Descriptions of the way Chef’s Knives (also known as Cook’s Knives) were used in traditional kitchens sound very much like the explanation of the subtle features of the Tai Chi sword. Chef’s Knives look simple but their use is complex. Every part of the blade serves a specialized task, from chopping with the heavy section near the bolster; to slicing with the middle part of the blade; to mincing with the tip. If you want just one knife for the kitchen, the cook’s knife is that blade.
Cook’s knives come in many sizes, and though some people own several and use them for different tasks, a very reasonable approach is to buy a size that simply feels comfortable in hand. A fourteen inch chef’s knife works best in large hands — most of us will be happy with a blade that’s easier to wield. A cook’s knife with an eight inch blade fits nearly everyone.
Since a chef’s knife often does heavy work, the edge can’t be fragile. The way the bevel is ground, the quality of the steel, and the way the blade is actually manufactured all affect the efficiency of the knife. Sacrifice some slicing precision in favor of strength and you have the Chef’s knife.
For a budget choice that won’t sacrifice ease in use, pick R.H. Forschner’s 8 inch Chef’s Knife. This knife proves that modern methods and materials don’t mean a drop in quality.
Though Wusthof and Henckels have earned the loyalty of many customers, they aren’t the only companies in Solingen, Germany, who make fine knives. The Messermeister Meridian Elite has the solid strength of a forged blade without the bulky bolster.
If you’re willing to learn a few new rules, step up to the Kanetsune Gyuto Professional Chef’s Knife in Damascus steel. It’s a better knife that demands better technique. Chip the VG-10 edge and live in shame forever.
Shun's Classic 8-Inch Chef's Knife has the perfect build for smaller hands but a much more efficient design than the usual European Chef's knife. If you prefer a familiar knife style but want the advanced features of Japanese blades, take a close look at this Shun Classic knife.
Although the ...
The award-winning design of the Global G-16 10-Inch Chef's Knife brings new versatility to the powerhouse blade of the European kitchen. All-stainless steel construction reduces upkeep to a minimum without increasing weight. This excellent chef's knife cuts weight by ounces compared to the standard European pattern.
Shoppers online may ...
The Victorinox Ceramic Chef's knife outperforms not just steel knives but many other ceramic knives as well. The Cutlery Allied Trade Research Association tested the new zirconium oxide knives from Victorinox and judged them three times more flexible than other ceramic knives in the test, with a edge that last ...
The Miyabi Morimoto Edition 8-Inch Chef's Knife or Gyuto brings the refinement of a Japanese blade to one of Europe's favorite kitchen knife patterns. Made in Seki, the center of Japan's traditional sword-making industry, the Miyabi 600-S Chef's knife resulted from a collaboration between J.A. Henckels and famous Japanese ...
This ten-inch Chef's Knife in Mundial's Olivier Anquier pattern holds firmly to the Old World cutlery traditions of strong forged blades and bolsters and tough steel. Mundial does include a couple of improvements -- high carbon stain-free steel for extended blade life and granton hollows for better cutting action ...
Miyabi lists the 5000S Gyutoh 8-Inch Chef's Knife among their double-beveled blades, so don't look for the famous asymmetrical edge here. This is a standard chef's knife made with German steel. You'll find Japanese styling and Japanese craftsmanship as well as better cutting ability.
In the 5000S product line from Miyabi, ...
From the series voted 2010's Kitchen Knife of the Year by Blade Magazine, the Shun Premier 8 Inch Chef's Knife applies the philosophy of Germany's most popular TV Chef, Tim Malzer, to the best in Japanese cutlery. The Premier TM line from KAI Shun Cutlery brings the ...
Master Cutlery produced the six-inch Iron Chef Ceramic Chef's Knife, but the knife is licensed by Fuji Television Network, producer of the very popular cooking competition series Iron Chef America.
With a blade of zirconium oxide, the cutting edge of this small Chef's knife is nearly as hard as diamond. ...
Forschner Victorinox is well-known for their practical series of stamped steel kitchen knives, but the company also produces fine forged steel knives like this ten-inch Chef's Knife. Forschner's forged cutlery is manufactured in Solingen, Germany, but receives finishing touches and quality control at the Victorinox facility in Switzerland.
The Victorinox ten-inch ...
Forged in what Messermeister calls a bolsterless style, the San Moritz Elite limits the bolster to the base of the knife's tang, leaving the entire cutting edge open for use. The minimal bolster still contributes strength to the knife and matches perfectly to the molded POM handle.
This rat tail tang ...
Designed for the professional cook, Mundial's 5600 series -- including this 10-inch Cook's Knife -- is also one of today's best choices for the home kitchen. Quality rivals the popular and economical Forschner/Victorinox product line, and the value per dollar may be today's best cutlery deal.
Mundial created this Cook's ...
Whether you cook professionally or at home, you should find the Mundial 8-inch Cook's Knife to be plenty of knife for nearly every ordinary prep job. Save larger knives for the bigger jobs, and save your hands with this one. If you do much prep work, you'll ...
