Kitchen knife set

XtianAus

XtianAus

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Mar 3, 2016
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Hi, I am moving out early next year and looking for a decent set of kitchen knives. I have scanned bladehq but I just can't decide for the life of me. Most have steels on kitchen knives, I haven't heard of. I am also very new when it comes to 'kitchen' knives in general.

Hoping for suggestions for a decent set, something under $150 US.

Or would I be better of buying a cheaper set and investing in one decent knife like a chris reeve Sikayo? Or just buying a bunch of individual knives instead of a set?

Any info would help.

Thanks!
 
Realistically, you can do pretty much everything you need to do in a kitchen with a chef's knife and a utility knife. If you slice a lot of fresh bread, add a serrated bread knife. One way to go is use your available funds to just buy those two knives and add to them if/when needed.
Wayne
 
I use a 10" chef's knife for most cutting, a boning knife (I prefer the heavy rigid type), a 3.5" paring knife, a bread knife and maybe most important an 11" honing steel. I use a storage block but a magnetic strip would work well if the space to mount is available.
 
Just get a beater Henckels Chef knife, a 4” Victorinox paring knife, and a nice Japanese Gyuto and that’ll be all you need. Don’t bother with knife blocks.
 
If I were to start from the ground up (ie, if I have 0 kitchen knives), knowing what I know today I would start this way according to my budget:
1) 8" chef's knife
2) 8" chef's knife + bread knife
3) 8" chef's knife + bread knife + 7" santoku
4) 8" chef's knife + bread knife + 7" santoku + 5" parring/utility/vegetable knife
From then on I would start to specialize (steak knife, bigger chef knife, cleaver, etc).
 
TraditionalMedicinal said:
+1 Henckels makes nice knives for the price, I'd probably choose a better paring knife and maybe a petty over the Gyuto
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the victorinox is a great paring knife. Sharp and $6 so it’s disposable. I also have a serated wushtoff paring. Also that Yoshikane is a 190 so it’s not that much bigger than a petty. I’m lucky to live by Carbon Knife co so i just go there to window shop often.
 
LUW said:
If I were to start from the ground up (ie, if I have 0 kitchen knives), knowing what I know today I would start this way according to my budget:
1) 8" chef's knife
2) 8" chef's knife + bread knife
3) 8" chef's knife + bread knife + 7" santoku
4) 8" chef's knife + bread knife + 7" santoku + 5" parring/utility/vegetable knife
From then on I would start to specialize (steak knife, bigger chef knife, cleaver, etc).
Click to expand...

they say all you need is a chefs, bread, and paring. A nice super steel santoku would be a good addition as well.

another note on knife blocks is they get nasty and wet. I got a steel magnetic strip I slapped on my fridge for my cheaper knives and a nice walnut one for my Japanese steel.

concentrate on a nice chef knife and a good cutting board or 2.
 
KnifeStylesOftheRich said:
another note on knife blocks is they get nasty and wet. I got a steel magnetic strip I slapped on my fridge for my cheaper knives and a nice walnut one for my Japanese steel.
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IMHO knife blocks are only for us weirdos that baby our knives and wipe/clean/sharpen our blades after every single use. For a normal human being a magnetic strip is much more practical and hygienical.
 
KnifeStylesOftheRich said:
the victorinox is a great paring knife. Sharp and $6 so it’s disposable.
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They're ok I suppose I bought a couple because they're Victorinox and lots of people say they're good and they are really cheap but I found the edge retention was just fair and the thin plastic handle didn't feel very good or substantial, maybe just depends on hand size and application if you're paring or just want a small slicer
 
LUW said:
IMHO knife blocks are only for us weirdos that baby our knives and wipe/clean/sharpen our blades after every single use. For a normal human being a magnetic strip is much more practical and hygienical.
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I suppose itd be one thing to buy an empty block and fill it with knives of your choice, but still, I’m not going to baby my Henckels statement boning knife. My parents still have one of those blocks. Other than the knives being super dull they’re fine after about 15 years. They haven’t washed the block once I don’t think. I think a magnetic strip is better for us knife nerds. I’d rather concentrate on keeping my knives clean rather than a knife block. Ultimately it comes down to “no one needs 8 steak knives” ever.
 
