Thread: Kitchen knife suggestions

Messermeister.

I wouldnt buy a set, i would get seperates that I liked, you can mix and match...

But for my chefs knives, I have messermeisters... I have 2 of them.. his and hers!

Howdy all,

Many good replies here, lets start off with a few questions to narrow the field a wee bit.

Is cost much of a factor? Some good knives can get pricey and some low cost knives are great.

What cuisine type are you most likely going to use these knives on? A vegatarian would need generally different knives than a carnivor.

Is a "Set" what you want? Many sets have knives that you will never use, thus a waste of money.

Are you interested in western, japanese, or cleavers? Or a mix of them?



You will find if you place your sights (and cash) around the $150-200 per knife range, you will cover almost every quality knife available (mostly). Many good knives can be had for far less. It really depends on what your after.

Vegatebles don't generally need the heavy knives needed for boning out meat. Even though a good heavy blade would be needed for goards, melons, and such. While cutting meat would require a few special knives, such are a boning type blade.

Sets are nice to look at while sitting on the counter or on the wall rack, but not all knives in a set fit you just right. Thats why I would recommend not going with a set. Find a shop that has as many different styles of knives. Ask to feel each style in a cutting motion just to see what feels good. Than you will have an idea what works for you.

Styles, that question may give you a headache, maybe not. Western knives would make the list short, but maybe not. Generally a western set can be as short as 1 chef knife, 1 bread slicer, and a parry type knife. Or as long as your arm. Western knives are great for those that don't wish to get crazy with their knife care. Softer steel makes easier sharpening and can be honed easily with a ribbed steel. Most are stainless and easier to deal with than carbon. Japanese knives, Tojiro as mentioned earlier, are harder steel generally and really hard to pin down. So many differences and styles as mentioned in earlier posts. These knives tend to require more maintainance. And many shops that sharpen knives don't really know how to work on japanese styled knives, so it would be up to you to sharpen and hone them. Chinese type cleavers are super simple. You have your chopper and your slicer... Thats about it, but that is all you need. You can really get by with these two cleavers if you learn how to use them. They are a bit different.

So lets see what happens after this post I'll post what I like and works for me. I trust others will pitch in their favorites as well.

One thing I'd like to ask though, lets not flame anyones choise of knives. A simple "I don't like those kinds" or something along those lines. We all have our wants and needs, some are going to be different than others.

Given the above, I'm not a fan of Furi knives in the pro kitchen. Only seen 2 and both fell apart rapidly.
Messermeister are a great fusion type knife, German made Japanese styling.

This is greatly helpful. I haven't thought things through to this level yet, so I'm still figuring out what questions I should be asking.

I'm leaning toward going Western style--maybe German steel. It hadn't occured to me that Solingen steel would be good in knives, too. Doh!

My price range is probably $50-$100 per knife, and I'll probably get about three or four: paring knife, chef knife, bread knife, and maybe a carving knife of some kind.

I also like more traditional styling; the industrial-looking knives are cool on a certain level, but if I'm going to spend a few bucks I'd prefer a more traditional look.

Does that help any?

Josh

Sheffield knives may be a bit more traditional looking than German or Sabatier (French). If you like real design don't forget to look for Danish stuff. Danes make great kitchen stuff, not only knives, in very original designs!

Look at this (88% discount as well!): http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Chef-5-P...ews/B000HPOSVK

Sorry, initially I overlooked customer satisfaction notes: knives appear of questionable quality!

But other Danish design is certainly worth looking into IMHO.

I had heard a lot about sutoku knives and purchased a J.A. Henckles Pro Thinking I was getting some fine German made steel. I was only partly right as the blade stamp woke me to the sad reality.
stamped on the blade...Made in China

Santuko styled knives are very popular at the moment (FoodNetwork coverage) so there are many out there. Henkles has become a global market and you really have to do some homework to get the good stuff. For fit and finnish Wusthof makes a good knife that is very durable, again research is needed to get the good ones.

In a german styled knife I would suggest Messermeister Elites. This is a bit biased as I don't like trying to sharpen around a full bolster. Last I checked they where still a good buy. The steel is a bit harder than most german knives though.

An 8" to 10" chef knife is handy (home cooks tend tward the 8".
Bread knives are a wide open item, lots of persoan prefference there. Many will suggest the super cheapie that saws thru the bread easaly. Others will say the higher end scaluped edge is better at slicing bread (I like these) but cost alot more. Sawing leaves alot of crumbs, slicing leaves very little crum.

Parry knives come in such a veriety of styles that you really to play with them to know what you want. One thing I look for is a thin blade. Generally 1mm thick is a good start, but these tend to be pricy. So hold as many as you can find while checking at the shop.

The Santuko style is worth bringing up as it is a great general purpose slicer. When doing alot of vegatable prep work this knife can be handy. Look for a thin one.

Generally I suggest getting a feel for the knife before buying it. Many great knives may not feel good in the hand and some lowwer end knive feel great. If you don't like the feel your not going to use it that often, Thus wasted money. Even lower end knives will last along time depending on how often they are used. If your a home cook that doesn't do alot of cutting, most knives will last forever if takin care of.

I hope this gets you closer to what you need. There are SO MANY variables that it would be hard to pick one style and say "This is the best knife" it's imposable. It took me awhile to settle on my current set, These are great knives for me, but not for everyone. Check out all the knives suggested in this thread and find what feels right.

I love to here the input of a professional!!

I'll just throw another monkey wrench into the mix.

I would have been happy with a mixed bag of good knives as long as they were the perfect slicers for my purpose and hand. I, however, have a nice set of Wusthofs because they match and look good siting on the counter. Because my wife also needed to be pleased with this not inexpensive purchase. I chose my set based upon the chefs knife as it is my mainstay in the kitchen but also have a bread, boning, and paring knifes to fill out the block.

As a homeowner my knives are a part of the kitchen decor. What I have serves well as counter art as well as incredible food slicers.

I never liked the santokus I'd tried that much until I got a shigefusa santoku quite recently which completely changed my attitude. I'm not a huge lover of cleavers either, even though I just bought another couple recently.

FWIW i use a carbon CCK cleaver, a british carbon chefs knife.

MY gf uses a kitchen devil at present. I am going to get her a henckels four star santoku, as it won't rust if she leaves it sitting. I have a masamoto vg10 gyuto coming.

I use CCK's at work, great beater cleavers. Good steel and low cost, purfect for the line

Shigefusa is another maker I'm looking to get a knife from. I hear good things from them.

Wusthof makes a good product and has many styles to choose from. I really don't think you can go wrong with these as a western knife choise.