If you buy a $75 knife when you’re 18, it can be yours until the day you die. Net cost, a little over $1 per year, if you don’t get run over by a bus. Is that too much to pay for a high quality piece of equipment that makes chopping your 12 cent onion easy and safe?
Or, you can save $.50 per year, buy something cheap, replace it a few times, and not have a knife that’s as easy to use. What a bargain!
I don’t agree with one and three. How is a mag holder better than a wood block for blades? I store my blades upside down in the block, so there’s no edge wear, and they slide right out when I need them. Also, I’ve had the experience with a mag holder where the magnet is a little stronger or weaker than you might expect. In the first case, if you don’t have a good hold on the knife, the resistance of the magnet can cause it to slip out of your hand, which makes you do the falling knife dance; or it’s so strong that you have to slide the blade off, rather than just pull it off. I’ve seen cheap mag holders that can’t support a larger blade, and the knife slides off the magnet, dinging the counter or the blade.
And there are plenty of people who would disagree with No. 2 as well.
We also swear by the magnetic knife rack. Saves counter space, you can see what knife you’re reaching for and there’s no wood to dull the edge when you take in/out of the block.
We’re big fans of Dexter Russell knives. There’s a restaurant supply store here in town that carries them and that’s where I’ve bought all my current kitchen knives. Bought them separately, I might add. Started with a chef’s knife and a paring knife, which probably covers 90% of my tasks. No point in buying a set when there will always be a couple of blades that never get used.
Then I picked up a long carving knife, emphasis on long. Nothing is more annoying than trying to carve a roast with a knife that just isn’t quite long enough. Mine is 12 inches and probably wouldn’t fit into a block anyway so that’s another reason for the magnetic rack.
Get a good sharpening set and take the time to learn how to use it. I personally like this one from Lansky.
You sir have never been a cook in the Army. I didn’t cut a hundred onions at a sitting. More like a hundred and fifty pounds. Along with seventy five pounds of peppers, a hundred pounds each of diced tomatoes and diced ham, chopped bacon and a couple hundred pounds of shredded cheese. And that’s just prep for the next mornings omelet grill.
Ha, I have exactly the same two (8" on the chef’s). I loooove the chef’s but haaaaate the paring. It just didn’t seem weighted or balanced right. I haven’t even seen it in years.
But I strongly recommend the Shun Kershaw 8" chef’s knife. I made my choice and searched around and finally found it for $80 or 90, as I recall. It is quite striking in appearance and I love even just holding it. Makes me wanna cut up some chicken or slice some brisket.
I don’t have enough ‘good’ knives to justify a block or mag strip but some people argue that the magnetic wall mount is cleaner (ie it can be cleaned).
I have and use daily my set of Henckles knives. 6" chefs, paring knife, 6" boning knife, serrated bread knife and a honer. I also bought a 5-star Henckles 10" chefs, but I find it to be too long and awkward for daily use- my 6" chefs is my workhorse, used to do almost all of my cutting. When you need to cut up a watermelon or pumpkin, then the 10" is great, but it is so rare an occasion that I’d recommend just getting an 8" chefs.
Cheap knives are dangerous. My parents have cheap “wally-world” knives. the handles are crap, I they refuse to hold any edge worth mentioning (I am a wood worker and I have even brought my Arkansas stones to try and put an edge on them- pointless) Knives that aren’t sharp don’t cut without a great deal of effort- often slipping off the object and causing injury. My knives, after over 15 years will still glide through a tomato like it wasn’t even there: minimal effort and maximum control and safety. (and I bought them on clearance at Kohl’s, under $120- including a block- a sideways block so the knives don’t rest on their edges, dulling them, the 10" was also $120)
My parents also have those cheapo- “never needs sharpening” serrated knives, which are the most dangerous and difficult to use things ever.
As I said, I am a woodworker. I can make fine furniture (and have) on a cheap $100 portable table saw. I personally have a very nice mid-range combo saw (Ridgid 4512). The $100 one is difficult to use, difficult to set-up and difficult to use with the maximum of safety. Quite frankly, they scare me. Sure, I have built nice stuff with the cheap tools, but it was hard and took quite a bit more time (being extra cautious, extra time setting them up, dialing them in… When the time came for me to buy my own tools (my cousin and I wen’t halfsies on a shop, buying cheap stuff to play with), I waited an extra year, saving up my pennies to buy a GOOD one. Use a good, high quality tool and you’ll be amazed at how much easier your task is, and how much more enjoyment you’ll get from them.
As for my $240 worth of knives… over 15 years they have processed tens of thousands of dollars worth of groceries, from chicken carcasses to beef roasts, and veggies galore: bushels of apples, tomatoes, beans, peppers from our garden. If I had to do all that with the crap my parents have… I wouldn’t.
