It’s time for me to get new kitchen knives. I have gotten to the point at which I know we need good knives, but I don’t know how to go about getting the right balance of price and quality.
Most places seem to sell good knives in block sets, but those sets never have quite the combination that I’m looking for. And those places that sell piece-by-piece—wow, it gets astronomical.
In addition to advice on buying knives (where, what kind, at what price), I also welcome advice on the combination of knives I should be looking at.
This is the list I had in mind—
10-inch chef’s knife
8-inch serrated bread knife
3 to 4-inch paring knife
6 to 7-inch “hollow” santoku
6 to 7-inch cleaver
5 to 6-inch boning knife
A steel and a block would be good too, but I don’t know if they make blocks that would fit this combination.
I’ve got Victorinox Fibrox knives. IMO, they’re at the sweet spot of price and quality. They take and hold an excellent edge, though they have very utilitarian plastic handles. That means the balance is pretty far forward, so I ‘choke up’ pretty far and hold them with my thumb, index, and ring finger on the base of the blade.
When I started my kitchen knife purchases, it was explained to me that you do not want a knife set. You want the best knife for the job your purchasing it for. For example a good 22.5 degree Westhof chef knife makes a great general purpose knife and for carving meat but for a knife to cut veg and tomatoes, a Japanese knife with its narrower blade angle works better.
If your knives are metal (instead of ceramic), there’s always a wall-mounted magnetic strip.
I’m a fan of Victorinox Fibrox as well; they’re inexpensive, lightweight, and sturdy, and Cook’s Illustrated loves them. That being said, read the reviews then (if at all possible) go somewhere that you can hold the knives. You need to see how it feels in your hand, what the weight is like, and so on.
I’ve often mentioned here how I had a lovely little paring knife made by Global, but the knife was so symmetrical between the blade side and the spine side that I would pick it up blade-side-up off the cutting board accidentally. I had to get rid of it before some horrible accident happened.
I have a set of Wusthof knives that has most of what I need. It has a chef’s knife, which is good for pretty much everything, a bread knife, a smaller serrated knife, a smaller utility knife, a steel, a paring knife and a poultry shears. Handy. I see that this set goes for around $200 online, but I paid a heck of a lot less – maybe around $100 – at a local store that was having a sale. And it came with the knife block.
The quality is great – I’ve had them for years and they still look like new. The knives hold their edge wonderfully, especially if you’re diligent about using the steel. I’ve had the chef’s knife resharpened once or twice.
For me, this set covers all the bases. If you’re a serious cook (I’m not), it’s probably best to assemble your own knife set with all the tools you need.
I have a set of Henckels Five Star knives that I’ve been using for the past 15-20 years. I like the ergonomic handles. I also have a Shun chef’s knife and a Shun paring knife. For slicing/chopping veggies, they can’t be beat. Shuns have a 16 degree edge and are thin and razor sharp; but they’re not cheap. Henckels knives run about $50 each, depending on the line you’re buying.
You don’t. But you might need a $75 knife to chop a hundred onions, and also to quarter chickens and dice beef and trim fat and chop up peppers and tomatoes and potatoes and parsley and anything else you can think of, and hold its edge and take a new edge when needed, and do all that for ten years.
I agree with Buffalo Bilious.
I have a great knife collection. I have butcher’s knives, paring knives, an excellent bread knife, a boning knife, fillet knife, and a really nice small cleaver. I use the cleaver for most tasks (usually chopping onions and cutting up chicken) and it’s going on 8 years old now.
I bought all of them at rummage sales. They stay wicked sharp because I have a diamond honing block from Harbor Freight and a steel that came from one of the rummage sales. Please don’t believe the Alton Brown-ish types that say you should never sharpen a knife yourself- it ain’t rocket science and anybody can do it with just a bit of practice. You can find instructions all over YouTube and elsewhere.
My knives have teak handles. My hold on them never slips even when they are wet or greasy, and I would rate this a “must” feature.
The set includes a basic assortment – chef’s, slicing, boning, utility, and paring knives, and a block and a steel. I also have poultry shears, which I rarely use, and a bread knife, which I do. If you use the bread knife only for bread-type stuff, a cheapie is fine.
I always use a cutting board, sharpen (with the steel) before each use, hand-wash after each use (letting them air-dry in the block), and do not use them for anything but cooking (not general household stuff).
I have a food-processor, mandoline, etc, but, most of the time, what I reach for is the chef’s knife or the utility knife.
I find mix and match works best for me. The Chef’s knife and the parer would be the most important to me. I personally love my Global’s but I know not everyone does. If you can, try a few and see which feel best to you.
I’ve used an old Chicago Cutlery bread knife for years and I don’t think I would see any difference if a more expensive one. Same with my cleaver. I bought it at a restaurant supply store and don’t have any idea of the brand. I just know it is a good combination of weight and size that works for me.
My boning knife is also an old Chicago Cutlery and it works fine but I don’t use it nearly as often as the others. I’d probably be happy to upgrade to a nicer one but I’m in no rush.
Somehow I’ve cooked for over 30 years and never needed a santoku. I even had to look it up to be sure. I’ve heard good things about this style and wouldn’t mind trying one, but like I said if I made it this long I wouldn’t consider it necessary.
OK… The next time I need to chop 100 onions, I’ll consider it.
Otherwise, meh… Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate fine tools for the trade, but end of the day you’re cutting/chopping dead meat and vegetables. It’s not like you’re transplanting a liver or something.
My 12 year old set of WallyWorld knives still works fine with the occasional run-thru on the sharpener.
YMMV, but all I want to do is cut a godforsaken green pepper for a salad, and the last thing I’m thinking about is the knife’s “balance” or ergonomics.
Well, sure. My set of Wusthof knives works out to about $7 apiece. I’ve had them for years, and will have them for many more. You don’t have to spend $75 for a decent knife, not by a long shot. I don’t know about great “balance,” or ergonomics, but the handles fit my hand and aren’t too slippery.
But I do remember some WallyWorld-type knives I had before the Wusthofs that were so flexy that they were nearly useless, or that were made of some kind of cheap stainless steel that pitted and rusted.
Translation: All you rubes are big suckers. Nobody needs a knife more expensive than mine, a car faster than mine or a spouse better looking than mine.
Spend the money on the chef’s knife. It’s the workhorse of the bunch. Try a bunch out and buy the one that feels good in your hand.
The rest you can go cheaper on. That’s not to say an $80 bread knife won’t be more of a joy to use than a $20 bread knife, it’s just that you won’t be using it enough to care that much.
I’m not sure you need a chef’s AND a santoku. I have both, and I go back and forth between them, but if I just used the chef’s all the time I don’t think I would be missing much.
Cook’s Illustrated reviews will often have an outright winner and then another highly recommended choice that also happens to be much cheaper. That’s how I found most of the stuff in my kitchen.
I used to have a Japanese chef’s knife that I bought for cheap when I was in Japan in the 70s. I used that sucker for everything: chopping, scooping, hacking up chicken or ribs. Shaped like a cleaver, but much thinner and lighter. Sadly, my ex now has it.