Customer Reviews

Kapoosh 650 Knife Holder, Woodgrain Finish

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I bought this block 2 months ago. The block consists of a column of tightly packed thin plastic rods. When you slide in a knife, they get displaced and snugly hold on to the knife. There are no slots like traditional knife blocks, which allows you to slide in many many more knives, and in any arrangement you choose. I currently have 13 items in the block, including a big Chinese cleaver, honing steel, 5 large knives (ie, chef's) and 6 small knives (ie, pairing)...and there is still room for more! I was skeptical at first, but now I am a believer.

The plastic rods are approximately 8" long, so longer knives will stick out a little. But they still get held in place by the rods.

Pros: Fits more knives than a all-wood block. You choose the knife configuration. Cheaper than most all-wood blocks. Washable. Plastic should not dull knives.
Cons: Angle is a little too upright, so I need to slide the block out from under my cabinet (or tilt it) to get at some of the knives in the back.

i purchased this block to take care of one specific problem: i couldn't fit my meat and vegetable cleavers in my regular knife block. i saw this product recommended in cooks illustrated, and they said the only flaw was the block didn't fully hold knives over 8". my cleavers are 6" and 7 3/4", so i thought i had solved my problem.

well, not really. it holds the 6" cleaver if you give it a solid shove to get it down in the rods, and the 7 3/4" cleaver sticks out above the rods by a solid inch. i assume this has to do with the front edge of the cleaver displacing too many rods compared to a standard pointed knife. so when it comes right down to it, this block can't simply house two standard cleavers - not quite 'universal'.

the pros? well, i found out i could shove other useful things in it. my meat thermometer fits perfectly, and i can actually stick my metal measuring spoons in the block, handle first. this is great because i don't have to dig through a draw to find these frequently used items. so i'm happy about this.

i like the product, just beware if you have cleavers or very long knives, it's not happening.

This knife block is a good idea. I hate trying to get my knives into a standard slotted block. I can insert knives, scissors, etc. into this block with plastic rods. Have had no problem with the rods getting cut. The only bad thing about it that I have found is that the heavier knives tend to migrate position to the bottom edge of the block if you do not have a full load of utensils in it.

This product represents a very good idea that was perhaps not as well executed as it could have been. If you like to mix and match knives, or if you simply have more than two big ones most of the pre-cut blocks out there allot for, then you'll certainly appreciate the convenience of having no pre-cut slots. Shove anything you want anywhere you want, and it sticks. But there are a few drawbacks:

1. It's not deep enough to handle anything longer than 8".

2. The little plastic rods aren't rigid or dense enough to support heavier pieces well. If you put them along the top, they'll sink down until they hit something else. You can get around this by putting them along the bottom, so it's not the end of the world, but still...

3. Moisture isn't going anywhere in here. Stick a bunch of little plastic rods together and they'll create tiny capillaries between themselves which will hold water next to your blades for days on end. If you have any high end cutlery that's prone to rusting, you'd better make sure those things are wiped bone dry before you stick them in here, because they will not air out the way they would in a wooden slot.

Still, it's cheaper than one of those magnetic strips, and there's no holes to drill, so I'm keeping mine.

I first found the Kapoosh at Bed, Bath, and Beyond about a year ago... we got one for our counter, and absolutely loved it! About a week of use, we went back to the store and got two more, and now we have three of them side by side containing all of our knives, kitchen scissors, sharpening steel, etc.

This product is absolutely fabulous - easy to clean (just pop out the rod insert and put it in the dishwasher), attractive, safe, and keeps your knives and tools attractively and safely nearby when you need them.

As one reviewer noted, I have had some of the rods bend inside the wood case when I wasn't careful about how I put a bulky item (such as scissors) into the Kapoosh, but that's my fault and not the product's. You just need to make sure you're not carelessly jamming the bulky items into the rods.

This last Christmas season, I was delighted to find the Kapoosh on sale in my small home town in Oregon, and I immediately bought several and gave them to my mother and sisters as gifts. My nephew, a budding chef, was ecstatic over the addition to their kitchen - so easy to use, easy to clean, safe, and doesn't dull knives the way woodblocks can. My family members all went down to the store and bought multiple Kapooshes to keep on their counters the way I do! :)

Highly recommended!

Only problem is, my Global knives are very good at shredding the tops of those rods as they go in! Then again, a stronger material would probably scratch the blades.Still though, I'd rather have a traditional slotted block than have to worry about finding little bits of those rods in my food.

When we were registering for wedding gifts, my husband insisted on including this "universal" knife block that could hold any brand of knives - even the ones he's kept from the "house" in college. Since we never saw this magical knife block in any store, we did not include it on our registry. But, when we received a bunch of nice, new knives for the wedding, and they sat around dangerously on our kitchen counter, we had to go in search of the "universal" knife block on the internet. Thank goodness Amazon carries it!

We have had our knife block for over a year now and I couldn't be happier. If you are wondering what actually makes this knife block work, let me describe the pieces. There is a hollow wooden holder with nice rubber feet. If you take the black part out, it could be any type of a container with a hollow bottom (just a few crossbeams built into the bottom of the block to hold the black insert in place). But, the black part is made up of thin, plastic rods adhered together in a black plastic square "cap" at the bottom. The plastic rods are thinner than a ballpoint pen refill and the cap is only about an inch high. If you take the rod structure out and set it on a table, you can actually brush your hand across the top and the thin rods will sway. Kapoosh does sell replacements for this piece, but we haven't needed one yet.

