We Tested 17 Magnetic Knife Strips to Find the Best, Most Secure Ones

Generally, we don’t recommend knife blocks. They eat up counter space. And all those slots don’t often match up with knives you own (though there are universal models). Instead, we suggest a cork-lined knife holder or magnetic knife strip. 

Let’s focus on the latter: Magnetic knife strips come in different lengths, so you can choose a smaller one to keep your most-used knives within arm’s reach, or a larger one for extra storage. Buy two and put them side-by-side or stack them vertically for even more space.

Most magnetic knife holders are fairly easy to install, though they typically require a power drill. However, some have weaker magnetic fields, causing knives to move around as you attach or reach for them. Others feel loose when mounted. To find the best magnetic knife holders, we tested 17 of them, in a variety of finishes and at different price points.

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Magnetic Knife Strip

Jonathan Alden Magnetic Wooden Knife Bar Holder Strip

$68 at Amazon $54 at Etsy

The Jonathan Alden Magnetic Wooden Knife Bar Holder Strip is our favorite model. Installation was simple and it had the strongest magnetic field, with eight knives clinging easily to the wood strip without shifting. The holder itself is made with handsome wood and metal “polka dots” peeking through.

The Best High-Capacity Magnetic Knife Strip

Benchcrafted Mag-Blok Magnetic Knife Holder

View on Benchcrafted.com

The Benchcrafted Mag Blok was fairly intuitive to install, though no instructions were included. It had one of the stronger magnetic fields and knives easily attached without slipping. The strip was 18 inches long—slightly bigger than the other holders we tested—and accommodated nine knives without crowding. It also comes in a 12-inch model, if you want something smaller. Both versions are available in five finishes,

The Best Stainless Steel Magnetic Knife Strip

Global Magnetic Bar

$155 at Amazon

Out of the stainless steel knife strips we tested, the Global had the strongest magnetic field that prevented knives from sliding about. It also has a “polka dot” surface, similar to the Jonathan Alden.

The Tests

• Installation Test: We mounted each magnetic holder onto a wooden pallet—propped up vertically, to simulate installing the strip onto a wall—to see how intuitive and simple they were to put up. We then uninstalled and removed each strip.
• Magnetic Strength and Capacity Test: We tested each holder with a Gauss meter to see how strong its magnet was. Then, we loaded each strip to its maximum capacity, using a variety of knives (including a large heavy cleaver, chef's knife, nakiri, santoku, serrated bread knife, utility/petty knife, and a small paring knife), to see how many fit and how secure they were.
• Durability Test: We placed and removed a cleaver, as well as other knives, on each holder 25 times. We checked to see how easily the knife attached and came off. We also looked at whether repeated use damaged the strip or the knife.

What We Learned

Material Was More Than Cosmetic

While you might think that the surface of a magnetic knife holder is solely an aesthetic choice, this wasn’t the case. We preferred wooden strips (or at least where the metal was nearly covered by wood, like with our top choice from Jonathan Alden) over metal ones. Every time a knife was placed on a metal strip, it would make a clanging noise and would often shift slightly. 

The one exception was the Global strip, which had a strong magnetic field and a textured, polka dot pattern that prevented slippage. Still, knife shifting happened less with the wooden strips. The softer material cushioned the knife as the magnet attached to it, resulting in less sound. There’s a worry, too, that metal knife strips will ding a knife’s blade. While we didn’t experience this, wooden strips offer a more blade-safe surface.

However, there is a downside to wood (not enough to not recommend it, but still worth mentioning): It's less durable than metal and needs upkeep. We found darker finished wood showed nicks and scratches more easily than light-finished wood. Over time, wood also needs re-waxing or oiling to maintain its appearance and finish.

No matter the material, make it a practice to ensure knives are completely dry before placing them on a magnetic holder. Due to the porous nature of wood, water can damage or warp it. Conversely, metal strips won’t absorb any water. This means water will get locked onto the strip where the knife is in contact, potentially creating rust spots on either item.

Magnetic Strength Was Crucial, But So Was Magnet Size and Placement

We tested the magnetic strength of each of the strips by using a Gauss meter, a device designed to test magnetic fields. Unsurprisingly, the most powerful magnetic fields belonged to the most secure magnetic strips that held knives in place without the blades moving. Our favorite magnetic strip, the Jonathan Alden, had one of the strongest fields at 870.3 Gs. The Benchcraft Mag Blok had a respectable 811.7 Gs.

