Norpro 18-Inch Magnetic Knife Tool Bar

I've long wanted a magnetic bar to hold my cutlery in the kitchen and after investigating all of them, I felt this was the best for me as far as cost, size, and materials.I have no obvious spot for mounting one of these, other than the end of my kitchen cabinets, and I was not anxious to put holes into them, and could not find a magnetic bar that matched the cabinet wood anyway.After a bit of thought and measurements, I found that I could mount this UNDER the bottom of the cabinets. The front of the cabinets has a trim piece that hangs down about 5/8" further than the bottom of the cabinet. Mounting this strip behind it makes the strip itself invisible but the strip protrudes below the trim piece enough that the magnetic surface was perhaps 1/8" below the bottom of the lip of the cabinet, allowing me to stick knives to it so that the handles protrude from the bottom edge of the cabinet with the blades concealed under the cabinets. While this deprives you of displaying the knives and seeing instantly which knife is which, it works well for me, as I know all my knives by their handles without needing to see the blade.Mounted under the cabinet, they're held at a perfect height, easily accessible, yet not in the way of the counter. And I can still easily open the cabinet doors above and access them when I need to, though that's not often. I purchased an 18" strip and an additional 12" which I mounted the same way under an adjacent cabinet. Now all my knives and metal tools are arranged around a corner of my hanging cabinets and within easy reach of my cutting board/work surface.The magnetic strips work like intended, holding knives securely, though I found one exception. They will not hold a couple of Chicago Cutlery knives, one 6" boning, and one 8" filet knife securely. I can get them to stick, but barely. I suspect it is the fact that both blades are very narrow and don't have a lot of surface area and/or the walnut handles may weigh too much. They're also made of high carbon steel which may not be as magnetic as german forged knives. While I can get them to stay, they are barely attached and too risky that they'd fall. All my other knives stick securely, from grocery store cheapos to a very expensive 6" Shun Ken Onion chef knife. I also have small and medium size whisks, a crinkle cutting tool, and my dough scraper hung from one of the strips. Keep in mind it will hold other steel utensils as well, as long as it's not really heavy. Spatulas, scissors, whatever.But it's unrealistic to expect this to hold ANYTHING. It won't hold 14" butcher knives with heavy wooden handles. It won't hold heavy gardening tools, etc. It's made for average knives, and for that it works fine. It's all a matter of how much metal actually is in contact with the magnets and the overall weight of the knives or utensils. The more metal in contact, the heavier item it will hold. And of course, the metal in some knives are more magnetic than others. Wide blades like chef knives hold well. Skinny knives like filet knives with large handles don't do so well. Steak knives and ordinary types of paring/utility knives work fine.After reading concerns that the steel strips next to the magnetic strip might scratch or mar knife blades, I tried something that was easy and works well. I simply wrapped the strips with pan lining paper with aluminum foil on one side and parchment on the other with the parchment side facing out and secured it to the strip with tape before I mounted them. It has no effect on the strength of the magnet and prevents any possible damage to knives, though I think with a little care there would be little risk of knife damage if you used even a minimal amount of care when taking knives off and putting them back. Plain parchment paper would work too..Unlike other reviewers, I had no problem with mounting these, but I was mounting to solid wood shelving as opposed to dry wall or plaster where you might need to use one of those plastic inserts. The screws provided went right into wood shelving. I used a Phillips head attachment on an electric drill with medium low torque set and the screws went in like a charm and stopped when they were good and tight. Only took a minute. They're attached as solid as can be. I can't budge them.I'm very pleased with them in my particular situation. And now I can get rid of knife blocks and free up some precious counter space. And on top of that, the blades are hidden safely away from where they might be damaged or damage something (or someone) and they're actually easier to get to and easier to select and as long as the knife isn't too heavy, I can now store long bladed knives which wouldn't fit in a knife block, such as a bread knife or a long carving knife, as there's about 1.5 ft of room under the cabinet.

Did not cost a lot.

Frees up counter space in my postage-stamp kitchen and keeps my knives secure but still within reach. Strong magnets, never had anything fall or slide off. Great buy.

This is made from an attractive, solid piece of 12” long Maple with two strong magnetic rails that can support even heavy, large knives. While the knives are firmly affixed to the magnets they are easily removed by tipping and twisting. It was easy to attach to the wall with the gold-tone screws that were included but I had to use my own sheet rock anchors as none were included. I held it up to the desired location making sure to leave room top and bottom for the longest knives. I punched a hole with an ice-pick then enlarged it to almost the same size as the anchor with a medium Phillips screwdriver and tapped the anchor into the wall. After attaching the first screw I used a level to position the rack and punched another hole with the ice-pick and added the other anchor. Snug up the screws and it’s done. While I realize that design needs vary this is beautiful, solid and functional. I love the Maple. 100% great!

I don't know why it took me so many decades longer than the rest of the world to realize that these things are awesome. I have had my knife block sitting on my kitchen countertop forever just taking up all that real estate. One day I woke up and decided to get this magnetic knife holder. I took all of the matching steak knives out of my block and put them in the drawer with the other silverware. I then put all of my knives on this holder and surprise surprise, that big old knife block is no longer needed. The strength of the magnets are good enough for 5 regular size knives and a sharpener. I don't know if this would be strong enough for a cleaver, but I wouldn't want to do that anyway because then I'd have to find a place for my knives.To install this, I just put one screw into plain drywall (no stud) and then put a tiny level on top of it and put the other screw in when it was level. The reason I did this was to pre-mark the wall with level holes. I then removed the entire setup and put silicone (dap caulk) on the back of the magnet / bamboo and reinstalled it so the caulk would do the holding, not really so much the screws. I put a tiny bead of the caulk on the top edge of the bamboo as well so it would connect it to my drywall a little more. I let it dry for a day and it has been holding all of my knives for a couple of weeks now.

I bought this knife bar with the main purpose of getting my knives out of the reach of my 3 year old autistic son, but I also had just bought some new knives and wanted to keep them sharp and nice without having to sheath them all the time. This was a great solution! I attached this bar to the inside of the highest cupboard in the kitchen (above the microwave) and it works great! It holds a lot of knives VERY strongly and securely with just the perfect amount of magnetic grip. I don't have to worry about knives EVER falling off (even the big ones) no matter how hard I slam the cupboard door shut, but it's also very easy to take a knife off with one hand. It looks great as well and keeps all my favorite knives handy at a glance! The only reason I took off a star is barely a reason at all. The screws that came with this bar are quite long. They barely worked with my cabinet door without piercing through the other side. I would worry about them being too long for certain types or thicknesses of doors, though it's an easy enough fix to go get some shorter screws at the hardware store. I would definitely recommend this knife bar!And for the record, I did NOT receive this product free or at a discount. I paid full price for it and am writing this review just to help other people who pay full price for stuff too!

Received item and top of box ripped open. Screws are missing and need to find what exactly fits this thing. Seems pretty sturdy, but getting correct screws may be a chore, length, diameter etc

I don’t know what is with all of the negative reviews. Either people don’t know how to install it, or they have knives that aren’t magnetic. I put my high end Japanese blades up on this and they aren’t going anywhere. Don’t let the bad reviews sway you.

perfect