of harder metal require more sharpening but will stay sharp longer.

Metal sharpeners offer a great finish to an already sharp knife because of their fine grains. Professional chefs and butchers are likely to use these sharpeners. Ceramic sharpeners on the other hand, are used primarily to sharpen stainless steel knives. Sharpeners of this type are good at thinning knife points.