In comparison, the lowest magnetic fields like the NorPro Aluminum Magnetic Knife Bar, HOSHANO, and HIC had strengths in the 200 to 300 range. Knives released easily from them...too easily. It didn't instill confidence that a blade couldn't be accidentally jostled and sent flying off the holder.

But it wasn’t just about the strength. Some of the models we tested (with strong magnetic fields) lacked continuous magnetic strips. Instead, they had a number of smaller magnets housed in them. This meant smaller knives, like paring or utility knives, would only attach securely to certain areas of the bar, with magnetic strength varying throughout the strip.

Size Didn’t Matter…Much

All the magnetic knife bars we tested ranged in size from 16 to 18 inches. In the end, most of our favorite knife bars—the Jonathan Alden, WooDsom, and Global—were all 16 inches long. Though a longer knife bar, like the 18-inch Benchcrafted Mag Blok, did accommodate more knives (one more chef's knife, to be specific), the 16-inch knife bar still fit eight blades—including two chef's knives, a heavy cleaver, a nakiri, a santoku, a serrated bread knife, a utility/petty knife, and a paring knife. (This is a solid collection for most home cooks.)

Intuitive Installation Was a Must

Most of the bars did not come with installation instructions, though they did include screws. To mount all the bars we tested, we needed to drill a hole, then use the included screws to affix the bar to the wall (or wooden pallet, in our case) by different methods. This included attaching a metal plate to the wall and having the bar magnetically adhere to the plate, hanging the holder via holes on the back of the bar, drilling and screwing the bar directly into the wall, using plastic pieces on the side to slide the bar onto the screws, and, in one instance, attaching a mounting piece of wood with a built-in level onto the wall then sliding the magnetic bar onto it. 

While all of these methods worked alright, some were more intuitive than others. The Jonathan Alden, Benchcrafted, WoodSom, and Global bars were the most straightforward. The Jonathan Alden included instructions and a paper template so you knew exactly where to drill the holes, while the Benchcrafted, WooDsom, and Global bars had holes on the strip itself, so you could mount the bar directly onto the wall.

Three of the metal bars, as well as the Meissermester strip, Dalstrong, Wüsthof, had you mount a metal plate onto the wall and then attach the strip to the plate. This sounds relatively easy, but was actually the most dangerous. Our fingers nearly got pinched every time.

Uninstalling bars were equally intuitive, as long as you could get the screw out of the wall. The metal strips were the most difficult here, but not impossible. They just required a little brute strength, strong fingers, and a firm grasp. Bars that were mounted on screws or screwed directly into the wall were much easier to remove.

The Criteria: What to Look for in Magnetic Knife Strip

We preferred wooden holders over metal ones. Wood was gentler on knives, quieter, and prevented them from moving around. Though wood requires maintenance, its pros outweigh the con. For those who insist on metal, look for a metal knife bar that has a powerful magnetic field, preferably one with a pattern that gives the surface more texture so knives don’t slide around.

Magnetic knife holders with strong magnetic fields and continuous magnets kept knives in place and accommodated blades of all sizes. And while we recommend a 16-inch knife strip for most people/knife storage needs, we do have an 18-inch recommendation for those that want something larger. If you just want to keep a few of your most-used knives at arm’s reach, a 12-inch knife strip will probably be fine. 

Finally, make sure the knife holder you select is easy to mount on the wall and is stable once installed. Most of the strips we tested fit this criteria, but there were one or two models that felt unstable or wobbled when installed, making us leery of them.

Our Favorite Magnetic Knife Strips

The Best Magnetic Knife Strip

Jonathan Alden Magnetic Wooden Knife Bar Holder Strip

$68 at Amazon $54 at Etsy

What we liked: The Jonathan Alden wooden strip had the strongest magnetic field and the 16-inch bar held eight knives comfortably—including two 8-inch chef knives, a heavy cleaver, a nakiri, a santoku, a serrated bread knife, a utility/petty knife, and a paring knife.

Knives attached easily to it and didn't move once in place. Heavy cleavers felt secure, small lightweight paring knives didn’t shift if accidentally knocked, and long chef's knives didn’t swing or tilt when placed on the strip. However, the strong magnetic field still allowed you to grab the knives by their handle and easily remove them. 

The strip was made of medium-finished wood, with punched holes showing inlaid metal and creating a “polka dot” look. This modern design was handsome and the contrasting metal dots also helped hide any superficial nicks and scratches on the wood.

Unlike most strips that seem to assume you know how to install them, the Jonathan Alden model came with installation instructions as well as a paper template, which made drilling holes into the right place on the wall easy. Once the screws were installed, the magnetic holder hung securely on them.