Combine two of the best knife blades for the modern kitchen and you might get this knife -- the Henckels Twin Signature 8-inch Hollow Edge Chef Knife. Henckels kept the classic European Chef's knife blade shape and the riveted slab handle design, and added the mysterious hollow grind of the ...
With the six-inch Shun/KAI Chef's Knife, expect the slick performance of a santoku but the familiar style of the standard chef's knife. Not just for light slicing, this high quality prep knife from Shun's Classic series has the strength for other work as well.
Forged with 33 layers of high ...
A chef's knife with a 12-inch cutting edge is a little beyond the range of most people, since a classical knife that large is too heavy for most to use comfortably, and a good forged knife of that size costs a pretty penny. The 12-inch Chef's Knife from R.H. Forschner/Victorinox ...
Messermeister's Park Plaza series offers fine prep knives in stamped equivalents of the company's forged Meridian Elite brand. Slightly lighter than the forged steel version, the Park Plaza 9-Inch Chef's knife still has full tang strength and a fine edge taper grind.
Stamped from a blank of no-stain X50CrMoV15 high carbon stainless ...
The Petty Petit gyuto or chef's knife was created by the Kitasho Company of Seki City, Japan, a center of fine sword smiths for 800 years. Kitasho began more recently in 1948 and manufactures a broad line of chef's cutlery and hunting knives built to Japanese specifications rather than ...
The Henckels Gourmet 3-Piece Starter Set of three high carbon stainless steel knives pares back the complications of J.A. Henckels manufacturing to the bare minimum but still provides three very useful blades of good quality. The alloy steel matches Henckels' usual standards, but construction methods are much simpler ...
One good chef's knife does a lot for the kitchen, easing all kinds of prep work from slicing vegetables to carving meat and even mincing herbs. In skilled hands, every part of the chef's knife efficiently performs a different essential task. The Meridian Elite Chef's Knife from Messermeister of Solingen, Germany, ...
It certainly has a German shape and a German name, but that's where the similarity ends.
This isn't quite the same level of quality that most folks expect from Wusthof. This stamped blade knife shouldn't be confused with its more expensive "forged" brethren, but it will offer a respectable level ...
Primarily used for de-boning and slicing raw or cooked meat, fish, and poultry, the Shun Pro Deba knife with a 6 1/2" plain edge is one of the fundamental blades of the Japanese kitchen, dating back to the Edo period in the city of Sakai. Once famous for fine ...
For precise slicing of large cuts of meat like roast beef, you need a long blade. The Wusthof Gourmet 12" Roast Beef Slicer meets that specialty need and throws in some extra features as well.
In a forged blade, that extra length can be expensive, but the stamped steel ...
Made to Shun's exacting standards with the same materials as their Classic series, this 4 3/8" Chef's Knife follows a design by famous American knife maker Ken Onion. This beautiful knife makes a practical addition to any cutlery set, with features suitable for collectors.
The curved full tang handle ...
An all metal Cook's Knife with an 8" blade and a sculpted handle of 18/10 cutlery grade stainless steel, the Culinar chef's knife from Wusthof almost looks too good to use. The quality extends to the knife's practical features as well, making it a prep knife you'd be tempted to use ...
Japanese blades of all kinds, from swords to carpentry tools, are so refined that to many Westerners the subtle features go unnoticed. The Nakiri vegetable knife is a fine example of a craft so skilled it may cause you to rethink the basics and become a better chef.
At first ...
Five high quality chef's tools and a sharpening steel, plus a fine hardwood 10 slot knife block--with this set from J. A. Henckels you get all the essentials and room for more. The assortment includes a 4" paring knife, 5" serrated utility knife, 7" Santoku knife, 8" Chef's knife and a ...
This set of three fundamental home chef's knives from J. A. Henckels Cutlery is a reasonable choice for someone starting out on a budget. The Professional Series from which these knives are taken isn't the finest Henckels has to offer, but it's serviceable if you are willing to spend time ...
Like the other knives in the Komachi line from KAI, the Japanese company best known for making the well regarded Shun knives, this knife is intended to be used to cut only one type of product or ingredient.
The pink color and animal shaped cutouts in the ...
We've got strong opinions about Chef's knives around here. Check out our guide to kitchen knives on a budget to get an overview, but we tend to recommend Japanese knives like Shun or, if you're on a budget, Tojiro. If you're insistent on German knives, Messermeister is ...
This baby sounds impressive -- it uses titanium! If it's good for golf balls and aircraft carriers, it must make a heck of a kitchen knife, right?
Well... Yes and No. First off, know that the knife's edge is not made of titanium. It's the shiny blue component that is a titanium ...
You've got to digest a few things when checking out this knife you may never have heard of.
First off, the style. It's a gyuto - basically the Japanese equivalent of a western chef's knife - an all-purpose knife sharp enough to cut through multiple meats, vegetables, and fish.
Next up, the brand. Kanetsune is not ...
The Deba knife is a Japanese-style Chef's knife, ideally suited for butchering fish or slicing through hard vegetables. It's hefty enough to cut through fine bones, but is certainly not the heavyweight that a cleaver is.
