Kitchen knife set

cgmblade

cgmblade

Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
1,358
I'm just beginning to look for a good quality kitchen knife set. Not very familiar with cooking knives so would appreciate input from others with more knowledge.

Right now I'm considering knives from Victorinox and AG Russell, but am certainly willing to consider other brands. I imagine this will be a once in a lifetime purchase so I am saving my money up and am willing to pay a little more. Looking online I've seen some really good looking knife sets for $700 -$800, but I'd prefer to pay much less if I'm not giving up useful quality and features.

Thanks for your opinions.

Chris
 
I'm sure you'll get some good suggestions, but if I was in the market for a decent set, I'd check out Global. They're well made & their 1-piece type knives makes it easy to clean with no scales to crack or get food stuck in.
 
Or you could make your boss's teenage daughter/son reeeeally happy and buy the most $$$ Cutco set they are selling LOL
 
I'm a professional chef and like the Japanese/Asian style grinds. For me MAC knives are the best production made kitchen knives.
 
2bkc said:
Check out Shun.
They have a lot to offer. I know the ones that I own are excellent.
http://www.kershawknives.com/products.php?brand=shun
Click to expand...

I just got a 10" Shun Classic Chef Knife and i looooooooooove it. A few friends are getting me a couple other pieces i need for my B-day. I just might be a customer for life depending on how the next year goes with these. The handles are more substantial than the Globals and the shape contours my hand better. I like the Global 7" Asian Chef I have but for extended use it is uncomfortable.

All of the sets i looked at had pieces I didn't need so i steer away from sets.

Also, check out www.japanesechefsknives.com

They have some really nice stuff you won't find in the states with ease.
 
Wow! I knew you guys would steer me right. Already there are enough good suggestions to keep me busy looking/researching for a while. I'll take everyone's opinions seriously and do my homework. Thanks much.
 
Yes, global is great, i have 4 of them. The German brands Wüsthof and Güde or the Japanese Shun are splendid as well. Do also check out Herder, the German company of the classic Windmill knife, they also have a very thin and light and laser-like Santoku.
Also check the affordable small knife kitchen set by Opinel. Splendid and simple.
 
.Don't buy a set. It's pretty much impossible to find one without extra junk in it. It's much better to pick 3-4 knives that you really need and invest in those. Minimal starter set would include 3-4" paring, 6-12" chef's and 8-12" serrated bread knife. If you need to work with poultry or bony meat, add there boning knife or it's Japanese cousin Honesuki. May be a long dedicated slicer too. And go from there based on your cooking habits or needs.

Shuns are good buy, but they're quite different from western knives that you are used to. All "real" Japanese knives are in fact. If you use your chef's knife for everything including splitting lobsters and coconuts then Japanese Chef's knives aren't the best fit, but a Deba will do fine :). That is unless you buy dedicated knives and use them as such. There's better price/performance knives than Shuns too.

Globals, while Japanese are more westernized and not as hard as other Japanese knives including Shuns, still they have thinner edges and more wear resistant steel than Wusthofs and Henckels.

If you still pick western knives, then Messermeisters are IMHO better quality and edge than Wusthofs and a little better steel too - X55CrMoV15 vs. X50CrMoV16

Gudes are also ok, but I think they're overpriced for what they are, although their 320mm bread knife is really good :)A little more reading on choosing kitchen knives.
 
I have a decent shun collection. However looking back at the last 4 years I have been piecing it all together (starting with a decent se first to help save money) I would stick to just a few from teh set, but regardless... the knives are better than any of the Henckles and Wusthofs I have owned and tgave away to friends and family as I bought the Shuns. All except for the boning knife. The Shun boning knife is more of a utility blade due to the thickness and width of it. I still have the Wusthof bone knife.

Most used... the Chinese chefs (first to add to the set, the BIG one you see) ,Nakiri (2nd from the right), Santuko (far right), U2 utility (top left), bread knife (the middle one with the teeth), offset veggie (bottom right), 10" chefs (2nd from left), and the slicer when I cut up my subprimals (far left).

