Eek...Knife blocks!

[RomanAnthonysMama]

The other day I saw an article online talking about how knife blocks are the most germiest places in kitchens! They said that the reason it's so filled with germs, is because people often put them back into the slots while still wet or damp, causing bacteria to grow. Since the slots are so tiny, it's hard to clean them, so germs have a field day. Now I think twice before skipping drying!

 

[BonnieA]

Wow...never thought about it. It is true that they are very hard to clean. I am headed to the kitchen to soak mine right now. Definitely will be washing it more often and drying knives every time. Who would have thought.

 

[Alex H]

They said that the reason it's so filled with germs, is because people often put them back into the slots while still wet or damp, causing bacteria to grow.

How long does it take to dry a knife?

Obviously too long for some people

 

[OhioTom76]

I had never thought much about this to be honest, but I suppose the same thing can happen by throwing them loosely into a drawer too. I've seen some newer types of knife holders that are just basically a bunch of plastic strands that mold to the shape of whatever knife you put in them. I wonder if something like this would be more sanitary since this is plastic and not wood. Seems like you should be able to rinse something like that out from time to time with some bleach water.

 

[Slim]

I had never thought much about this to be honest, but I suppose the same thing can happen by throwing them loosely into a drawer too. I've seen some newer types of knife holders that are just basically a bunch of plastic strands that mold to the shape of whatever knife you put in them. I wonder if something like this would be more sanitary since this is plastic and not wood. Seems like you should be able to rinse something like that out from time to time with some bleach water.

You can and I used to. The "brush" part that hold the strands pops out for cleaning and sterilising.

I've recently gone over to magnetic strips on the wall near the stove to free up counter space.

 

[MyDigitalpoint]

I stopped using knife blocks since several years ago, call it intuition, but I began to think the block was great looking but something was wrong with it, particularly when it was accidentally left resting over a wet area.

I used to dry the base immediately but that humidity was there for hours making the base look bad, and I opted to put my knives into a decorative plastic canister instead

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The wooden cutlery rack we have for putting freshly washed cutlery in also has this problem. Because of where we put it, it sometimes stands in water, so periodically (something I am not too religious about because I beleive some exposure to germs is good for you) I will soak it in bleach - usually when I am doing the scrubbing brush as well.

(I don't keep knives in a kinife block).

Incidentally, the biggest source of germs in that respect, is usually your dish cloth! My OH is one of those who pulls it out of the washing up bowel, does not wring it out, and then leaves in screwed up on the draining board... (just about the worst thing possible to do.) It is one of the few soruces of arguments in this household, so the dish cloth goes through the washing machine every week and also peridocally gets bleached as well. When it starts to smell, it is thrown away whilst he is at work and a new one brought out.

 

[Meerkat80]

Interesting, I also never thought about this. If you soak it or wash it, it will still be difficult to reach all the germs hiding in the slots. My suggestion would be (depending on the material your knife block is made from), to wash it in your dishwasher on it's hottest and longest setting or even 'bake' it in the oven at 75-100 degree C for an hour or so to kill all the germs.

 

[Jade]

I had the same suspicion so I eventually stopped using them. I'm very careful with anything that's wooden in the kitchen, especially when they are cramped or have small corners and crevices like in knife blocks. I usually just store them in a drawer instead.

 

[Rachele]

Oh dear, that's something I had not considered I actually have a wooden knife block in the kitchen. I am wondering whether to discard it and just pop the knives in the kitchen drawer instead.

 

[Ellyn]

Has anyone heard of knife magnets? It's supposed to replace a knife block with a strong magnetic strip that you just stick the knife blades onto. I consider that rather precarious, since the blades are essentially exposed to get cut with or have a cockroach crawl over it without you ever knowing it, and you've got to stick it someplace that it's not hanging over where people are going to pass in case a falling knife hurts someone, but considering what I'm reading here about knife blocks... it sounds like a good alternative!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Has anyone heard of knife magnets? It's supposed to replace a knife block with a strong magnetic strip that you just stick the knife blades onto. I consider that rather precarious, since the blades are essentially exposed to get cut with or have a cockroach crawl over it without you ever knowing it, and you've got to stick it someplace that it's not hanging over where people are going to pass in case a falling knife hurts someone, but considering what I'm reading here about knife blocks... it sounds like a good alternative!

there is nothing precarious about those magnets. One of the knives I had used to take 2 hands to prise it off the magnet (a double strip magnet)! We never had any issues with knives coming off... only ever with getting the knife off them! We used to have ours on the only available wall space, the narrow section between the old part of the kitchen and the new part which was essentially a 1m long doorway from the old house into the new part - it was not a problem.

this sort of thing, with some of the big Global Oriental knives on it. It was actually easier getting the smaller knives off it.