I Eat 144 Pounds of Cheese a Year, and These Are the 8 Tools I Swear By

Living in Wisconsin, where award-winning cheese can be scored at the gas station (yes, really!) and as the author of the Wisconsin Cheese Cookbook, I know when a cheese tool is gimmicky and when it’s essential. As someone whose fridge is always, always stocked with at least half a dozen cheeses (I eat 144 pounds of it a year), but also lives in a 1920s bungalow with a small kitchen, I only buy what I know I will use. You can be fancy and functional when it comes to collecting a set of cheese tools.

Starting at $12 (for a low-budget but very sharp knife that can cut through aged cheddar as well as Saint-André triple crème), these cheese tools can be great gifts — for you or others. So what are you waiting for? Keep reading to shop the cheese tools a cheese expert swears by. 

 8 Essential Cheese Tools

• Prodyne CK-300 Cheese Knife, $12 (originally $14) at amazon.com
• Bee’s Wax Reusable Beeswax Food Wrap, $22 (originally $25) at amazon.com
• French Home Laguiole Spreaders, Set of 8, $34 at amazon.com
• Olivewood Cheese Board with Cloche, $200 at williams-sonoma.com
• Hold Everything Cheese Vault, $35 at williams-sonoma.com
• Berard Olive Wood Cheese Knife Set, $50 at anthropologie.com
• Blue Onyx Cheese Spreaders, Set of 4, $68 at anthropologie.com
• Scalloped Green Marble Serving Board, $38 at anthropologie.com

Prodyne CK-300 Cheese Knife

A long-handle cheese knife like this one is ideal for hard cheeses. It’s important so you can get a good grip and really get in there. But I also use it cutting into a soft cheese like Camembert. It’s worth noting that this knife comes from the same company that invented the Gourmet Cheese Slicer, in 1971: a wire cutter built into a wooden cutting board. For just $12, it’s an essential everyone should have. 

Bee’s Wax Reusable Beeswax Food Wrap

These days you can find beeswax food wrap everywhere, even at retailers like Trader Joe’s. It’s very versatile in the kitchen for rewrapping and storing food in the fridge, and works quite well with cheese. Sold as a roll, you simply cut off however much you need, warm the wrap in your hands for a bit, and then package it shut. Those who like to be eco-friendly in the kitchen like that this is a smarter alternative to plastic wrap or throw-away sandwich bags because it’s reusable.

French Home Laguiole Spreaders, Set of 8

When it comes to cheese tools, I really enjoy having a lightweight set of spreaders I can bring to a picnic or tote outdoors on a warm summer evening. These are fairly lightweight and remind me of a four-piece set of spreaders with jewel-tone handles I’ve had for at least 20 years. This made-in-France line of knives — named after a small village in France’s Aubrac region where they’ve been made since the 19th century — is the real deal. And for $34 for the set, or just $4 a knife, you can’t beat the price.

Olivewood Cheese Board with Cloche

As a person with a small kitchen, I appreciate items that do double-duty, like this two-in-one cheese board that can hold soft cheeses (or fresh fruit) you want to keep cool underneath the glass cloche, and hard cheeses you don’t mind having at room temperature on the rest of the oval-shaped board, made from Italian olivewood. Exclusive to Williams Sonoma, it might even be the only cheese board you need, which helps justify the high price.

Hold Everything Cheese Vault

In cheese communities, there’s a never-ending discussion about how to properly store cheese. And then there’s people like me who consume a wedge of cheese within two days, making the topic not all that useful. Cheesemongers and chefs swear by a dishwasher-safe cheese vault like this one. It’s made from food-grade silicone that preserves flavor, eliminates additional moisture and allows the cheese to breathe. I love how you can label the cheese variety, as well as the date you opened it, on the outside with a marker or ballpoint pen. 

Berard Olive Wood Cheese Knife Set

I like short-handle cheese tools such as these because it’s amazing how quickly the table fills up with a loaded cheese board, snack plates, wine glasses, and more. So, you just don’t have any room left for clunky serving ware. With this three-piece set — a two-prong knife, soft-cheese knife (the one with “holes” in the blade) and a hard-cheese knife — you honestly have all the cheese knives you’ll ever need. There isn’t a cheese you can’t cut with one of these cheese knives. 

Blue Onyx Cheese Spreaders

Every cheese lover needs a set of four spreaders like these for squishing soft cheeses onto a crusty baguette or crackers. I am constantly washing and drying my spreaders because I use them all the time, for cream cheese, chèvre, blue cheese, triple crème, port-wine cheese spread, you name it. Instead of using a long butter knife, turn to this set of four spreaders for a stylish tweak to your cheese-board set-up.

Scalloped Green Marble Serving Board

During the summer months, there’s nothing I like better than entertaining outside with a cheese plate, but the last thing I want is hard cheeses to slip into rubbery status or soft cheeses to turn “meh.” The Himalayan-green marble surface on this board keeps cheeses cool longer than if you were to use a wood board. For $38, that’s an investment worth making.