Wasn't sure if I should post in the lounge or Essential Edge.

Anyway my gift to me this year is new kitchen knives.

Likely a chef's knife, santoku, utility and paring.

What do you all use? Not unlimited budget but looking for quality for the at home hobbyist chef.

Cheers!

You will got tons of ideas and brands. Personally I am a Wusthof Classic Icon fan.

Must have:

Chef Knife
Paring knife
Boning Knife
Set of kitchen scissors.
A quality steel

NEVER put your good knives in the dishwasher.

Good luck and enjoy.

I think the Tojiro DP are great for quality and value.

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/tojirodpseries.html

Shun Classic.

The seven piece set for around $500 as i recall. (The block, shears, and steel are each a piece)..

I started out with this set and been steadily adding and the block is full plus a vegetable cleaver.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LS1 GTO,

8” European chef knife (henkel, wusthof, whatever). I like Pro / Pro S. Or Shun.

6” Japanese deba. I like Aritsugu.

10”-ish Japanese sashimi. Aritsugu.

Carving knife. (Henkel)

Paring knife. Shun.

Bread knife. (Not too picky here).

Santoku, boning, variation of paring (can't remember the name), and a bread knife is all I need. In that order is where I'd spend my money.

The Santoku is by far my most used knife and where I would spend the most money. The bread knife is the least important of the group, but used often.

Wusthof Classic is what I went with when stocking my new kitchen. Great quality, at reasonable prices.

I ended up piecing together a set consisting of:

8" Chef's knife
6" Utility knife (aka "sandwich knife")
5" Nakiri
4.5" Asian utility knife
3.5" Paring knife
Bread knife
Steel
Shears

That covers all of my bases. I originally planned to eventually add a Santoku as well, but so far, I don't see the need.

The Nakiri and Asian utility knife see the most use.

Quality knives were the one thing I added to our wedding registry when I got married. I went with four Global knives and two Shun knives. Do not overlook a quality bread knife, it makes a huge difference. If you don't have quality knives now, keep in mind your new knives will likely be WAY sharper than you're used to, go slow with them at first. My wife nearly took off a digit her first time using our new knives.


TS

I have a set of Global Trades Classics that I have been adding to for the last few years. I love the weight and balance, it doesn’t hurt that they look cool too.

Henkel Pro Ice Tempered.
3" paring
4" paring
7" boning
8" French.
Carbon steel Chinese cleaver

9.5" Chef's knife (French style - MBS-26 steel)
8.5" Chef's knife (German style - forged high-carbon chrome molybdenum steel)
8.5" Wa-Gyuto (San-Mai - SKD11 aka D2 core)
8.5 x 4.25" Chinese Ping Vegetable Cleaver (carbon steel)
7 x 3.1" Chinese Utility Nakiri style Cleaver (X50CrMoV15 Stainless)
7" Santoku (VG10)
6" Utility Serrated (MBS-26)
4" Paring (forged high-carbon chrome molybdenum steel)
10" Bread knife (X50CrMoV15)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bald1,

Mercer Culinary Genesis knives are very good value and a lot of restaurants use them. My daughter took our older Henkel knife set to college with her and I've been replacing with the Mercer Genesis.

I like RogueJSK's list and he's not wrong about the Nakiri being used most. I have the Santoku but I still prefer the Nakiri. Overall, one of the best knives I own.

Whatever you do: dishwasher is a no-no. I hand wash and dry my knives once I am done with them. You won't get rust spots or chips in the blades if you make this a habit.

I have a Cutco Set (Homemaker) with the wood block holder.
Been very happy with a decent set.
One big tip...If hand washing: Never put knives near the dish pan. You don't want to be fishing for a dropped sharp object in the water. We stack ours away from pan to avoid that potential.

My all around go to knife that I use is a Wusthoff Classic 7" Santoku that I use 98% of the time for everything. Followed by a paring knife, 5.5" serrated utility knife that's great on tomatoes, chef knife and bread knife. The handle fit is very important, so best to go to a place you can handle them. I'd stick with forged knives and Wusthoff classic, Henckel with 1 man on the logo (all German made) or Shun, or some of the other high quality japanese knives whose handles are too small for my hands generally.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
I think the Tojiro DP are great for quality and value.

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/tojirodpseries.html

I have this inexpensive ($25) Japanese Tojiro bread knife:

www.amazon.com/dp/B001TPA816/r...c_fabc_-211FbCT7VKPV

It’s excellent. Very sharp, and it slices bread without scattering crumbs.

Tojiro also offers more expensive bread knives, but I think mine is better because its blade is narrower – less drag from side friction.

My other kitchen knives are US-made Chicago Cutlery – no longer available.

Lots of good choices out there. Though I'll always be partial to Wusthof. I grew up using them and the set my parents got 50 or so years ago is still going strong.

