All four of the fingers on my right hand are inexplicably bleeding from just having read that.
:shudder:
DIY dagger.
I have a ceramic knife that I pretty much only use for onions and tomatoes, that I’ve never sharpened, and that works great for thin, unstressed slices.
(I’m looking at those sharpeners that say they can do ceramic… hmmm. But honestly, the knife is still extremely sharp.)
I agree w/ the folk who say to find the one that is most comfortable to YOU. When my wife wanted some nice knives, she tried several, and ended up w/ 3 Shun knives. Probably not the ones I woulda bought, but heck - I’m not even allowed to USE them! 
I’m a Philistine - she often gives me grief for my preference for the serrated blade out of the Chicago Cutlery block we got as a wedding present 37 yrs ago!
Luv my WÜSTHOF, and I don’t think one can go wrong as even a chef needing to use your knife won’t complain (as long as it’s well maintained).
But I would caution about buying the best as it’s a personal choice and it sort of sucks having a very expensive nice piece that prevents you from getting the one you want once you know enough to even know what that is.
Which brings us back to WÜSTHOF, which are very nice, but still affordable for the quality, work very well but one can easily retire it to home use or secondary use when they get their dream knife, and still get a shit ton of use out of it after that.
Absolutely! I didn’t mean to disparage the helpful recommendations in this thread. Trying out knives that someone recommended is an excellent approach. My caution is to not buy something based on a recommendation without trying it.
And this is the kind of advice that’s really helpful, so people know to pay attention to these kind of differences. In my case, until I really went shopping, I didn’t think about the roundness of the handle because I’d only used flat ones. I had a good sales person who explained stuff like this, and I found round handles are much easier for me to use.
Yeah, this is a challenge. I spent over 2 hours trying knives in the store, chopping up a ridiculous number of potatoes. But it’s still not the same as using it for a whole day, which isn’t the same as using it for a month straight. I got lucky that I hit it right.
I’ve had a number of knives over the years. I started with a set of Chicago knives when I was young and didn’t know any better. They didn’t stay sharp and had crappy wooden handles. I now have a set of Henckels that I like well enough, and an old Sabatier cleaver.
Someone above mentioned the Shun knives that have some popularity. I bought one and liked it initially for its razor edge, but that 16 degree edge angle means that the edge pits over time and most sharpeners will not accommodate it. The thinness can also be a problem, and my wife managed to snap off the tip, so now it’s $100 landfill.
My son sent me an Allezola chef’s knife a few years ago, and I actually like it a lot, despite my initial misgivings. It holds an edge well and is comfortable.
I’m looking at getting a Chef’s Choice Trizor XV sharpener. It was rated #1 by Wirecutter, and I’m tired of fussing around with my Spyderco Sharpmaker.
And if you ever need to cut through a nail and then a pineapple….
In college, I had a friend who claimed to have bought these. As I recall, he said they were sharp, but TEENY! He said the model in the ad must have had child-sized hands.
Of course it all depends on what the knife is used for. As I said, I have a few really nice Zwilling knives, and a friend has a similar set. But he also has an expensive Zwilling bread knife. I have a really cheap serrated bread knife from Ikea that cost no more than a couple of bucks, and he prefers it to his expensive one, as do I. It’s quite an attractive knife, too, with a comfortable wooden handle. All it’s good for is slicing bread, but it’s great for that one purpose.
At least as Amazon presents it, that seems to be the heir apparent to my 120 model:
https://www.amazon.com/ChefsChoice-EdgeSelect-Professional-Sharpener-20-Degree/dp/B00004S1B8
If it’s truly a better version of the one I have, I’m quite sure you’ll enjoy it.
Well, I just cut the ends off of a bunch of asparagus a few minutes ago. Bread knife did the job just fine. And when I slice avocados. Does just fine to cut around the pit, then after you separate the halves and remove the pit/skin, to slice the peeled halves.
Probably not the best tool for coring an apple, but serves the majority of my (admittedly limited range of) cooking needs just fine.
Anyone else have a knife sharpener walk your neighborhood? We do. An old retired guy. It is always a nice reminder of childhood - as well as a sign of warm weather - to hear the 2-toned “ding”! (But the one time we used him, he removed a TON of material!) 
Probably a fine device, but that model is CDN $168.82 on Amazon Canada, which for my purposes I couldn’t justify compared to the well rated manual Zwilling at $39.99.
Yeah, i agree with others that a serrated knife is a whole different animal, and i completely believe your Chicago cutlery bread knife works well. That being said, i don’t recommend Chicago cutlery in general. I bought a Chicago paring knife many years ago. (why yes, i do have a very large number of paring knives) and it was much worse than either the Henkels or the Wusthoff. I don’t feel it’s enough cheaper to justify the lower quality.
It was okay when brand new, but damn that knife was so hard to get and keep sharp that I’ve basically given up. Maybe i could revive it with one if them fancy sharpeners, though. 
They’re just crap knives made from cheap material. Sure, you can revive it, but it will be dull again very quickly. That’s the reason I changed out my old Stanley plane blades for Hock irons.
Can you reasonably peel a carrot with a #4 smoother ??
[Inquiring minds want to know]
Yes, but they are styled and priced as if they were better. I’ve been happier with cheap supermarket knives than with Chicago cutlery, though.
Like I said - wedding present. Same as the crap pans I can’t believe we lived with for so long before buying All-Clad.
My wife is attending a wedding shower of rher niece in a couple of months, and she bought a really nice knife (I forget the brand, but it is a knife she’ll be able to have for her entire life.) I hope she gets as much pleasure out of using it as we do from giving it.
I actually do most of the cooking, but very little of my cooking requires cutting that I can’t do just fine w/ the serrated bread knife. I’ve spoken w/ professional cooks, and attended cooking classes - and find the idea of nice blades and skilled knife work intellectually appealing. But I basically just view food as fuel, and in my goal of getting healthy good tasting fuel on the table as easily as possible, I’ve grown accustomed to relying on the one mediocre blade for most things.
Thanks for the tip. I just ordered one on Amazon, as I’m looking to replace or complement my 15-year-old Chicago Cutlery knife (which I actually like just fine – the weight and balance of it is perfect for my hands) but it’s got a chip in the blade and I’m not looking to replace it with an expensive knife right now. I’ve heard a good number of chefs actually have a preference for some of the cheaper knives, but I can never remember what brands they mention, as they’re not generally ones I’m aware of. Hope this one does the trick and, if not, it was only a $30 investment. 
And I’m always happy to have an extra knife around.
I use one for slicing tomatoes, avocados, or anything that requires very thin slices or may get mooshed by a regular knife that needs sharpening.
I used to have an Asian chef’s knife/cleaver that I loved, but my ex ended up with it. Slice, chop and scoop all in one tool.
I recently replaced my Zwilling /Henkel knives made in Solingen Germany. It was a 3 set, 2 chefs, and a paring knife that we bought in 88. Used and abused, chipped, roughly sharpened and one had a cracked handle. It was time. Found a good deal on a 16 piece set in a block at Zwilling.
Made in Spain but a great set ntl, also came with a sharpening steel, shears and set of steak knives. Includes a Santoku knife too. I use the large chefs, santoku, bread knife and pairing knife. Also includes a thin flexy bladed knife for fish iirc. Haven’t tried that one yet.
Shaved a fingernail first day out of the block, guess I was getting a little careless around the old knives, new respect for this set.
I don’t have any real wisdom to add, but the original question included “money is no object”, in which case sign me up for these:
He cleverly hides the price in the middle of the page. When you find it, you’ll see why.
I actually don’t like the stands much but those blades…!