Ina Garten’s Genius Storage Hack Keeps Your Knives Sharp—and Requires No Effort

When Ina Garten, the celebrity queen of cooking, isn't developing homemade recipes for her dedicated followers, she’s busy helping her fans on Instagram with cooking hacks. Garten took to her page recently to share her simple kitchen hack that keeps her knives sharper for longer. 

When you’re placing a kitchen knife into a standing wooden knife block, it’s common to slide the knife into its slot with the blade down facing the wood. However, this can dull your blade—each time it comes in contact with the wood makes it lose its sharpness over time.

Garten’s tip to avoid this issue is so simple, you might be annoyed you didn't think of it yourself: Instead of placing your knives back in your block with the blade down, turn them around so the blade points upward. And since knife blocks leave extra room at the top of each slot, doing this leaves ample room to slide it in and out without ever touching the wood.

"It’s really important to have sharp knives, and I try not to do things that dull them," Garten wrote in her caption. "I choose knife blocks that hold most of the knives sideways. However, any knives that are held vertically, I have another trick for saving the blade."

If you want to be more like Garten (and who doesn't) opt for a knife block that holds your knives sideways—this prevents dulling because the the sharp side of the blade is suspended instead of touching any part of the block. Magnetic knife blocks can also hold knives by the flat part of the blade, which keeps the sharp end away from anything that could dull it. They also tend to be cleaner than regular vertical knife blocks.

"I’ve always wanted a knife BLOCK but I read somewhere years ago, that the harbor bacteria. Ina, what’s your opinion?🙏" one commenter asked.

Garten responded, admitting that she didn't know for sure but guessed that "if you clean your knives before they go into the knife block, they won't develop bacteria."

As long as you're diligent and fully dry each knife before returning it to its block, a wooden option is a difficult environment for bacteria to grow. Plus, it goes with any aesthetic—and it's what Queen Ina uses, so there's really no going wrong.