My tools serve me, not the other way around. It’s not worth the time and effort to wash by hand or sharpen on a whetstone. I don’t need an expensive knife to cook at home. A pull through sharpener and honing steel are adequate. Get the right material and you don’t have to worry about the metal in the dishwasher.
Mine don’t go through the dishwasher only because the plastic in the handles would get fucked up. Otherwise they’re stainless, how does a dishwasher harm the stainless in my knives but not my stainless silverware, stainless bowls, stainless utensils, stainless dishwasher?
And I use an electric sharpener. I ain’t wasting time with a stone - I did plenty of that 45 years ago. Tech has moved along. Does anyone think Wustoff sharpens their knives by hand?
You know there’s a million different alloys that are all “stainless steel” right?
As far as some more specifics, nothing else you made is meant to hold a sharp edge, so they aren’t made of heat treated tool steel. Making a knife is a balance between having softer metal that dulls more quickly, vs harder metal that chips or cracks more easily.
Another feature you’ll notice on your stainless steel knives is a sharp edge, which is much more delicate than the blunt edges on everything else you listed. The thinness of the edge, combined with the metal being hardened so it can retain an edge, make it so you’re reasonably likely to chip the edges of many nicer (better heat treated) knives due to stuff knocking around in the dishwasher. Also you’re somewhat likely to damage the coating of the dishwasher racks with the sharp edges.
Also, probably not Wusthof, but some high end knives are, in fact, hand sharpened even in factory settings still. It doesn’t take very long on a wheel or belt really, though if you don’t count that as hand sharpening then yeah that’s a definitions disagreement.
No shit, again, tell me how the dishwasher harms my stainless knives? And I could tell you the exact stainless my knives are, as well as my cookware, and my bowls. I’ve done TONS of research on my kitchen gear. It’s also supposedly bad to wash my stainless cookware too, hasn’t hurt it yet - the dishwasher runs between 1 and 3 times a day, we cook so much.
I’ve tested multiple brands (with different stainless, the big difference is the nickel percentage) and none have been affected - they don’t even stain.
I’ve washed my steak knives from the same set that I’ve had for 10 years now - you can’t tell the difference, they get sharpened about 1/4 as often as my chef’s knife, because I use it all the time.
Seriously, it’s stainless fucking steel, that was forged and tempered at temperatures far beyond the 200 degrees of a dishwasher. What is it exactly about the dishwasher that supposedly fucks up my knives that aren’t fucked up from the dishwasher? (And I use cheap-as powder detergent, the cheapest I can find, and my shit comes out clean).
Now I wouldn’t run a carbon steel knife through the dishwasher, because it would have a bad reaction with the detergent, and it would rust which I’d then have to cleanup.
I didn’t say anything about the heat treat or anything, specifically because, like you said, the dishwasher isn’t reaching temperatures where that matters.
I also didn’t try to claim that your detergent would rust your knives. This is literally all just you.
All I said at the end of the day, is that your knife edge is more delicate that everything else you’re comparing it to, and your dishwasher can bang it against things which may chip it somewhat, unlike everything else you’re comparing the knives to.
Grind up a whetstone and put the powder in the dishwasher
I initially assumed this was unpopular because “just wipe the knives off…” and “why sharpen them at all?”. Boy am I surprised.
Translation: I’m wasteful
Not with my time.
I generally touch up my knives every few weeks. It takes me about 45 seconds per knife on a whetstone and a strop. Add another 30 seconds if you want for grabbing the whetstone and splashing it with water first if you want.
I agree they aren’t needed. But oh man. Once you buy a really nice (often expensive) set of culinary knives, you realize what the hubub is about. They’re wonderful.
I had a girlfriend that filleted the tip of her finger off using one of my knives. As I drove her to the hospital, she tried to say my knives were way too sharp. I told her that was on her.
My girlfriend did the exact same thing. That knife had literally just came off the stone. Sliced right thru the tip of her finger including the nail.
When it comes to the quality of the knife itself I think you’ll see diminishing returns after you pay more than 70 euros for one. The jump from a dollar store knife to a Victorinox is huge but from Victorinox to a japanese hand made one is much less different.
