Zwilling 4-Stage vs. PriorityChef 2-Stage Manual Sharpener Side-by-Side Comparison
Zwilling 4-stage vs. PriorityChef 2-stage manual sharpener. See how they compare in terms of speed, sharpness, and other parameters.
Specifications
Design
The Zwilling sharpener has a robust construction; its frame is made with mostly high-quality materials and has an excellent fit and finish. Its most important components—the sharpening blades—however, seem to be made of the wrong material for the job. The tall, long, but narrow body, meanwhile, makes it more prone to losing balance and stability.
There’s not much to write home about the Priority Chef’s construction and design. It’s simple and functional, and we love that it has a sturdy working section, a full, flat base, and low center of gravity.
The biggest shortcoming seems to be the low-quality pad under the base. We’d also prefer something with more grip, though the existing one doesn’t ruin the experience.
Usability
Though the Zwilling’s slot layout is not exactly basic, it’s easy to work with. Blade insertion is safe and simple. However, the actual sharpening process can be a little challenging as the device tends to rock on its narrow base pad.
With a straightforward design and slot arrangement, the learning curve is very mild with the Priority Chef. Its low center of gravity and wide, flat base offers good balance and stability.
However, its narrow slot openings might be a bit challenging to work with. And the stainless steel grip may not be so ideal if your hands are sweaty or oily.
Performance
The Zwilling isn’t a complete failure: It can sharpen a dead, dull knife to highly serviceable keenness. However, it lost way too many points on speed, which is a critical criterion for convenient sharpeners. Its sharpening blades left a consistent edge, but that doesn’t make up for the excessive amount of material it removed doing so. It reminded us of the Chef’s Choice 4643 in many ways.
The Priority Chef sharpened blades quickly while creating a decent edge and shaving off very little material from our test knife. Our test knife came out as keen as when brand-new. The device is undoubtedly one of the top performers among the ones we’ve tested, and a very well-rounded one.
Overall Scores
Pros & Cons
- Substantial weight
- Sharpens both Asian and standard knives
- Strong build, high-quality body material
- Slot cover
- Beautiful design
- Modest height, low center of gravity
- Full, flat base
- Gimmick-free design
- Great edge retention
- Brittle sharpening blades
- Anti-slip pad doesn’t fully cover the base
- Awkward grip
- Cheap base pad
- Small slot openings
Conclusion
The Zwilling 4-stage sharpener has a stronger build and double the number of sharpening slots that the PriorityChef has. However, when put through the test, the latter proved to be superior in all the important parameters.
The Zwilling sharpener features sharpening blades, which unfortunately peeled off a lot of knife material while taking more time than most sharpeners to produce results. The blades themselves were brittle and started to chip after only a few sharpening sessions.
With the exception of a cheap-looking base that reflects its affordable price, the PriorityChef is actually a well-designed item. More importantly, it performed well in all of our tests. This sharpener performed quickly and produced an edge that was not only sharp but also smooth while removing only a negligible amount of knife steel. It was therefore a very easy choice for us over the Zwilling.
Behind the Comparison
Anh Ngo is a writer with 9 years experience at different media outlets, covering from public news and events to product testing and analysis. At HealthyKitchen101, she works across different departments, communicating closely with its network of writers, editors, and health, tech, and search engine experts to provide a meaningful and pleasant reading experience for visitors.
Lap is Head of the Research, Testing, and Review Team (RTR Team) at HealthyKitchen101.com, where he directs and supervises the testing of kitchen gadgets and appliances.
