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Kitchellence 3-Stage Manual vs Wamery 4-Stage Manual Side-by-Side Comparison
Our Verdict
- Performance (50%)6.9/10
- Design (15%)9.2/10
- Ease of Use (35%)9.8/10
- Performance (50%)8.1/10
- Design (15%)6.8/10
- Ease of Use (35%)7.5/10
The Kitchellence wins hands down in the most critical areas. Whether it’s sharpness, time efficiency, sturdiness, or stability that you are looking for in a handheld sharpener, it will always present itself as a decent choice and, in this case, the better one. It certainly did through our repeated testing.
The Wamery sharpener simply isn’t a match. Its main appeal is in its large base, an extra scissor slot, and excellent material retention. But the main purpose of a kitchen knife sharpener is to quickly bring your knives to a serviceable level, and the Wamery fails miserably in that very area.
Kitchellence 3-stage Knife Sharpener's Performance
- Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon (35%)4.8/10
- Maximum Sharpness Achieved (20%)7.0/10
- Edge Smoothness (20%)7.7/10
- Material Retention (25%)9.0/10
- Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon (35%)9.2/10
- Maximum Sharpness Achieved (20%)6.0/10
- Edge Smoothness (20%)7.3/10
- Material Retention (25%)9.0/10
Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon
- Sharpening Time: 2m 05s
- Cutting Feel: Swift and smooth
We spent 125 seconds with the Kitchellence to bring a knife from uselessly dull to cutting through a lemon in one single draw. The cut was effortless and did not require significant hand pressure.
The sharpening time is rather slow; but note that we blunted the knife to an extreme degree for the test. Most cooks wouldn’t wait until their knives become so dull. If you maintain your blades properly, you should be able to make them serviceable after about one minute on this device.
- Sharpening Time: 1 minute 10 seconds
- Cutting Feel: Light and smooth
For this test, we blunted a knife with sandpaper and ran it through the Wamery. It took 70 seconds for the knife to get to the sharpness level where it can halve a lemon in one go. This effectively places the Wamery among the top group of sharpeners in terms of speed.
However, the results had not always been so satisfactory. The Wamery took significantly longer (almost 10 minutes) in our previous attempts to restore the knife’s sharpness. We found that sharpening with the knife tip pointing slightly downward helped.
Maximum Sharpness Achieved
- Sharpening Time: 6 minutes
- Sharpness Level: 8
After sharpening on the Kitchellence for 6 minutes, the knife slid through a ripe tomato effortlessly, so we went on to try it on raw chicken breast with skin. It went through the chicken breast in two slices.
This isn’t an exceptional result, but the knife was only at Level 8 when brand new, so it’s safe to say the Kitchellence almost brought it back to its factory level.
- Sharpening Time: 6 minutes
- Sharpness Level: 7 (ripe tomatoes, 1 swipe)
As fast as it was to bring the knife to the lemon-cutting level, it didn’t go very far after that. The knife only reached Sharpness Level 7 after 6 minutes of sharpening.
You may struggle a bit with precision cutting and thin slicing, but at this level, your knife’s good for most other food prep tasks.
Edge Smoothness
The Kitchellence produces some of the smoothest edges among pull-through devices we tested. Thanks to its stability and the thickness of the sharpening rods, it was easier to maintain a consistent pull force through each draw. As a result, the edge came out smooth and even from tip to heel.
We could find no remaining burrs or metal flakes on the edge. The ceramic rods in the final stage did a good job straightening the edge and removing little burrs.
When put under the examination of our magnifying lens, the knife’s edge looked straight. There are tiny shavings alongside and the grooves are noticeable but evenly distributed along the edge. This suggests that the honing stages did do their job, though not meticulously, to smoothen the edge.
Material Retention
- Sharpening Time: 1 minute
- Target Sharpness:
The Kitchellence’s substantial sharpening rods and blades are braced tightly together so they sharpen very well, but don’t remove much material from the knife edge at a time. The ‘swarf’ is more fine dust than chips, hinting at a fine edge.
This is mostly thanks to the design of the tungsten carbide blades themselves. However, the Kitchellence is also one of the rare cases where the bulky diamond rods really work to ‘prepare’ the edge for the peeler slot.
