Nobody spends 3, 4, or 10 times more money on a knife because one knife has slightly better balance than another. They’ll spend the money because they think it will hold a better edge.
It honestly goes without saying that you need to find a chef’s knife with good balance-- mine is a 9". I do everything with that one knife because I can keep a good edge on it-- dice garlic, slice fresh bread, chop acorn squash. The only time I grab for a different knife is when I’m skinning salmon.
a somewhat related anechdote. I was given a cutco potato/carrot pealer for my birthday a few years back. What a joy. I never knew you could peel stuff like that. Perhaps other commercial companies make a comparable thing, but I’m hooked
Off to IMHO.
Put me in the just two (or three) knives camp as well. I have the 8 inch Global cook’s knife (seen here) as well as a Global paring knife and they meet all my needs. I also have an old Chicago Cutlery bread knife that works pretty well so I haven’t felt the need to replace it.
I like the Global cooks knife because it holds an edge well, it’s light (although it may almost seem too light if you are used to German knives with more heft), and it is essentially one seamless pice of steel so it is really easy to keep clean.
I don’t know. I’m a little intrigued by those TV knives…they dice, they slice…they cut through sneakers? I mean, come on. If you don’t use it in the kitchen, you can chop firewood or fight crime with it.
Even though I cook professionally, I’m another one who basically uses her 10" Global about 80% of the time. Unless you do a tremendous amount of knife work at home, you really don’t need any more than three knives–a chef’s knife, a paring knife, and a serrated bread knife. Any more is generally a waste.
I became a Global convert for the same reasons Bottle of Smoke mentions. I especially like the weight because my hands do get tired after a day of chopping, and a lighter knife has made it far more easier to get through the day. It also holds an edge very well.
Dinsdale: The knives that Bourdain mentions in his book are Globals (and another Japanese brand). When he talks about regular maintenence, he’s talking on a chef’s point of view, of someone who is using that knife 40 hours a week. A regular home cook would probably only need to sharpen his knife about every 6 to 8 months, depending on how much he uses it (but steeling your knife every time you use it, no matter if you’re a home cook or a professional chef, is still a good idea).
Ceramic knives. About $100 per pop, a couple should do. They are harder than just about anything except diamonds, so they will never need sharpening, and in fact you shouldn’t try. They never rust. They are also generally sharper than steel. The downside is that if you abuse knives, these will break as they are more brittle than steel.
I bought a nice set of Sabatier knives from Amazon for $100 spring. I’m quite pleased with them, and I’m glad I didn’t break down and buy lesser knives. I only have to touch them up with the steel occasionally. Still, I use my one 6" Henckel’s chef’s knife most of the time. I think if I’d moved into the $300 or higher realm and gotten a full set of Henckel’s or Wusthoff’s I would switch out to the more appropriate blade more often. The main advantage to having more knives is not having to wash the blade when you switch between veggies and meat.
If you do get the good knives, be sure to get a block to keep them in, and know that you won’t be able to send them through the dishwasher.
A good knife really is a joy.
I’m really glad this was brought up, because there seems to be an enormous amount of nonsense spread about knives.
When I was starting out, I bought at various times all the “best” knives. I still have a Sabatier in a drawer someplace. NOT A SINGLE ONE of those knives matched the (then) much cheaper brand recommended by Consumer Reports.
At first I thought it was me. I had a professional chef in the family instruct me on the proper way to sharpen. Yes, he could get one of his knives sharp, but it was work.
I asked him: why can’t I just buy one of those cheapo self-sharpening knives? Oh-h-h-h-h, no! Can’t do that! It’s unfashionable! Little filings get in the food! The knife is worn down prematurely! All these years later I realized I could have saved myself much time and money buying a self-sharpening knife at Sears.
Alas, that opportunity is gone, since I like the knives I have, and don’t want to learn how to use new ones.
If I sharpen these suckers with a normal steel I have to warn people in my kitchen they’ll cut themselves because they won’t be used to such sharp knives.
Forget all the imported, fancy, expensive knives. Although I’ve never tried the ceramic knives recommended by “I am Sparticus”, I certainly wouldn’t trade ANY of the other knives mentioned here for basic Chicago Cutlery.
They’re often on sale at Macy’s. Don’t cut yourself.
I got a set of the cheapo Henkels about four years ago. It was a decent set of knives for the money, but they don’t hold an edge for very long. I have to touch up the chef’s knife every couple of months. (It doesn’t help that I’m not very good at sharpening knives.)
I’m going to replace the chef’s knife eventually; I’ll probably go for a Global.
Dr. J
For what it’s worth, using a steel every time you use the knife will make it so you only have to do touch ups once every 6-12 months, depending on how much you use the knife. Really.
A great set of knives should have a nice variety in shapes, curves, sizes, etc. Clearly the handles must be sturdy, preferably in one piece instead of glued/etc. together. You want the blades themselves to be high quality stainless steel and hard enough to hold an edge well.
I prefer using axes though. 
Have you ever had to chop and slice for 8 to 10 hours a day? The edge is NOT the only thing to look for in a knife. I like Forchners a lot. Cheaper than Wustoff and Henkels with a better rock and more comfortable in my hand. I also love the 10" Global my father gave me for my birthday. The handle’s weird at first but once you get used to it, it’s a wonderful knife.
I have a Wusthoff Trident 7" chef’s knife that I pad about $80 for, and I use it for most tasks. The rest of my knives are some cheapo things I received as a gift. The combination of the chef’s knife and the cheapos meet all of my cutting needs.