Wüsthof 8" 'Classic' chef's knife. I listed this knife, NIB, in our Classified, and it was sold in minutes @ $70 delivered. (I happened to have two). 8" Cook's Knife - 1040100120
https://www.wusthof.com/collec...oks-knife-1040100120

Cutco #1721 4-7/8" Double-D®-edge blade utility knife.
https://www.cutco.com/products...uct.jsp?item=trimmer

That's it. I do practically everything with these two knives. If I had to pick one, it would be the 8". The 6" Wüsthof chef's knife is often on sale, to tease you into the brand. I've one of those in rotation, when the 8" is not yet cleaned.

6" Cook's Knife - 1040100116
https://www.wusthof.com/collec...oks-knife-1040100116

I've also the Wüsthof 3 ½" paring and 9" serrated bread knives. And use them on occasion. 9" bread knife slices pickles and onions very thinly.

Got dad the Wüsthof 5" "sausage knife" it used to be called - 5" Serrated Utility Knife - 1040101614 but am not thrilled by it, preferring the Cutco 6" utility knife. Why? Blade too wide.

Also got dad the Wüsthof 6" "sandwich knife", it was called back then, 6" Utility Knife - 1040100716, and it is OK but the blade is too narrow for my tastes. The 6" or 8" cook's knives are far handier because the blades are wider.

I'll inherit dad's Wusthof, so maybe my opinion will change with more regular use.

If I were starting to acquire kitchen knives and was starting at square one, I would buy a decent set from Costco. Either a Henkel, Whustof, or Cangshan set from Costco. Then I would go all in and get the Blazen (talked about below). Being that the one Chef’s Knife will do 90% or more of the cutting in my kitchen, the Costco set will be really nice for the other 10% of cutting I need to do.

I have been using knives in the kitchen both for hobby and professionally. If I was choosing one knife, and only one to use, I would go with a standard Chef’s Knife. I see a lot of recommendations for 8”. It’s too small. Especially if it will be the only one. This has a great length of 9.5” of cutting edge, and a great handle. I have used this knife until it was sharpened to retirement (blade height was down to 1.5” and it was no longer a Chef’s Knife.

https://www.epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=85490

The only reason I haven’t replaced it with another is that I don’t use them professionally anymore, and choose to spend my fun money on great projects like replacing the carpet in the bedroom with vinyl plank.

I currently have a Shun Classic Santuko 7” that is my go to for everything aside if butchering and slicing. I have very large blades (long cutting edge) for those tasks.
The Santuko is a great all around kitchen knife as well. It lacks the sharper point of a Chef’s knife like the Blazen, but I have yet to have an issue with it. I’ve had this one for nearly ten years of home hobby use. The blade is getting shorter, but ten years of home use is less than a couple months’ use in a professional kitchen.

https://www.epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=83390

This is a set from Costco for $100. These are pretty great knives for the price and if you buy the one good Chef’s Knife, this set will fill in all the gaps very nicely. I actually own this set and when my wife gave it to me I was very skeptical. I will say it has impressed me. Not just a little. I’m quite impressed with the knives for a hundred bucks.

https://www.costco.com/cangsha...oduct.100485534.html

I buy all my specialty knives through the Epicurean Edge. This is two fold. They used to be close to me when I lived in Communist Washington. They have amazing customer service, are extremely helpful, and have a warranty/guarantee that is unmatched in the kitchen knife industry.

Now to the truth of the matter. The knife is a small equation to the cutting. I can pick up a $5 cheap ass knife from TJ Maxx and will be able to cut just as well as I can with a Blazen or my Shun. I will have to sharpen much more often, but it’ll work just about as well. When spending more, you’re buying quality of the steel, and the fine line between getting something that’s easy to sharpen, and will hold a good edge.

The Blazen has this nailed. It is a very easy to sharpen knife and it holds an edge better than any other knife I have used. It also has more weight to it than a standard Chef’s Knife and that makes it a lot easier to do long monotonous tasks like chopping mirepoix for hours. It also has incredible balance. I will go as far to say it has perfect balance between blade and handle. The result is a heavier knife that is as easy to use as a very lightweight knife.

As far as sharpening, if you get a good knife, throw away any steel rod you may have. Don’t ever use those on a good knife. Get a diamond rod and a ceramic rod. Once in a great while my knifes will have to hit the diamond rod for a couple passes. Aside of that a couple passes before use on the ceramic rod and it’s as sharp as a razor, literally.

These two are very reasonably priced and will do quite well for keeping you doublesharp (yeah, I stole that from the member doublesharp from the thread where he described how he chose his screen name).

Diamond Rod

Ceramic Rod

Here’s where I brag and show off a little. This is with the very affordable Shun Classic.
https://youtu.be/C8dG23KIIIw

I could literally type five times this much about kitchen knives, but I have to get ready to head to work. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

I've had this set for 5 years and absolutely love them. If you shop a bit, they drop under $300, lowest I've seen is $280. The great part is there is room for a cleaver and another decent sized knife and it has everything you can want. I've cut myself many times with these.
https://www.amazon.com/Zwillin...id=1607954844&sr=8-3

The guys here have given lots of great advice. I would like to add that you consider buying knives individually.

I held as many different knives as I could before buying my Shun chef's knife. The balance, side, and fit in my hand checked all the boxes.