Ina Garten's Simple Knife Storage Hack Will Keep Your Blades In Tip-Top Shape

Ina Garten, the adorable cook also known as the Barefoot Contessa, is always teaching us something new. One day, she realized that she stores her kitchen knives differently from other people, so she took to Instagram to explain. In her Instagram reel, Garten showed fans that she, too, has a pretty ordinary-looking wood knife block. But, her knives go in upside down. 

"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, [for] any knives that are held vertically, I have another trick for saving the blade." She explains in the video that by storing the blade facing down, you scrape its edge against the wood each time you slide it in or out. 

Storing knives blade-down must coincide with not ruining knives by putting them in the dishwasher. Storing a knife with the edge facing up, in her view, protects the blade from dulling as it doesn't touch the top of the block groove. Fans in the comments lauded Garten for her knife-storing wisdom. But, can you really avoid additional dulling to your kitchen knives this way?

Celebrity chef Ina Garten isn't the only one to store her knives upside down in a knife block. This trick is so well known to chefs that Cook's Illustrated even conducted an experiment. The folks at the outlet inserted a knife blade-down repeatedly into a vertical knife block to see if hitting the wood impacted its sharpness. After doing 70 blade-down motions, the knife had dulled, though no dullness was evident if it was placed into the block blade-up. 

This advice also goes for drawer-based knife blocks. Even if it seems dangerous to store knives in a lay flat block with their blades up, it prevents them from getting damaged. On top of the blade dulling from being removed from the slot, it is also bad for the weight of the knife to constantly be put upon the blade. For knives that have already become dull, you'll need to sharpen the blades before changing how you store them. 

Many people also choose other storage methods since a knife block can be a breeding ground for germs. You could always use a wall-mounted magnetic knife strip if that sounds like a better idea. That way, you don't have to worry about keeping the blades facing up since the side of the blade sticks right to the magnetic strip.