As I drove her to the hospital… I told her that was on her.
had a girlfriend
She bled out while trying to argue with me about whose fault it was. RIP Jessica. It wasn’t the knife, it was your lack of respect for the knife.
The human race requires judgment. You were simply separating that chaff from the wheat.
My tools serve me, not the other way around
Legit take. Why buy extremely expensive knife just to babysit it? Just get an okay knife and sharpen it once in a while whether by whetstone or grinder, and knife doesn’t need to be razor sharp to function nicely.
Unless OP is getting a few thousand dollar japanese hand-crafted chef knife and then run it with dish washer and knife grinder, then i’d say it’s sensible.
Another one is cast iron pan, i’ve seen tons of people teaching others to use it and then proceed to explain it in such convoluted way that’s basically babying the thing. It’s indestructible, guys, you don’t need to season it everytime before and after use.
knife doesn’t need to be razor sharp to function nicely
No, but if it’s not razor sharp after sharpening then it wasn’t sharpened properly and it’ll be dull again in a week. Properly apexed edge with the burr removed stays razor sharp for months. Improperly sharpened knife cuts well for a week because you’re cutting with the burr but after it bends you’ve got to resharpen it again.
I have some expensive ass knifes and i started to realise that i don’t use them too often just because they were expensive. My favourite knife is a victorinox knife that i sniped for 10 dollars. Second to that is a spiderco for 23 dollars. Both really good knifes
Every kitchen should have a workhorse set of Victorinox, imo. Get a fancy knife to compliment that, if you like.
Huh. I expected to wander in here and see people confused about why this is on unpopularopinion. I’m apparently a repulsive philistine. A meteorite-forged knife sharpened on daylight is a joy to use, but you can also just buy cheap stamped knives, do basic maintenance, and spend your mental capital elsewhere if you want.
You’re a monster.
Thank you 😊
Most people almost never sharpen their knives so from that standpoint using a pull through sharpener is already an improvement. Dishwasher I don’t understand however. If I always put my kitchen knife into the diswasher after use I’d never be able to use it because it would be constantly in there. Instead I just quickly scrub it under hot water from the tap and dry it with a towel. Takes me 15 seconds and it’s ready for next use and stays razor sharp for months.
I have a dishwasher that has silicone inserts for knifes. But i also hand sharpen my knifes a lot, someone i’d rather sharpen a knife for 15 minutes than cleaning it from hand.
What about serrated knives? Asking for a friend…
Only the bread knife.
I can’t say whether this is unpopular broadly, but it sure is unpopular with me.
I can buy a set of cheap knives every 5-10 years. It will cost the same as buying an expensive knife set.
Just st make sure they aren’t those serrated 400in1 knife blocks. Those never cut, they saw and tear your food.
I use knives I have pilfered from various places I have worked at and they are around 10 - 40 years old, some are really good knives though. I have ever only used 2 pull through sharpeners and the current one is maybe 15 years old. I have also only washed my knives in a dishwasher as long as I have had access to one, so like 20 years, and there has been no noticeable difference.
I also have a cast iron pan that’s at least 40 years old, I commonly wash it in the dishwasher and it’s indestructible. If it gets some rust on it I just scrape it off with steel wool and add a little oil. It works as well as it did 40 years ago. People are way too anal about kitchen tools.
I’m pretty sure the idea that a dishwasher can ruin a knife or a cast iron pan is a myth that too many people have bought into.
Maybe you got lucky or I got unlucky, but cast iron plus dishwasher equals having to reseason from scratch for me
That’s just adding a bit of oil and spreading it over the surface with a piece of paper, takes like 10 seconds. I have done that after washing it for 40 years and it works as well as anything I found people saying online.
Some insane people insist on sticking it in an oven with bacon grease or something but as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t do anything more than just adding a bit of oil and leaving it alone. I did that once and felt completely ridiculous for wasting so much time for the same result.
You can either do it slowly by just cooking with it over and over to get the layer of polymerized oil or you put on a thin layer and bake it on there to do it the fast way
Or do it the really fast way and just oil it with zero heat
As long as you’re not one of those weirdos that insist pull through sharpeners are just as good as properly sharpening it.
Most people don’t need a perfectly sharp knife. Are they nice to have? Absolutely. But as long as you don’t let them get dangerously dull, who cares.
I like your take.