This Deba sports all the features you've come to love from Global -- light weight, sand-filled ...
MAC makes some incredible knives. They don't have the prominence or the marketing budget enjoyed by more well-known brands like Shun or Wusthof, but their knives are every bit as good.
The Superior series deserves the press it gets for being a great value, but the Professional knives are the ones that ...
Wusthof making Japanese-style knives? Alert the media!
Actually, Wusthof has come a long way recently in redesigning its knives to meet needs of today's chef.
This knife is a good example. The full bolster that prevented re-sharpening is gone. The shape is a departure from the traditional German styling and the ...
Masanobu makes high-end knives that rival brands such as Hattori and Shun.
Masanobu's razor-sharp Japanese blades feature a core made of VG-10 steel. VG-10 steel is one of the sharpest steels you can find in a kitchen knife today. It also holds an edge extremely well.
Additionally, the blade is angled ...
Ah, Global... You either love 'em or hate 'em.
Global ushered in a new era in kitchen cutlery 15 years or so ago, introducing the world to Japanese steel and their resulting razor-sharp knives.
If you like a good story, you can read more about that in our article on the ...
For many Chinese chef's, this type is not just an essential knife, but rather the single most essential knife in the kitchen.
Some will quibble and say that this is a Chef's knife and technically not a cleaver, but what's in a name? If you can use it to hack through ...
Mundial Knives are the choice of many professional chefs, so you know they're high-quality. But don't just take their word for it; check out the details...
This set includes the essential kitchen knives and not too much else. This is a good thing -- you don't want to pay extra for knives ...
We recently wrote about the Kyocera Revolution Ceramic Chef's Knife and spent a fair amount of that space discussing the pros and cons of ceramic. You should check out that post for the details.
For those who want a quick recap, though, ceramic knives are a good alternative to stainless steel ...
If you're looking for a basic set of sharp knives, and don't want to have to mess with the piecework of selecting particular knives over others, this Calphalon set is a darn good choice.
Calphalon is a trusted name in cutlery, though not as high-profile as Wusthof or Shun. This set attempts to combine ...
Warning: I'm about to say something bad about Rachael Ray. If this review ends abruptly, you'll know that the lawyers got to me!
Okay, here goes: You can (and should) get better knives than these for the same money. Regular readers of this blog know that our favorite inexpensive knife set ...
Ceramic knives present a unique set of trade-offs. On the one hand, they are sharp, lightweight and stainless. On the other, they are brittle and difficult to resharpen.
Let's take a closer look....
The hardness of ceramic means it can be made very sharp. This Kyocera, for example, will almost certainly be sharper than ...
The blade edges are made from a high-carbon steel and molybdenum blend, providing a sharp cutting surface that will hold its edge. Like their more expensive competitors from Shun, their blades are "wrapped" in softer, stain-resistant steel to protect the blade. The Shun's blades are made of a higher-quality steel, but these ...
OnlyKnives' Best $50 Kitchen Knives
This is a great choice for anyone looking to start a knife set on a limited budget.
You get three "essential" knives -- a Chef's knife, a slicing knife and a paring knife. Limiting the number of knives in a set helps you to save money while focusing on ...
Shun knives are by no means budget knives. Some consider them synonymous with "expensive". But limit yourself to a small set of essential knives and you'll actually find them worth every penny.
Why? Because Shun has also become synonymous with "quality". All three of the major US cutlery retailers -- Williams Sonoma, Sur La ...
OnlyKnives' Best $1000 Kitchen Knives
FromShun Classic Knives, the blade is made up of a VG-10 steel core, wrapped by layers of stainless steel. This allows the edge to be extremely sharp, to retain its edge over time and yet still be stain-resistant.
VG-10 is one of the premier steels being used in ...
It's"http://www.onlyknives.com/mac-professional-chefs-knife-8-mth-80-best-budget-chefs-knife/">8" Professional Chef's knife (MAC #MTH-80). It has two features that the Superior Chef's knives don't -- a half-bolster for a better balance and dimples (or "grantons"), to keep food from sticking to the knife.
For the rest of your knives, the Superior series is great. The 7" utility knife (#SA-70) and 5" ...
Global Knives are known for their razor-sharp edges, lightweight feel and funky contemporary styling.
This set consists of five essential kitchen knives and nothing more. It features an 8" chef's knife, an 8.25" carving knife for slicing meats, 8.75" serrated bread knife, 5.5" utility knife and a 4" paring knife.
As you probably know by ...
Never heard of Messermeister?
That's good news. Since they're lesser-known than Wusthof and Henckels, they don't charge the huge markups that come from being a household name.
Instead, they just make great knives. Their San Moritz Elite features blades made of X55CrMoV15 steel -- a high-carbon blend containing molybdenum and vanadium for sharpness and edge-retention.
Those ...
Made in Solingen Germany for over a century, all Messermeister knives are finely crafted tools.
The forged steel blade is crafted from a single piece of steel. It is not only durable but holds a fine edge.
Thanks to the bolsterless blade heel, it can be easily sharpened down the full length of the ...
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