Best Quality Kitchen Knives

S

SnagBoat

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Oct 4, 2014
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Hello All,

This is my first post to the forum so my apologies if this is in the wrong place. I am looking for new kitchen knives and I wanted to hear what people think are the best.

I have used Shun, Global, Windmuehlenmesser, and Cutco knives. The manufacturer of my kitchen sells Güde knives which are the heaviest knives I have ever seen. They feel nice but I don't know if they are any good.

What would you recommend? Price isn't an issue really. I don't need some crazy Damascus style knife or anything else too over the top but I just want top quality.
 
Welcome to BF!!!!!
I purchased a custom from Big Chris here on BF in CPM-M4 and it is simply an amazing kitchen knife. You need to check out the knife makers here and look at their work in the knife makers forum. There is a kitchen knife section. So far, I've got three kitchen customs that I've been using over my others. There are some good quality makers here
 
What holes need filling in your knife roll? What are you looking to cut, do you want a set? What style of blade do you prefer, thick, thin, long, short, Euro, Asian, hybrid, forged, cold rolled, professional tool, high end factory, or custom?
 
Hi, There a lot of knives to choose from but I think we must find which possess better quality set even if it does not belong to a popular brand.
Since kitchen knives is used daily for cooking, we must bear in mind also that we must select that have durability, strength, and those which fit our hands comfortably.
 
Hi, There a lot of knives to choose from but I think we must find which possess better quality set even if it does not belong to a popular brand. Since kitchen knives is used daily for cooking, we must bear in mind also that we must select that have durability, strength, and those which fit our hands comfortably.
 
Personally, without breaking the bank, I prefer MAC's and FKM series for kitchen work. I've had some for over 10 years now, still going strong.
 
What did you like and dislike about the Windmuehlenmesser by Robert Herder, Solingen?
 
I bought a Zwilling Kramer 10" with a few Sur La Table gift cards I got at Xmas. It is carbon steel and will stain with use and exposure to acidic foods. But, it zips through all the foods that give my decade old Wusthof 8" difficulty (like cherry tomatoes.) If you don't have one of these Kramer designed knives, you need to go to Sur La Table and test one out.
 
oivind_dahle said:
Agree, but would add Torjo to that one :)
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Tojiro's are great too, I just don't often throw them in there since they're thin VG-10 and not the most forgiving for beginners. Those three though have many of the best practices of the east and west all in their blades. Whereas if money wasn't an option, Wilburn Forge takes the cake for me.
 
I think you must first decide what are your requirements and what are the qualities you are looking for in a knife. Once thats decided it will be much easier for you to select a particular kitchen knife. It also depends on what are you going to use it for. E.g. for cutting meat you may need a knife of different specifications as compared to that which you use for cutting vegetables.
 
For most people just 2 knives will do the trick:

A petty and a guyto - few people need a special knife for boning, for veggies, for bananas and for chicken...

For home chefs a Gyuto in 180 - 210 will do the trick. And a petty in 120-150 :)
I have knives for all types of use, but normally just use one gyuto that imo is the most versatile knife in the kitchen :)

MY GF just use her Carter 150ish Funyaki, and is more than happy :)
 
For most people just 2 knives will do the trick:

A petty and a guyto - few people need a special knife for boning, for veggies, for bananas and for chicken...

For home chefs a Gyuto in 180 - 210 will do the trick. And a petty in 120-150 :)
I have knives for all types of use, but normally just use one gyuto that imo is the most versatile knife in the kitchen :)

MY GF just use her Carter 150ish Funyaki, and is more than happy :)
 
Please be aware a short blade has a smaller contact area with the board and will therefore dull faster. Japanese blades are much lighter than their German counterparts, so a longer Japanese knife will feel very different from a German one of the same length.
I would choose a 240mm gyuto and a 150mm petty for home use. In a pro setting I would add a 270mm gyuto for faster volume work.
 
Not so sure about what I may elaborate. When you slice, the active edge -- forget a part of the belly, forget the tip and heel -- is much greater with a longer blade. Instead of cutting one leak with a 210mm you may cut 2 or 3 with a 270mm, in the same time. What will attack your edge is basically the board contact. With a larger blade that is spread over a larger area and you may do more at once. Compare a short gyuto after 20 leaks and a 270mm one. An extreme example: most people will have experienced how fast a petty does dull.
Of course, if you happen to be a rock-chopper this doesn't work in the same way for you. However, you don't need to lift your knife that much if it's a bit longer. That being said, rock-chopping is a poor habit with fine knives. Have a German instead.
 
I won't recommend a specific brand or maker but I will say this:

One of the most important parts of a good quality knife is the steel it is made from. Make sure to buy something with a known, good quality steel in it. If the manufacturer says the knife is made of "stainless steel" or "high carbon stainless" they are trying to hide that they are using an antiquated low end steel. For example most of the German knife companies are using stainless steel that was developed in the 80's or even earlier... Generally those older steels are quite soft and don't hold an edge very well. If they are using a good steel they will advertise it and tell you exactly what grade it is (eg. 440C, VG10 etc). There are many great makers on this site and also some nice production knives to be had with good steel in them. A few good stainless kitchen knife steels to look out for are: 440C, 154cm, cpm 154, VG10, CPM s35vn, cpm s30v, D2. Stay away from 440a, x50CrMoV15 and other lower carbon steels. Do your steel research before buying!

hope that helps
-mike

ps. if you don't mind the extra maintenance a carbon steel may be a good option for you too! I don't have much experience with them though so I won't comment.
 
Benuser said:
Not so sure about what I may elaborate. When you slice, the active edge -- forget a part of the belly, forget the tip and heel -- is much greater with a longer blade. Instead of cutting one leak with a 210mm you may cut 2 or 3 with a 270mm, in the same time. What will attack your edge is basically the board contact. With a larger blade that is spread over a larger area and you may do more at once. Compare a short gyuto after 20 leaks and a 270mm one. An extreme example: most people will have experienced how fast a petty does dull.
Of course, if you happen to be a rock-chopper this doesn't work in the same way for you. However, you don't need to lift your knife that much if it's a bit longer. That being said, rock-chopping is a poor habit with fine knives. Have a German instead.
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I think I see what you're getting at. I feel that has more to do with the user and less with the knife though.
 
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