What we didn’t like: Because the bar had a wood surface, the magnetic knife holder will periodically need to be waxed or oiled for maintenance.

Key Specs 

• Dimensions: 16 inches long, 5/8-inch deep
• Materials: Cherry or walnut wood, grade 1 neodymium magnets
• Weight: 10 7/8 ounces
• Care instructions: Maintain occasionally with wood oil or wax
• Installation instructions: Included; drill holes in the wall using included template, then attach screws to the wall and mount the bar on the screws
• Magnet strength: 870.3 Gs
  

The Best High-Capacity Magnetic Knife Strip

Benchcrafted Mag-Blok Magnetic Knife Holder

View on Benchcrafted.com

What we liked: The Benchcrafted Mag Blok is an excellent alternative to the Jonathan Alden magnetic strip, especially if you are looking for something more traditional in style or have a large knife collection. At 18 inches, the Benchcrafted Mag Blok is one of the longer magnetic strips we tested. It comfortably held nine knives, including three chef’s knives, a heavy cleaver, a nakiri, a santoku, a serrated bread knife, a utility/petty knife, and a paring knife. 

The magnetic field wasn’t as strong as the Jonathan Alden strip but still held all of the knives without issues. Knives attached easily and didn’t move when placed on the strip. The Benchcrafted strip installation was straightforward, with two brass-colored screws that went directly through the front of the bar. The light-finished wood will blend into most kitchens. It won't show nicks or scratches as easily as a darker finish might.

What we didn’t like: Like the Jonathan Alden strip, the Benchcrafted bar has a wood surface, which will periodically need to be maintained. But unlike the Jonathan Alden strip, a small tube of "Block-Butter" is included with this holder.

Key Specs 

• Dimensions: 18 inches long, 3/4 inch deep
• Materials: Wood
• Weight: 1 pound, 6 3/8 ounces
• Care instructions: Wax or oil occasionally
• Installation instructions: Not included; screws mounted directly through the bar
• Magnet strength: 811.7 Gs

The Best Stainless Steel Magnetic Knife Strip

Global Magnetic Bar

$155 at Amazon

What we liked: While we didn’t like most of the metal and stainless steel knife strips we tested, Global’s magnetic bar was the exception. It had a powerful magnetic strength and knives clung to it without moving or wiggling.

Most metal knife strips had a slicker surface than their wooden counterparts. This meant regardless of how strong the magnetic field was, knives would still slide a bit when placed on the bar. But the Global bar has a perforated “polka dot” surface similar to the Jonathan Alden. This polka dot pattern creates a texture on the bar that also helps prevent the knives from sliding around.

We quickly navigated installation: The two removable plastic pieces on the sides reveal mounting holes where you can drill and screw in the bolts, attaching the bar to the wall. Maintenance of the stainless steel is also easier, as you don’t need to oil it.

What we didn’t like: The Global Magnetic strip is quite expensive, nearly three times as much as our other favorites.

Key Specs 

• Dimensions: 16 inches long, 3/4 inch deep
• Materials: Stainless Steel
• Weight: 2 pound, 8 ounces
• Care instructions: damp cloth when dirty
• Installation instructions: Included; remove plastic ends and screws mounted directly through bar; replace plastic ends
• Magnet strength: 633.1 Gs
  