- Sharpening Time: 1 minute
- Target Sharpness:
The coarse stage does take its toll on the knife’s edge, but the metal swarf that we collected after sharpening was rather minimal.
Among the handheld sharpeners we put to the test, this is among the ones that yielded the smallest amount of metal residue.
Kitchellence 3-stage Knife Sharpener’s Design
- Build Quality (75%)9.3/10
- Grip (25%)9.0/10
- Build Quality (75%)6.6/10
- Grip (25%)7.5/10
Dimensions
- Length:8.1" (20.6 cm)
- Width:1.8" (4.6 cm)
- Height:3.0" (7.6 cm)
- Weight:6.4 oz (181 g)
- Length:9.1" (23.1 cm)
- Width:2.3" (5.8 cm)
- Height:3.3" (8.4 cm)
- Weight:8.9 oz (252 g)
Build Quality
We’ve had our hands on a few others that look very similar to the Kitchellence, and they were all lightweight and shoddy. So it was a nice surprise how well-built the Kitchellence is.
The device is made of high-quality ABS with a nice finish. It’s solid, sturdy, weighted, and every part fits together tightly and seamlessly. It didn’t create the rattling sound heard on many others as we shook it or used excessive force to sharpen.
The only thing we didn’t like about the build is the tiny and somewhat flimsy silicone pad underneath the grip.
The build of the Wamery suggests everything but top-notch craftsmanship. The sharpener is bulky but hollow and rackety. Its abrasives are a hit or miss and seem to wear out more quickly than the other devices we’ve tested. While it does look cute, the sharpener isn’t meant or built to last.
What’s in the Box With the Kitchellence Kitchen Knife Sharpener
- The Kitchellence sharpener
- 1 x user’s guide
- 1 x safety glove
The Kitchellence comes in one piece, with a solid ABS plastic body. It has a distinctive matte finish that’s very soft and comfortable to touch.
The package includes a glove and a user’s manual that offers instructions on how to sharpen metal and ceramic blades.
- Wamery 4-slot pull through sharpener
The sharpener comes in a cardboard package with the instruction manual printed on the back. All additional information (return address & warranty policy) can be found on the official website.
Working Section
- Levels of Sharpening:Coarse, Medium, Fine
- Abrasive:Diamond rods, tungsten carbide blades, ceramic rods
- Mechanism:Pull-through
- Sharpening Angle:20 degrees
The Kitchellence sports three stages of sharpening, marked with the numbers 1, 2, and 3. The Coarse slot (1) removes small imperfections and preps the edge, the Medium slot (2) removes more material and sharpens the edge, and the Fine ceramic rods (3) offer a final polish.
Though the working section is easily removable, replacements are not sold separately. So once the rods have worn out and the tungsten blades are no longer keen, the whole device will just end up in the trash bin. That being said, with its thick rods and quality build, we suspect it will last for years.
Those larger, more robust sharpening rods separate the Kitchellence from other pull-through sharpeners such as the Cubikook or Wamery. They feel firmer and more sturdy, and the larger size also means they may last longer.
- Levels of Sharpening:Coarse, medium, fine
- Abrasive:Tungsten carbide blades, diamond rods, ceramic rods
- Mechanism:Pull-through
- Sharpening Angle:Not mentioned
The Wamery’s working section features a slot for shears and scissors and three for kitchen knives. For knives, you start on the tungsten carbide blades, then proceed to the diamond coated rods and ceramic rods. Without a ‘prep’ slot, we’d expected the sharpener to be harsh on the knife edge; however, that wasn’t the case.
While Wamery claims that the sharpener was designed for a wide variety of knives, it failed to mention the slots’ exact angle. We tried to reach out to the brand but so far have received no response. Certain knives have unconventional sharpening angles, so putting all of them through the same slots doesn’t seem like a good idea.
Kitchellence Kitchen Knife Sharpener
- Material:ABS plastic
- Feet Type:non-slip rubber base
The device tapers at the base and has a patterned pad underneath it. The pad is soft, thin, and doesn’t help much with keeping the device stable.
- Material:Synthetic silicone
- Feet Type:Slip-proof padding x 2
The Wamery has a wide base, which partly makes up for its excessive height to maintain its balance. The pads underneath are soft and thin, and look cheaply made, but they do well enough to prevent the sharpener from slipping across the countertop during sharpening.
