A cutlery dispenser configured to serially dispense a plurality of cutlery articles, wherein the cutlery articles are knives, each of the cutlery articles having a handle and a head arranged at opposite ends of a long axis of the cutlery article, the head being wider than the handle, wherein the cutlery dispenser includes: a housing having a front, a rear, two sides, a top, and a bottom, a front-facing width thereof being smaller than a side facing depth thereof; a dispenser cavity located in an upper region of the dispenser within the housing, the dispenser cavity being configured to contain a vertical stack of the cutlery articles, the vertical stack being terminated at its bottom end by a bottommost cutlery article of the vertical stack; an escapement mechanism configured to retain a first cutlery article of the plurality of cutlery articles in a dispensing position whereby the handle of the first cutlery article extends beyond the front of the dispenser housing, the escapement mechanism being configured such that removal by a user of the first cutlery article from the dispenser by grasping and pulling of the handle thereof actuates the escapement mechanism, causing the bottommost cutlery article to be singulated from the stack and gravitationally transitioned to the dispensing position, while a remainder of the stack is retained in the dispenser cavity, whereby the bottommost cutlery article becomes a replacement first cutlery article, and a next cutlery article in the stack becomes a replacement bottommost cutlery article; and a slide track that guides each cutlery article as it transitions from the stack of stored cutlery to the dispensing position, the slide track including a slide channel for guiding the handle of the bottommost cutlery article therein as it drops and slides from the stack to the dispensing position, wherein the escapement mechanism comprises at least three pivoting members (152, 154, 158, 160) interconnected by at least three distinct pivots (164a-d), one of the three pivoting members being an escapement member; characterized in that each cutlery article is reoriented as it is delivered to the dispensing position, so that it can be retained by the escapement member, each cutlery article being reoriented from a stacked, horizontal orientation into a semi-vertical or vertical orientation in the dispensing position, whereby a raised portion of a knife blade of the cutlery article is directed upward so that it contacts the escapement member and retains the cutlery article in the dispensing position. a housing having a front, a rear, two sides, a top, and a bottom, a front-facing width thereof being smaller than a side facing depth thereof; a dispenser cavity located in an upper region of the dispenser within the housing, the dispenser cavity being configured to contain a vertical stack of the cutlery articles, the vertical stack being terminated at its bottom end by a bottommost cutlery article of the vertical stack; an escapement mechanism configured to retain a first cutlery article of the plurality of cutlery articles in a dispensing position whereby the handle of the first cutlery article extends beyond the front of the dispenser housing, the escapement mechanism being configured such that removal by a user of the first cutlery article from the dispenser by grasping and pulling of the handle thereof actuates the escapement mechanism, causing the bottommost cutlery article to be singulated from the stack and gravitationally transitioned to the dispensing position, while a remainder of the stack is retained in the dispenser cavity, whereby the bottommost cutlery article becomes a replacement first cutlery article, and a next cutlery article in the stack becomes a replacement bottommost cutlery article; and a slide track that guides each cutlery article as it transitions from the stack of stored cutlery to the dispensing position, the slide track including a slide channel for guiding the handle of the bottommost cutlery article therein as it drops and slides from the stack to the dispensing position, wherein the escapement mechanism comprises at least three pivoting members (152, 154, 158, 160) interconnected by at least three distinct pivots (164a-d), one of the three pivoting members being an escapement member; characterized in that each cutlery article is reoriented as it is delivered to the dispensing position, so that it can be retained by the escapement member, each cutlery article being reoriented from a stacked, horizontal orientation into a semi-vertical or vertical orientation in the dispensing position, whereby a raised portion of a knife blade of the cutlery article is directed upward so that it contacts the escapement member and retains the cutlery article in the dispensing position.