TraditionalMedicinal said:
They're ok I suppose I bought a couple because they're Victorinox and lots of people say they're good and they are really cheap but I found the edge retention was just fair and the thin plastic handle didn't feel very good or substantial, maybe just depends on hand size and application if you're paring or just want a small slicer
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i think most chefs use them as disposals. Also most chefs don’t bring in their nice steel to work. Another option or something for the home cook is to get something like a Henckels paring knife. I have a target gift card and might grab this Christopher Kimball 4in. All the Zwelling subsidiary knives are around half price including a Miyabi Kaizen II for $130 that I almost bought. The lifetime warranty is a nice selling point.
 
XtianAus said:
Hi, I am moving out early next year and looking for a decent set of kitchen knives. I have scanned bladehq but I just can't decide for the life of me. Most have steels on kitchen knives, I haven't heard of. I am also very new when it comes to 'kitchen' knives in general.

Hoping for suggestions for a decent set, something under $150 US.

Or would I be better of buying a cheaper set and investing in one decent knife like a chris reeve Sikayo? Or just buying a bunch of individual knives instead of a set?

Any info would help.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I have seen living and dead roaches fall out of a knife block. Buy 5 individual knives tailored for the things you do and research clean, safe storage methods.
 
10” Chef’s knife
5”-6” utility blade
3”-4” paring knife

These three will do 99% of anything you face if you know what you’re doing.

You do not need a serrated knife for bread if your long knife is sharp. Long serrated knives are for pastry work.

8” so-called chef’s knives are for girls. :p
 
marchone said:
10” Chef’s knife
5”-6” utility blade
3”-4” paring knife

These three will do 99% of anything you face if you know what you’re doing.

You do not need a serrated knife for bread if your long knife is sharp. Long serrated knives are for pastry work.

8” so-called chef’s knives are for girls. :p
Click to expand...

100% agree on the serrated knife. I slice all kinds of bread with a sharp plain edge.
 
I have a Zwilling J.A. Henckels set that has served me well, I have more expensive J.A. Henckels knives as well but the set is usually around 100-150.
 
There are plenty of legitimate uses for serrated blades, from horizontal slicing of delicate spongecakes going all the way to electric knives to carve roasts. I know 3-star guys in gold-plated kitchens who use those things.

I kept an offset serrated knife for one task alone for two decades plus. The item was similar to a pecan tart. At room temp it was hard enough to require a dedicated knife to cut out of a sheet pan. That’d be hell on any blade.

Buying a serrated knife to slice bread is lazy. Learn how to sharpen your knives and you won’t need one.
 
marchone said:
There are plenty of legitimate uses for serrated blades, from horizontal slicing of delicate spongecakes going all the way to electric knives to carve roasts. I know 3-star guys in gold-plated kitchens who use those things.

I kept an offset serrated knife for one task alone for two decades plus. The item was similar to a pecan tart. At room temp it was hard enough to require a dedicated knife to cut out of a sheet pan. That’d be hell on any blade.

Buying a serrated knife to slice bread is lazy. Learn how to sharpen your knives and you won’t need one.
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My "issue" with the serrated knife thing is the oh-so common recommendation of having to have one. I routinely see the recommended home cook knife kit as being a chef's/cook's knife, a serrated knife and a pairing knife. It's just not true and misleading.

Learn to sharpen. That's the first and most important key.
 
Truth be told I know a lot of young guys who use a serrated pastry knife as a “universal” blade. Even the sales people at JB Prince use the term. IMHO it’s use as a principal cutter is also due to laziness. That said, a $50 10” Victorinox pastry knife (often sold as a bread knife) can be swung around like a saber and chop and slice all day long without a break. They are never sharpened and keep on ticking.
 
The Henckel 5 star bread knife is a pleasure to use on fresh baked bread straight out of the oven. I like much better than the 4 star.
 
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