Makaii Magnetic Knife Strip (long term)

Purchased (08.2013)

Snap’s with their love of cooking naturally have a very special place in their kitchen for fine knives. The problem is how to store them, and keep them safe. With the decision to use a knife strip to mount on the wall it became very disappointing on the options available.  Key point needed included:

Good strong magnets (a real must).
Nice looking wood (not plastic).
Decent size.
Actual wood covering the magnets (safer for blades).

Hopefully something not disposable, or over priced and will look nice on the wall, not to mention compliment the actual knives.

After trying a few different products that went from Zwilling dual magnetic strips which in my humble opinion did not look right, but also left the knife edge vulnerable to the exposed due to the magnets hard rails to other offering that barely held my knifes on, which had many hot zones which I deemed dangerous to falling, and or just poor fasteners for the wall. Finally after some searching I found Makaii which is out of Berlin. http://www.makaii.de (site in German only).

So first off they did offer a variety of woods such as :
Maple
Indian Apple
Beach wood
Cherry
Makassar
American Walnut
Teak
Zebrano,
just to name a few, they also had various sizes and option ranging from 24cm up to 144cm in length. Oh yes, and their prices where quite reasonable. I opted for the 48cm Makassar wood (exotic-looking).

Specification:
length 48cm:
width 4.2 cm
depth 3.0 cm.

Packaging came in a cardboard tube, wrapped in paper with the nice personal not thanking me for my purchase, hand signed. The note was also a template page for where you would place the holes for the two magnetic anchors which you can see in the picture.

Side View showing the layers of wood and signature:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also view from the back side with signature:

The magnetic fasteners/anchors:

Magnetic fasteners magnetically attach to the knife strip:

Simply screw the fasteners in the templates measured distances with a screw/anchor:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closer view attached to wall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Templates will need to be used for exact distance to have magnets align:

Knife strip view from left side showing signature:

 

Right angle view against wall:

Full front view:

 

Video View Of Knife Rack

Once installed the knife strip really does look very nice and functions well. It has been over half a year in use so far and still looking as good as day one. With the strip also being magnetic is is easy to remove from the wall and clean. Now it would not be completely honest to say this is a perfect solution for everyone. For my heavier knives like the serrated bread knife it is on the border of being not strong enough. Keep in mind this knife is excessively heavy and when placed upside down there is no problems. Also in one spot toward the right side I find there is a slight hot spot where the magnets engage the knife. Although not a large factor I felt it only worth mentioning.

In conclusion I am very satisfied with this purchase and have recommended this to a few people already, and would not hesitate to recommend this to others. Finding a handmade product of such quality from someone who appreciates the support of his customers is really worth mentioning. Having products that you simply cherish and not throw out is rare now of days so we should support those who strive for better.

This has been a great Snap tool, and a very positive experience.

Canadian Snap