What knife gets the most use in your kitchen? .... and why?

[wacki]

what's the kitchen knife that gets the most usage and why?

Interested in details. Steel type , blade shape, handles, looks, practicality etc.

[kalaeb]

At home, 250 mm "mystery" carbon steel gyuto from Devin Thomas, my wife and I actually share a fondness for the knife, its the only knife over 165mm that she will use. Beautifully crafted, rounded spine, choil, very nice distal taper to an impossibly thin tip. Starts the perfect amount of flex about 1.5 inches from the tip and nice and sturdy from the middle to the heel. Overall the most balanced knife in my collection.

At work it a split between a 270mm PM stainless san mai from Devin Thomas, its my beast, little thicker and heavier, able to pound through copious amount of prep without any substaintial edge degredation. The stainless is nice because I dont have to be super anal about wiping it down every 10 min after cutting onions or lemons. No glory, just pure performance. The second split is a rrlover, Mario, 260 gyuto in CPM 154, just really started using this knife, great convexity, well balanced, not sure about edge retention yet, but feels like it may be a contender for a top a spot.

All three knives are wa handled. And even the work knives look like champs.

[Mike Davis]

Very nice Kalaeb!! I think my most used lnife in the kitchen right now is a Gengetsu 240 mm stainless clad white #2 gyuto. Probably the only gyuto i have that will keep it's original d wa handle. It has fantastic geometry, cuts effortlessly and has amazing balance. Second to that, i bought my wife a Watanabe 210 pro line gyuto with a wa handle, and that is what she uses on a daily basis, great cutter for a little knife.

[tomsch]

Custom by Landi in 1095 steel. Very thin grind makes for an excellent slicer. In the picture is a Menefee custom paring knife that sees a lot of work too.

[fast14riot]

Nothing really special for me, but I use the J.A. Henckels Classic 10" Chef. Its a little heavy for me, but the wife likes it. I did jut pick up an Old Hickory 12" chef at the flea market that needs to be cleaned up and I'll likely rehandle it, too.


-Xander

[macmiddlebrooks]

Right now, it's my CCK 1303. I'm a recent convert to the cleaver.


IMG_0348 by macmiddlebrooks, on Flickr

[Ah Pook]

For the last seventeen years a Henckels Classic 8" chef and 4" paring knife have done 85% of my kitchen work. An OXO bread knife and Green River butcher knife round out the field.

Recently, a Shun Classic 8" chef's knife has made it's way into the fold.

These knives get used every day.

[JSMcustoms]

It's nothing all that special, but the knife that gets the most use around my kitchen is a Cold Steel Pendleton Lite Hunter.

[Alberta Ed]

Well, my wife usually grabs an aluminum-handled, extremely dull paring knife with maybe 420J steel. She is a serial knife abuser, tho'. I usually use my Sebbie 21 or Dozier K1.

[calvinw]

Nothing special for me. I use a Henckels 7 inch santoku. The handle has a swell and tapers towards the end. I use it more than the 8 inch chef knife because the santoku is lighter.

I don't mix my knives with the kitchen knives... If I do, I'm just goofing around.

[sigsoup]

all around a tie between my shun elite santoku or my shun elite 6 inch.

if i'm :

baking = henckel 4 star 8 inch not worried about blade chipping as much as vg-10 or sg-2 and sometimes have to come in contact with pie pans or metal.
cold line = santoku because it slices like a haus !!!
hot line = 6 inch santoku because we had narrow cutting boards....stupid boss.