Best Kitchen Knives for Chefs

Best Kitchen Knives – Traditional Chef’s Knives

Traditional Chef’s knives are heavier and longer than Santoku chef knives. The two most popular high end knives are the Wusthof Classic Chef Knife and the JA Henckels Pro S Chef’s knife. Just like the aforementioned Japanese knives, both of these knives are exceptional. It all comes down to user’s preference.

One thing to mention is that these traditional knives do not come out of the box as sharp as they can be. Give them a little love, sharpen them, and you will see their true potential. They will never be as sharp as the Japanese knives, but they can come close. And once they are sharp, they will stay sharp for far longer than Japanese knives. Let’s look at these two in a little more detail.

The Wusthof knives have a forged blade made from high carbon stainless steel with a bolster and a polypropylene handle riveted to the full tang. Some with larger hands find the handle to be too thin, others adore it. The blade is thicker than that of other traditional knives. This knife is weighty, durable, and well balanced. The Wusthof Classic can handle almost any job you throw at it.

The popular Henckels Pro S also has a forged blade of high carbon stainless steel with full tang, but the blade is welded to the handle instead of the entire knife being forged at once. JA Henckels knives are sometimes criticized for this but the weld is invisible and the company claims that the welds are actually stronger than steel. The knife features Henckels popular triple-riveted Novodur handles and feels surprisingly light for the amount of power the knife possesses.

Best Kitchen Knives – The Budget Buy

Victorinox kitchen knives, mainly the R.H. Forschner, is by far the top chef knife in the under $40 range. Don’t let the price turn you off. Some reviewers state that they rather reach for this knife instead of other expensive knives in their block.

Forschner knives, made by Swiss craftsman, are made from stamped, high-carbon stainless steel with no bolster. Most think that the best chef knives are forged, but this knife is the exception. The Victorinox’s handles are made from slip resistant Fibrox fiber and are ergonomically designed for balance.

The knife cuts well and keeps a good edge, but some miss the heft found in the higher end forged knives. The R.H. Forschner Chef’s Knife is dishwasher safe. Really. A lot of the higher end knives discussed above also claim to be dishwasher safe, but I wouldn’t recommend it. My Forschner goes in the dishwasher every time, and it is fine.

How Can I Tell Which Kitchen Knife To Use?

How can I tell which kitchen knife to use? Learn which kitchen knife is used for different tasks like slicing, cutting, chopping, deboning and dicing. Many kitchen knives serve specific purposes and the...

Many kitchen knives serve specific purposes and the correct knife should be used for each task to provide safety and efficiency. Proper use and selection is important. There are a number of types and styles of knives available depending on the cook's level of expertise. Some of these kitchen knives include paring knives, utility knives, chef's knives, bread knives, fillet knives, boning knives, slicers, and specialty knives.

The most versatile and most common of the paring knives is the chef's or spear point parer. These knives are used for peeling or slicing fruits and vegetables or to remove stems. They can also be used for other small jobs where extreme control of the knife is necessary. To slice garlic or shallots you may select a sheep's foot parer that has a straight edged blade and a blunt tip. For round fruits and vegetables that you want to use as a garnishment, you may want to use a bird's beak parer. Paring knives are typically about two to four inches long.

Utility knives that are also known as sandwich knives are usually about four to seven inches long and have many uses. They are great at slicing cold cuts, small pieces of meat, fruit or sandwiches. Tomato knives have a serrated edge that is great for slicing through the skin of a tomato but these knives can also be used on bagels or rolled meats. The forked tip allows the user to lift and move the slices already made. Fluting knives offer the highest level of control of the knife tip. They make excellent garnishing tools with their two to four inch blades.

Chef's or cook's knives are the main staple of a kitchen as they are the most versatile and can be used for most any cutting need. Trish Gray is the marketing manager for Kyocera Advanced Ceramics. She travels the country doing promotional work and public relations while handling the marketing and packaging as well. Gray states, "The chef knife, in traditional steel, will probably be 8-10 inches. It's the largest knife in there." She adds, "A chef knife is a little bit different than the butcher knife because people associate that more with the carving knife- it's got a slightly curved edge so you have a rocking motion when you are cutting with it. It allows you to use them in a back and forth motion when you're cutting the foods and gives you lots of stability and people like that. That feeling when they are cutting with the chef's knife is stable."

Bread knives have serrated or scalloped edges and can be used on items with tough skin or an outer crust. These are great for thick-skinned fruits like pineapple, watermelon or cantaloupe. Gray notes that, "The bread knife will also be quite large in size, but the chef knife you'll notice, has a much wider tip at the base. It's a fatter blade overall then either a bread knife or slicer."

Fillet and boning knives are essential in preparing meat, poultry, and fish. Fillet knives are flexible which aids in the removal of bones and skin of fish. They also may be used on delicate fowl such as quail or pheasant. Fillet knives are usually about five to eight inches in length. Boning knives are used to separate the flesh and bones in meat and poultry. Their thin blades are stiff and have a special "S" shaped edge that was formulated to penetrate the flesh and then follow the contour along the bone. Boning knives are usually about five to eight inches long. Trimming knives are great for removing fat from beef so your presentation of the plate is more appealing. They are also good choices for cutting small fowl.

Slicers or carvers are used to carve meats like roast, ham or turkey. Some of these knives have long thin blades with tips that are rounded off for safety reasons. The goal is to minimize the friction and allow these knives to smoothly pass through the meat and make nice clean slices.

In addition to these basic and practical knives there are an assortment of specialty knives available for many other uses. Some of these include cheese knives, Nogent knives, Santoku knives, pizza wheels, shrimp deveiners, and others.