I like this item because I can organize the knives in the way that makes sense to me. I can include scissors and my old meat cleaver in this. It is weighted well and holds about 12 knives/accessories (right now I have the following in mine: cleaver, kitchen scissors, carving knife, sandwich knife, cook's knife, peeling knife, small cook's knife, bread knife, tomato knife, cheese knife, Japanese cook's knife and a meat fork). I can "promote" frequently used knives to this knife block and feel like it grows with our household.

Last week, I decided to test the claim that the insert for this item can be cleaned in the dishwasher. It seems like it might not be a good idea because it has to be inverted in order to wash out and the rods don't seem like they can support the weight of this black insert on a dishwasher rack. However, everything worked just fine and the insert is back to work on our kitchen counter.

There are only two cautions I have. One is that the plastic rods do get bent if the knives are inserted into the block without care ("quit jamming those kinves in there!"). So far we have only lost 3 plastic rods and no one could tell the difference. The other caution is that it does not work as well with the meat fork and tomato knife because the pronged leading end of the knife catches on the ends of the rods when inserted. I have to wiggle these two utensils a little to get them in.

However, those two minor points did not stop me from getting one of these items for my Mom and stepdad (who really does the cooking) this year. Highly recommended!

Absolutely wonderful, for about six months. Then it got tougher and tougher to get larger knives to go in. I finally removed the Wonder Rods and found that large, sharp knives bend some of them over permanently down low in the block, and they prevent large blades from going in. Too bad, thirty bucks shot in the head.

I bought this partially as an impulse purchase when replacing some everyday table knives at a local Target. I am a fan of innovative and useful product design. Like many others I've found traditional wood knife blocks kind of limiting when you have a variety of knives from different brands, or more than one of a kind. The versatility this product promised seemed to be a big advance, but in reality, it isn't ready for prime time.

Before taking it out of the box, I Googled for more info and found Amazon reviews. To my surprise Amazon even offered stainless steel models not available at my local Target. You just have to love Amazon for the depth and breadth of their inventory, but I digress.

Most of the Kapoosh reviews seemed to be positive, so I promptly washed it for use. Since the packaging is open on top and encourages shoppers to "Try me!" there was no way I was going to use it right out of the box as the enclosed booklet states. There is no telling what made its way into the rods. Keep in mind that this is supposed to be dishwasher-safe, but something I immediately overlooked was that it's for the top rack only. I have a new deep-tub, dishwasher with adjustable top rack, but it barely fit, and only at the edge of the rack where the rotating arm didn't hit it.

Then there was the drying! The drying cycle didn't make much of a dent. While it felt dry on top and on the edges, I had a strong feeling there was a lot of moisture left between the rod. I took the rod unit and forcefully shook a lot of water out, then placed it upside down on a towel to let it air dry. It took about a week before the rods were dry deep down towards the base and in the center, and I live in the Mojave desert! Had I placed my good knives in there straight from the dishwasher, they'd have been a rusted mess. Despite this major complaint, I would have lived with the washing/drying chore had it worked as well as I had hoped.

First off, as is illustrated in the product photo, some knives will not seat deep enough to completely cover the blade. I thought this was just to illustrate the type of blade in use, but in reality long blades will stick out. I don't have any other knife blocks that this happens with. Having a pre-teen in the house who likes to cook, this is a no-go. I'll hazard a guess that this is a product liability law suit in the making. I also noticed the same thing with a much shorter and wider cleaver. I guess it displaces too many rods to fully recess.

I pulled the rod unit out of the block to see what was going on, and I noticed some of the rods had already begun to bend and fold down. This was also the first time I used the cleaver in it. I also have some steak knives with a partially serrated edge that wouldn't slide in easily. I believe had I continued to use it, the serrations would have begun to saw away at the rods.

Lastly, the wood block used to surround the rods is essentially hollow. It is completely open on the bottom, as is the angled piece at the front of the block. It all appears to be held together with glue rather than an interlocking join like a mortise and tenon or dovetail. With the rods inside, the unit has a substantial heft, but take them out and it feels rather insubstantial. Long term durability would probably be an issue.

I hate to be so long-winded in my review, but after reading several others, both pro and con, I was really torn. After trying it out for a short while, I felt compelled to weigh in. I really like the concept. I really wanted to like this product and considered giving them as gifts to family (including a professional chef) and friends (newlyweds.) Maybe it will work for some others with a set of smaller knives, but even with my modest set, it just wouldn't do the job. I took mine back for a refund, and am glad I didn't make any gift purchases.

I think if the designer worked to improve the product, version 2.0 might actually be worth getting.

Some suggestions:

Increase the depth of the rods so that longer blades recess fully.

Decrease the density of the rods to allow for items like cleavers to be inserted without packing down the rods. If this would cause the knives to slide downward, I'd orient them horizontally. Alternatively, some method to allow for the rods to shift and adjust within the base would help.

Maybe replace the rods with self sealing foam or a design it with a user configurable insert. I don't need to find a new location every time I insert a knife, I just need a block with slots that fit the knives I have.

Beef up the construction of the block.

Loved this item when I first bought it. Perfect solution. However, after a year, the knives were difficult to impossible to push down all the way. What happens is this: after months of use, the rods get bent and once they are bent, they are ineffective. The more you use this product, the more rods you bend; the more rods you bend, the less useful this product becomes. I am writing this review because I am online looking for a "traditional" knife block now.