Kitchen knives are some of the most important and dangerous tools in the kitchen, and it’s time you treated them that way, which may mean ditching the knife block. Wooden knife blocks may be a more common storage option, but they’re far from the best way to store knives. Storing knives in wood blocks is more likely to dull your knives, and those knife blocks could also be a hot bed for yeast, mold and other germs.
In a household germ study from NSF International, an independent testing group, the knife block ranked No. 7 on the list of germiest items in the kitchen, just after the refrigerator meat compartment. “Naturally, if you put a wet or dirty knife into a storage block, microbes may grow,” explains Lisa Yakas, a microbiologist and consumer product safety expert at NSF International. “Dark, moist environments breed germs. The key is washing and thoroughly drying your knife before you store it.”