The Competition

• woodSom Magnetic Knife Strip: We liked this strip a lot, and even included it in our winners list. However, it's been out of stock for months.
• Messermeister Magnetic Knife Strip: This wooden magnetic strip was easy to install with a metal plate attached to the wall and the knife strip adhering to the plate. But the magnetic field was weaker than the Jonathan Alden or Benchcrafted bars, and knives placed on it shifted more.
• Norpro 18-inch Aluminum Magnetic Knife Bar: The plastic edge pieces that are used to mount the bar to the wall felt cheap and fell off when removing knives, making this bar unsafe to use.
• Modern Innovation 16-inch Stainless Steel Knife Bar: This metal bar had a medium-strength magnetic field, but the metal had less texture than the wooden bars, which meant knives slid around when placed on it, making it feel less safe to use.
• Schmidt Brothers Acacia 18-inch Magnetic Wall Bar: The magnetic field on this bar was lower than other bars tested. The knives still felt fairly secure, though they wiggled more than other bars with stronger magnetic fields. However, the bar itself, when mounted on the wall, did shift slightly, especially when removing heavy knives like the cleaver.
• Ouddy Magnetic Knife Holder: Like the Modern Innovation, this bar had a medium-strength magnetic field and a metal surface that had knives sliding around on it when used. It is out of stock as of August 2024.
• 360KnifeBlock Bar: This was the most expensive bar we tested, nearly twice the price as others. It also had the most complicated installation system. The bar was attractive and stood far away from the wall, making it easy to grab the handles of the knives. But instead of having one continuous magnet, the bar has individual, smaller magnets. This was not an issue if you were attaching larger knives to the bar, but small paring and utility/petty knives would only attach in one section or jump around from section to section when moved, making this bar less versatile.
• Gorilla Grip Stainless Steel Magnetic Knife Strip: Like the other two metal surface bars, this medium-strength magnetic bar had knives sliding over the metal surface.
• HOSHANHO Magnetic Knife: A beautiful wooden magnetic strip with an elegant taper in the center and a darker wood finish, the HOSHANHO, unfortunately, was challenging to install. It was smaller, fitting only seven knives, which moved and shifted a bit on the strip due to the low magnetic field.
• FINDKING Ash Wood Magnetic Strip: This magnetic strip was slightly smaller than other strips we tested, only holding seven knives. The center of the strip had a very powerful magnetic field, but the ends were weak, with knives placed there sliding around.
• Dalstrong Magnetic Knife Holder: Unfortunately, the installation was not as easy as our favorite knife bars. It required drilling and mounting a metal strip and then snapping the magnetic strip to the metal strip.
• HIC Magnetic Knife Holder: This no-frills magnetic holder was reasonably priced but was difficult to install, did not come with drywall mounting screws, and had a weak magnetic field, causing knives to slide around.
• Williams Sonoma Magnetic Knife Rack: The rounded edges of this magnetic strip meant the knives pulled off and snapped on easily and softly. But the installation of the strip was a challenge, with the screws too short to properly secure it to the wall.
• Wusthof Magnetic Strip: When trying to install this strip, the magnets on the back peeled off from the glue inside the wooden strip. This made it impossible to properly mount and test it.

FAQs

Do magnetic knife strips damage knives? 

Magnetic knife strips shouldn’t damage knives if properly used. Ideally, a magnetic knife strip stores your knives vertically on a wall, allowing you to grab them when needed. Because the knife isn’t sliding in and out of a knife block or being banged around in a drawer, a magnetic knife strip can keep your knives sharper and cleaner.

However, improperly placing the knife on the strip, by angling the knife blade into the strip itself, might ding or dull your blade.

How do you install a magnetic knife strip? 

Each magnetic strip installation is different, but most are fairly intuitive. A few come with instructions or templates to help with drilling holes in the right place. But often all that arrives in the package is the magnetic strip and some screws.

Most magnetic strips require you to drill a hole into the wall, preferably where the wooden studs are, and mount the strip on the screws you installed. Some strips are attached by hanging them from the screws, with holes in the back of the bar. Some have screws that are attached directly from the front of the bar. Others have mounting mechanisms like metal plates or mounting bars that are used to attach the bar to the wall. When installing the metal plates, be aware of your fingers as you connect the magnetic bar to the plate. The strong pull of the magnetic bar can pinch your fingers.

A few magnetic strips come with a strong adhesive to mount the bar on the wall without drilling. We don’t recommend this method, as even the adhesive will eventually break down, making the strip unstable.

What size magnetic knife strip should you get?

Bigger isn't always better, and when it comes to knife strips we think a 16-inch strip is plenty for most cooks. In our tests, we were able to fit eight blades of varying shapes and sizes on that length. Going much bigger than that could invite installment issues, and bear in mind you'll need a clear stretch of wall that long, too.

Can you remove a magnetic knife strip once it’s installed?

Yes—as long as you haven’t stripped the screw and can remove the screw from the wall, magnetic strips can be uninstalled. Some are more difficult to remove than others, but no magnetic strip installation is permanent.

Why We're the Experts

• Irvin Lin is a cookbook author, recipe developer, food writer, photographer, and ceramicist. He wrote the cookbook Marbled, Swirled, and Layered, which was picked by the New York Times as one of the best baking cookbooks of 2016. Irvin also runs a blog called Eat the Love, where he’s developed, photographed, and written recipes since 2010. 
• He’s product tested and reviewed hundreds of kitchen items including, stand mixers and digital thermometers.
• For this review, Irvin tested 17 magnetic knife strips, installing and placing numerous knives on each of them multiple times to see how easily they clung to the strip and if attaching and removing them caused any damage to the strip or the knives. He tested each of them with a Gauss magnetic meter to check their magnetic strength and uninstalled them, too.