Grip
- Material:ABS plastic
Among all the devices we tested, the Kitchellence offers the best grip. It has an ergonomic handle with finger nubs. The cover is a special kind of ABS plastic that feels like a matte silicone — it’s so comfortable on the skin a lot of the time we just skipped using the glove altogether.
- Material:Rubber
The handle is spacious, which is a good thing with these sharpeners as you don’t want your gripping hand too close to where the blade goes. That being said, we think Wamery can cut back on the height while widening the base of the handle to improve balance.
The top part of the grip is covered in a soft, comfortable rubber padding, while the sides and underneath weren’t graced with the same material.
Kitchellence Knife Sharpener Review
- Slot Arrangement (20%)10/10
- Insertion (20%)9.0/10
- Pulling Through (10%)9.5/10
- Stability on a Clean Surface (40%)9.0/10
- Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface (20%)7.5/10
- Slot Arrangement (10%)9.0/10
- Insertion (20%)8.0/10
- Pulling Through (10%)6.0/10
- Stability on Clean Surface (40%)7.5/10
- Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface (20%)7.0/10
Slot Arrangement
The Kitchellence has a very intuitive design, with the slots arranged in a progressive order. There are numbers engraved on the stainless steel cover on each slot, and on both sides too, so it’s more difficult to get it wrong than right. You won’t need other visual cues or instructions.
The Wamery has four slots, marked with numbers from 1 to 4 embossed on its stainless steel casing. Slot 1 is reserved for shears and scissors, while the rest sharpens kitchen knives.
The knife slots progress rightward with increasing grit fineness, so it’s natural to follow through with the intended order. Our only complaint is with the lack of adequate space between the slots.
Insertion
The slot openings are not the widest among those we tested, but they have reasonable width and depth. Insertion was effortless and didn’t require much anticipation or forethought.
During the course of our experiment, there were times when the blade wouldn’t position itself properly in the slots. When you look at the size of the entire sharpener, Wamery has been rather economical with its abrasives slots. They were a little too shallow and narrow to accommodate the entire blade’s length comfortably.
To avoid mishaps, we had to take things slowly and re-calibrate our aim before drawing the knife through the slot. But other than that, we proceeded as normal without much to complain about.
Pulling Through
We like that the sharpening rods are larger on this device than most others of its type. They created a firmer, touter brace of the knife edge as we pulled the knife through. Unlike some other devices, this brace hasn’t loosen up after six months of heavy-duty use.
The U-shaped holder stays clear of the working section, so we never once cut into it even when we deliberately increased speed and lowered the knife tip at the end.
The sharpening rods were solid and secure. However, the knife glided through the slots, especially the tungsten bars, at times without the slightest hint of resistance. That, of course, means the abrasives haven’t got in adequate contact with the edge to sharpen it.
A trick we learned after multiple failures is to sharpen with the tip of the knife pointing about 20 degrees downward. Then, a frictious brace can be felt as you pull the knife through. This doesn’t work 100% of the time, but it helped enough to sharpen the knife within a reasonable time frame.
Note that the knife will cut into the plastic frame on both sides when applying this trick, but that’s better than the abrasives not working.
Stability on a Clean Surface
Despite its small and tapered base, the Kitchellence is stable when working on a clean surface. This is thanks to its solid structure and an additional piece of metal placed underneath the working section for increased weight and a lower center of gravity.
Sharpeners with an elevated design are prone to rocking back and forth, even with reinforced pressure on the handle. However, the Wamery’s underside spreads over a wide surface area, which allows it to stand this test despite its rather flimsy anti-slip pads.
Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface
Facing the slippery countertop challenge, the thin and small rubber feet showed their weaknesses. The working section’s location high above the base didn’t help either. As a result, the device slid and wobbled a little.
The solution is easy: keep your countertop clean and the device will be safe to use. If you have shaky hands and want to be extra safe, however, the Cubikook may be a better choice.
When placed on the slippery countertop, the sharpener managed to hold itself quite well. However, be advised that there was only so much that the slip-proof pads could do. Every once in a while, the sharpener inched back and forth, albeit that was something to be expected.