Oh, 15 years and not one cut on me. Buy the best quality tools you can. It really makes a difference. Now, if only 22 year old me knew that… I’d have even nicer toys… er, I mean tools.. The money I wasted on crap equipment… :smack:
I got the paring knife for my wife, as I was constantly catching her using the chef’s knife for things it’s not intended for, like cutting flower stems or small cutting chores (which is just asking to lose a fingertip with a large, sharp knife).
For me personally I didn’t understand why nice knives were such a big deal until I had them, and then, within one night of cooking, I swore I’d never go back. If you are using cheap, dull knives (but I repeat myself) you have no idea how much easier cooking can be. It really is a game changer.
Good makeup brushes and makeup were the same way, for all you ladies out there still buying Cover Girl.
Sharp knives are also dangerous because they can slice off the tip of a finger like it’s a stick of butter. But that’s not the knife’s fault, it’s the operator’s.
My brother really shouldn’t be left around sharp objects unsupervised. For Christmas one year, we gave his GF a couple of Dexter Russells (Chef’s and paring) and two days later he was in the ER. I kid you not.
One of the reasons a Chef’s knife is relatively safe is the large depth of the blade. Keep your fingertips out of the way and you’re good to go.
Another vote for testing before you buy. Just wanted to chime in that a lot of the culinary stores are having sales now, and most are happy to let you test drive their knives. E.g, Sur la Table is selling the 8 in Wusthof Classic Chef’s for 99 bucks. I wouldn’t have picked up the chef’s knife that I did, if I hadn’t tried it first and went, “Wow!” Tissue paper-thin slices of cucumber rapidly followed.
I use a magnetic strip for my knives, but if I didn’t, I’d probably go with the Cooks Illustrated-recommended Bodum Bistro Universal Knife Block.
But yeah, try before you buy. Hard to go wrong with the Forschner/Victorinox or F. Dick knives that you see in pretty much every pro. kitchen. Even if they aren’t as pretty as, say, the Bob Kramer Damascus-steel knives that go for 500 and up. Or a Mizuno Hon-Yaki
The reason for not using a knife block, no matter how you put your knives in it, is that they collect bacteria and crud. Even if you clean and wipe dry your knife religiously every single time before you put it back in its slot, it’s not going to be as clean as something that’s open to the air. There’s no way to clean inside the slots effectively, so over time any knife block becomes a petri dish.
Here’s my thoughts:
Buy the best chef’s knife you can afford. At least a Mercer Genesis (I have one, and it’s every bit the equal of my wife’s Wusthof Classic), and maybe even something like a nice Wusthof or Shun.
Buy a good santoku as well. Same recommendations as the chef’s knife.
Buy Victorinox Fibrox or Dexter-Russel Sani-Safe for the rest, (they’re more or less equivalent) since they either won’t be seeing the use (bread knife, cleaver), or just aren’t as balance-dependent (paring knife, boning knife).
My suspicion is that you’re much like my in-laws and don’t have a clue as to whether or not your knives are actually sharp or if they even hold an edge.
For them, their cheap-ass “Chef-Mate” knives do the job, although they’re dull enough to run your finger down without cutting it, and they more or less hack at food rather than cut through it.
You don’t have to go much higher than Wal-Mart prices to get decent knives- the Victorinox/Forschner knives mentioned up-thread are good stamped knives- they get good and sharp, and they hold an edge well, which is more than you can say for most cheap stainless Wal-Mart knives. A slight step up are the forged Mercer Genesis series- they’re very good knives for a low price.
We bought a set of Cutco knives from a friend’s son who got roped into selling them. Cutco’s marketing tactics are scammy - they recruit college students who don’t know any better. As we needed some new knives, we listed to his spiel and bought some from him.
I imagine the prices are comparable to other high-end brands. The quality seems decent enough - certainly we’ve been satisfied. The sets all had too many things we didn’t need, so we bought 4 of them “a la carte” which probably meant we paid more per knife.
In general, what we use:
One large chef’s knife. Blade is 8-ish inches long. Not Cutco - it’s Henckels (I think). Slightly curved blade so we can rock it up and down as we’re chopping, say, a bunch of celery. 25+ years old.
One (two, actually) serrated knife, about the same length, for bread and such.
2+ all-purpose knives with blades 4ish inches long, non-serrated. Could get by with one but it’s nice to have a spare.
One similar-size serrated knife, useful for things like tomatoes.
One paring knife, also non-serrated - blade 2-3 inches long.
We do have others, but those are the ones that see the most use and I’d consider essential.
Your brother isn’t fellow Doper Si Amigo, is he? (yeah, I’m going to hell for that one)
Arguably, duller knives are more dangerous - likelier to slip and cut you.
And cheapo knives, like from the grocery or whatever… we bought some (before we got the Cutco) and egad those were awful - they literally could not cut a straight vertical line. Something about the serration caused them to curve.