I chose the Wusthoff because I was tired of having my hand cramp up after chopping for 15-20 minutes. The knives I had at the time did not lend themselves to long-term chopping, and I was looking for something more comfortable.
I went with the Wusthoff because it felt great when I was trying it out, and at the shops I had visited it was the only 7" offered. The 8" all felt too big for me, and the 6" too small.
I hav never regretted my choice, but I’ll never replace the rest of my knives with expensive versions because for my purposes (home cook who occasioanlly cooks large quantities of food) there is really no need.
IMO, a whole set of expensive knives is overkill for your average home cook. Even one expensive knife might be overkill for someone like my sister, who hates to cook.
AAGGHHHHHH
Chicago Cutlery? Cutco? nope nope.
I have a gorgeous set of Wusthof Trident that I will NEVER give up. In another thread I noted that my ex-fiance’s are chefs. When I booted them out, I kept the knives (OK, I could tell a story of what I did to FF2’s 10" chefs knife that I bought him, but that could cause some to cringe).
I’ve used many, MANY knives, from Chicago Cutlery, Cutco, Henkels, Sabatier, and number other no names. I will only use Trident. Yes, I do have to baby them. My steel is my friend. I sharpen them myself with a whetstone and keep them in a professional roll.
I would much rather have a knife that is a harder steel (ie Trident, Henkels, Sabatier) that I may steel more often, than a softer blade (Chicago, Brownstone). And don’t get me started on the “MIRACLEBLADE NEVER SHARPEN” crap… shudder.
Steeling: for those lurkers who are reading but don’t really know- That round metal stick with a handle that people use to ‘sharpen’ their knives is called a ‘Steel’. You don’t actually sharpen a blade with them- you just straighten out the edge. The steel is the same hardness, generally, as the knife, so no actual metal is being honed off.
The edge of a blade just tends to warp and fold-over after time, so steeling a blade keeps the leading edge straight, thus improving its cutting. You can even steel knives by running the blade backwards up the steel- which prevents cutting oneself accidentally. Another safe way to use them is to hold the knife steady and run the steel along the edge, either with or against the edge.
As for me, I generally use a 6.5" Henkel chef knife, but I have a few others that I use as well. I bought a Japanese vegetable knife (looks like a mini-cleaver) that has a great edge and allows me to cut veggies quickly. I also use a Cold Steele kitchen knife for my serrated/paring needs- great knife for that, but it can’t cut meat worth dink.
I’m thinking of getting a larger chef knife- maybe a Global…Or even a Ceramic- I’ve heard good stories about them…unfortunately I hear that they can break if you drop them in the sink. I also recently bought a cleaver at IKEA on sale for $4! Big honkin’ blade that’ll cut through bone- gotta love it!
-Tcat
Gerbils ate this the first time around…
Why yes, I have worked in a restaurant (and catering too), although the longest I ever spent chopping without a break or switching jobs was 3 hours.
But you’re misinterpreting my point. Balance is the first thing anyone looks for in a knife, and people will automatically reject knives that don’t feel comfortable. When you get right down to buying something, you’ll have a few knives in front of you with comparable balance, but different capabilities of holding an edge. It’s the edge that a savvy user will be looking for.
Since this seems to be a pretty general discusion on knives, I have a knife etiquite question. I have a set of high carbon Regent Sheffield steak knives that I got when a grandmother died. They are the best steak knives I have by far. The problem is they are ugly as hell. Every idiot room mate I had in college could not seem to grasp the fact they should not be thrown in the dishwasher, or thrown into a sink full of water and dishes over night. Eventually I gave up and retired them, tired of having to scrape the rust off steel wool. but now that I’m living alone I brought them out. Thanks to the water the handles have all faded to different colors, and the blades are pitted and covered with a random blackness. When I hand them out at a dinner I get a bunch of looks like they are dirty(which they are not), and some people just don’t use them, cutting the steak with a butter knife(My steaks are tender enough to cut with a butter knife, but that not the point :)) They still hold an egde very well, and it’s not like steak knives get a whole lot of use. Is it bad form to serve with ugly knives? I suppose I could break out the dremel and buff the blades down, but I’m afraid it would wreck the steel.
Has anyone actually tried the “as seen on tv” knives, such as Miracle Blade (www.miracleblade.com)? They look awfully tempting, but I know that’s the point. However, I also figure that 8 knives for $40 is a decent deal even if the knives are only okay. Another note is that, realistically, I’m not going to steel/sharpen my own knives at this point in my life, so it would probably be worthless for me to get first-class knives and ruin them. Anyone have actual experience with knives like the Miracle Blades?
Ah, ha! It’s seems you may have indirectly answered my questions on a couple issues that puzzled me.
Professional knives are best – for professionals. No one I know keeps their knives as sharp as my (very casually treated and considerably abused) Chicago Cutlery. Except professional chefs. Conclusion: Professional knives are a waste of money for most people.
I’m guessing Chicago’s softer steel (as you maintain it is) makes it easier to sharpen, and also causes it to go dull sooner. This causes no problems, because for many uses I don’t need knives very sharp. So I avoid unnecessary fuss.
Yeah, I do want to know why self-sharpening knives are so awful. You do realize that with improvements to steel, and to machinery it’s only a matter of time before self-sharpening knives are the only way to go? I don’t own any, but if they save work, I’d switch in a flash.