I’m gearing up to buy myself a good quality set of knives for my kitchen. I’m not a professional chef, by any means, but I love to cook, and I do appreciate the difference good quality tools make in any given task.
Does anyone have any experience or opinions on the different styles of Wusthof knives? I’m trying to decide between the Grand Prix and the Classic styles. The only difference between the two are the handle assembly–the Classic knives have a full tang and three rivets to the handle, while the Grand Prix have a molded, solid handle. I understand the full tang makes for a stronger knife, but some have said that the grip is better on the Grand Prix, due to the texture of the handle. They’re priced about the same, normally, but Amazon has a sale going where the Grand Prix are about $50 cheaper for the 7-piece set.
I’ll go to a cutlery store tomorrow and see which feels better in the hand, but are there any recommendations as to which would be a better quality knife, or is it pretty much six and half a dozen?
There is a buyers’ guide here --(PDF file!) that shows the construction of the tang/handle.
I love Grand Prix, so there’s one vote right there. To clarify, they both have a full tang, the GP is just inside the molded handle.
I love the feel of the handles, very secure and hygenic. Even with wet hands I have no problem and feel secure choping and dicing to my hearts content.
Check out Ebay, the 7 piece sets go for $155 brand new, $50 bucks cheaper than Amazon.
With the Grand Prix, the tang is a narrower bar in the middle of the molded handle, with the Classic, it’s the same width/depth as the handle–does this make any difference as far as weight and balance?
I’ve used them both extensively and I have found that they play with the balance on each one so it balances precisely. I simply prefer the feel of the GP, they feel better in my hand, especially the smoothness of the GP, I don’t care for feeling the edges of the bolsters (black plastic pieces aka handles) where they meet the tang, or the feel of the rivets.
For what it’s worth, I believe Alton Brown goes into a discussion of knife construction in his book Gear for Your Kitchen, and his basic conclusion (as I remember from flipping through it in the bookstore) is that the shape of the tang doesn’t matter, as long as you’re buying from a high-quality brand. If that’s the case, then you should just concentrate on getting what feels best in your hands.
They look great, but Cook’s Illustrated tested them and found their metal handles to be slippery and, therefore, dangerous. Speaking of which, in several of their reviews, they found Forschner knives to be just as good as those from Wusthof and Henckels, at a much lower price.
But now, I’m lusting after some Shun knives. Finding out that Alton Brown likes them doesn’t hurt, either, I suppose.
That’s what a lot of the reviews say. I’m also a bit uncomfortable with the unconventional blade angle–I can sharpen a standard blade well enough, but I’m worried I’d trash the Global blade by sharpening it incorrectly, or rather, sharpening it as I would any other knife.
IIRC the overall rep on Global is that it is an excellent knife with a good lifetime warranty, but wildly overpriced relative to competitive brands (ie top end Wusthof). IIRC Global knives are mainly sold sold direct and door to door, and having spoken with a rep or two (I was leasing space to them) they consider any non- Global knives as not even being in the same quality universe, which is nonsense but understandable when you are trying to sell knife sets for 2-4X the direct price of competitive brands.
If you want to see some interesting, high tech kitchen knives, check out the ceramic Kyocera knives.
I’ve heard of ceramic knives–that they’re great at retaining a sharp blade, but can shatter if you drop them in a sink, which is something I can easily envision happening to me.
The Global block sets are freakishly expensive, but Amazon has a 3-piece set that’s the same price as the Wusthof Classic/Grand Prix 3-piece set. I figured if they were leaps and bounds better, maybe I’d give 'em a shot with a smaller set than I was planning to buy–but I think I’m going to be pretty happy with the Wusthof knives.
Where are they selling for those kinds of prices? Here in New York they’re available at Zabar’s and Broadway Panhandler (also Bed Bath & Beyond) for about the same prices as equivalent top-end Wusthof or Henckels, maybe 10% more. Personally, I love the one Global knife I have - they call it a “peeling” knife, although it’s really a paring knife. Wonderful, flexible blade, holds an edge beautifully, and I find the all-metal handle fits terrifically well in my hand.
Side note: And Global knives make a great gift for cooks who keep kosher, because if you accidently treyf an all-metal knife it’s much more easily re-kashered.
Oy gevalt!;j I’m not Jewish myself so I’m never very sure on spellings, but here’s the deal as my best friend explains it - he was raised Orthodox and still keeps kosher.
If you’re really punctilious about keeping kosher, you have to keep at least two (and more like four) sets of dishes: one for meat and one for dairy (and separate sets of each for Passover). That carries over into your cooking implements. (Here’s a great page that gives an idea of the complexities involved.) And unless you’re really wealthy and can have two separate kitchens built into your home - yes, people really do that in places like Borough Park, Brooklyn - almost inevitably somebody, sometime, ends up using a dairy knife to cut meat, or some similar mistake. That’s called “treyfing up” the implement. Now it’s unclean. The question is, how do you clean it so that it’s kosher again? That’s the process that I’ve spelled as “kashering,” because it sounds like “kahshering” - a quick google search reveals both are used. And it’s enormously complex, depending in part on what materials the implement is made from.
Here’s what one site has to say about kashering knives:
Got all that? So a knife made of a single material is easiest to kasher: drop the sucker in boiling water, no worries, end of discussion.
“- a quick google search reveals both are used.” That makes no sense at all in context, I’m sorry. What I meant was that both “kashering” and “koshering” are used to mean the same thing: cleaning an implement such that it is kosher.
Ah, thanks! I figured it was something like that–one website showed people gathered around a fire that had a pot over it, but you couldn’t actually tell what they were doing.
One of my friends is a wee wisp of a woman, and she prefers the Grand Prix knives because they are easier for her to work with. They fit her smaller hand better.
But Hubby has a larger hand and really like the Classic style better.
Me? Feh. Either one works for me. But you need to go to a good knife store or kitchen specialty store and play with the knives. See which one feels better and gives you more control.
I own the classic set, and I like the way they feel in my hand a lot. I’ve never tried the Grand Prix, though. One thing about the Classic is that, because you can see the length of the tang in the handle, psychologically it feels stronger than a knife with a molded handle. At least to compulsive weirdos like me…
I do a moderate amount of cooking and bought a seven set of Grand Prix over the net, plus another set for my Dad.
They do a fantastic job, and am very pleased with them. I bought them after seeing them rated tops in the ?November 2002 issue of Consumers Reports. They were not compared to the Classic design, nor have I used these. But Consumers preferred their balance to Henckels.
Mixie… people are talking about balance, I’m going out on a limb and guessing you’re female. Here’s my suggestion. Pick up ALL The knives of reputable makers at a good quality cooking store. Wustholf has a great reputation, but their knife handles are too big for my smaller female hands. Everyone has a preference for the way they like their knives to be balanced.
I ended up with Henckel Professional S series knives because to me, they were the ones that fit best and balanced right. I did a lot of handling and playing before I bought my knives. I’ve never regretted my decision because I knew I’d done the research.
Thanks, White Ink–yes, I’m a FemmeDillo, it’s the “ie” that gives it away ;).
I’ll try 'em out, I was a little leery of Henckel knives, because I know they have a wide range of quality in the various series, and I was told that in some sets they mix the knives–that if you purchase certain sets, some will be the good knives, and some will be the cheaper, lower quality ones. Since I’ll probably ultimately order them online, I’m a bit afraid of not getting exactly what I’m paying for.
