Recommend me a set of kitchen knives

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Cutco is the way to go.

The steak knives are small and don't feel like they will do anything. However, that double D edge is sharp as hell! Been running the full kitchen set for about a year now and no complaints other than some knicks on my fingers. LOL!

 

[TexasHTR]

Congratulations!

Mercer or Victorinox are the easy button.

That said, doing your due diligence and putting together a set of a la carte hand forged Japanese cutlery could be the answer.

This. I have some nice knives but always reach for the Vics. So quick to sharpen. Hone back super fast with a steel. And when your MIL visits and beats them up you can get them back to scary sharp very quickly. I’ve never thought I wished I was using my $150 paring knife instead of the $6 Vic. I used that little Vic paring knife to dismantle quite a few deer lately as well.

It is nice to have a few good ones for show if you have a dinner party or whatever.

 

[Alpine4x4]

Wusthof for us. I like the Ikon Classic line as I prefer the handle on the Ikon vs the regular Classic. X whatever on buying individual blades instead of a set. Our most used are the 8" chef, 5" sontaku, and a 3.5" pairing knife. We did cheap out on the steak knives and went with the Wusthof gourmet line. I didnt feel the need to spend the money on a knife that gets used to cut meat on hard plates. We also got the cheap "create collection" which actually hold an edge extremely well and added some versatility to the block along with some knives you dont feel bad using and just tossing in the sink when you're in a rush.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Finally tying the knot in October and putting together registry items and the one thing I want and really get a say in is a set of quality kitchen and steak knives. I would like a “lifetime” set. Originally I had thought cutco as I have past experience with them and the warranty is attractive. But the price of over 2k and quality of steal is not. Anyone have good recommendations of other brands I should consider? I currently have some Victorinox and they’re great tools but not sure they’re something to have in a set for decades.

We’ve had our Cutco knives for somewhere between 15-20 years. Still love using them today.

 

[BLJ]

Congratulations!

Mercer or Victorinox are the easy button.

That said, doing your due diligence and putting together a set of a la carte hand forged Japanese cutlery could be the answer.

Which Victorinox? Thanks.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Which Victorinox? Thanks.

How to Build the Best Knife Set | America's Test Kitchen

Knife blocks may be convenient, but they're not always equipped with the best (or most useful) knives. We decided to build our own knife set.

www.americastestkitchen.com

 

[Tacoland]

I second this. 98% of my knife work in the kitchen is with 3 knives: 8” chefs knife, 5” santoku, 3.5” paring knife. Add in my 9” serrated bread knife that I use sparingly and that’s all I feel that I ever use.

^This

Like a lot of people have said, full sets suck. What type of knives you get should depend on the type of cooking you do.

If you're more of a hack-and-chop kinda guy, get Euro-style knives. If you're more of a slice-and-dice kinda guy, you'll love Japanese knives.

I cook a ton and have used a lot of knives. We've switched entirely to high-quality Japanese knives, they fit our style of cooking really well. The Japanese 8" chefs knife is my most used, it's light, fast, and I can keep it stupid sharp. That's followed by a 3" paring knife and a 7" Deba for breaking down fish and birds. The wife loves the 6" petty/utility. They all look nice, so if you like to display your knives on a magnetic block, they're a good fit too.

 

[Lawnboi]

I’m not a huge fan of mkc, or their marketing.

That said for someone looking for some nice knives that are not as much maintenance as a set of Japanese knives, they are hard to beat imo.

Iv used plenty of high end production, and custom knives, along with a gambit of Japanese knives. The Japanese knives are great but require more care, and ultimately I ended up getting rid of them for knives I do t cringe at when I see my wife left them dirty next to the sink.

 

[medvedyt]

victorinox as well here. will it be for hunting or kitchen or butchering not the fanciest for sure but they work and easy to sharpen and i have some now for over 20 years not lifetime but still a good ground ...

 

[WaWox]

What matters in a knife is
1. Shape
2. Grind
3. Steel
In that order

The best fanciest steel in an unfortunate shape or bad grind is worthless. This disqualifies basically all outdoor brands for kitchen usage. They are all uniformly ground too thick for kitchen usage.

Shape depends on your preferences but for most people a standard European chef knife (without bolster, removing a lot of otherwise decent german knives) is ideal. That plus paring and bread knives, fillet knives if you break down your own fish and meat. Should have just the right amount of rocking motion to it but enough straight to cut cleanly. This rules out a lot of more novelty knives brands.

For grind, you want thin behind the edge (ruling out a lot of "good quality" knives like Wüsthof) but with convexity (ruling out stamped and basically all cheap knives). Where on thinner but less convexity vs thicker but more convex you fall depends on your preferences.

Finally steel. The optimal steel for kitchen knives is probably something like shirogami2 if you are into looking after carbon or, if you want stainless, either AEB-L or SG2. Everything else takes too long to sharpen or holds ugly edges or is so rare and artisinal that prices aren't worth it for normal people unless you are really into the craftsmanship.

Wüsthof and standard euro brands CroMoly types are fine but pretty "meh" suboptimal compared to the better types of steel. The big box Japanese knives in VG-10 are also meh compared to the better stuff but definitely usable.

BUT: All of this is irrelevant if you don't know how to sharpen the knives. And any steel is fine if you know how to sharpen.


Where this leads you is:
1. Buy a very nice chef knife in 8-10" length and maybe one shorter chef knife/santoku if your wife doesn't like using a real sized knife. I recommend going Japanese makers on direct import. If you want a registry item, a shun or a miyabi (check out which steel and so on) is pretty solid.
2. Learn to sharpen it.
3. For everything else buy victorinox.

 

[missjordan]

I went with cutco too and have no regrets


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[Jpsmith1]

Congrats! I would not ask for a “set” of knives on your registry unless you have a crazy wealthy family member who specifically asks to get you something nice. Break it out into individual pieces. Most blocks have a ton of knives you’ll never use. Get yourself a nice 8” chefs knife, paring knife, bread knife, shears, fillet/boning knife. Everything else you really don’t need. Wustoff is a great high end, buy it for life brand. Although I still use my victorinox all the time and it’s 10+ years old. Specifically for chef knifes, I’d recommend getting one without a “full bolster”. The bolster is supposed to protect your fingers but is unnecessary. Just makes it much harder to sharpen. Speaking of which… also add a nice sharpening system to the list.

This.

Spend more on the few knives that you will use.

I love my knife block. Just bought a set myself. At a thrift shop. For $10

Myself, I use an 8" chefs knife and 8" santoku and a little paring knife.

 

[CCH]

Victorinox are an amazing deal. I have those in my car camping kit. In the more pricey, yet not insane price range, I’ve got some LT Wright kitchen knives that are pretty nice and can be bought individually.