About the slicer... I had a Henckles that I liked ALOT, but it was only 10" in length this one is a bit longer, but also a little thicker, which increases drag which is bad, but it is RAZOR sharp. The chinese chef knife is NOT your western cleaver, its the Chinese chefs knife and is WICKED sharp as is all other Shuns. The blade width makes it easy to peel and smear garlic, yet will slice thru veggies like a beaver on crack. The gentle arc to the cutting edge is avilable to dicing garlic/ ginger and mincing herbs.

Thing I like best about shuns are the edge, handle, and hell... they are pretty. Look at how Alton flips the Shun knife out all the time... even in the road shows, he is using a Kershaw of ZT (I also own a BUNCH of them as well).

shuns.jpg
 
Dagon, thanks for the input. Love your youtube reviews.

Gator97,I spent an hour or so on zknives last night, thanks much. There's a wealth of information there and I learned a lot. Looks like I should concentrate on individual pieces rather than a set. Do you have any thoughts on the Shun Ken Onion knives?

Spoolup, that's an impressive collection of knives you have there.
 
You're welcome. Glad if it was useful.

As for the Onions, I have never handled them. Look very awkward to me, too many curves and strange shapes...
If you can go to the store and try them for yourself, see may be it works for you.
 
cgmblade said:
Looks like I should concentrate on individual pieces rather than a set.
Click to expand...

I think it is good idea. We bought kitchen set, when we bought a house. But only three knives are getting used on our kitchen: Chef's knife (210mm Gyuto; 240 mm would be even better) in 95% of the cases, paring and bread knives once in a while as needed. Recently I bought Kai Santoku, which I also like to use for vegetables.
 
If you're on a budget and want the absolute best value for your $, then get some of the Forschner (Victorinox) knives.
Have quite a few and those are the first I grab for food prep.
Keep and hold an edge, comfortable handles, and many have a granton edge (which really works!)...

Regards,
Mike
 
Gator97 said:
You're welcome. Glad if it was useful.

As for the Onions, I have never handled them. Look very awkward to me, too many curves and strange shapes...
If you can go to the store and try them for yourself, see may be it works for you.
Click to expand...

Could not have said it better myself. The onions have a more traditional handle shape and the blades are HUGH. I have handled many of them in the Williams and Sonoma locally (also seen a few in Sur La Table) check to see if you have either of these local otherwise you will have to call around a bit. The only onion I have looked seriously HARD at getting is the cleaver.
 
Spoolup,
How do you like the serrated (scalloped)edge Utility knife. Though it looks kinda funky, I've thought about getting one for my wife. It appears as though it would be good for making sandwitches...slicing tomatoes, spreading condiments, slicing cold cuts, etc.
 
Like my post above mentions it is one of the 6-7 main knives I reach for. It can do anything for a sandwich however I will not use it for spreading condiments... so be it could do it, I dont use any condiments, the scallops would cause a high and low points in the sauces, and some condiments are in glass jars... I dont use my knives near glass. But I am sure it would work fine.

I seriously use this knife daily. From opening rolls, cutting my daughter fried bolonga and cheese sandwichs or PBnJ into manageable kid sized portions, cutting salami for snack time... it does almost everything great... FYI one thing it CAN NOT DO, is cut decent slices from a block of cheese. You might be able to get away with it on the 8oz cheese blocks, but once you move into the 1-2 lbs block (I use these since a slice will cover a entire slice of bread) the width of the knife creates enough friciton/ drag to cause the cheese to stick and just break up. If you are just blocks of cheese its fine, just thin slices will have issues.

I have used it to cut tomatoes and onions with good results, I have used it to prep entire meals before... Its the knife I take camping since it is smaller and has such great uses and like all other Shuns "is wicked sharp".
 
Gator97 said:
You're welcome. Glad if it was useful.

As for the Onions, I have never handled them. Look very awkward to me, too many curves and strange shapes...
If you can go to the store and try them for yourself, see may be it works for you.
Click to expand...

I’ve handled the Ken Onion chef’s knife and you're spot on. I didn’t care for the handle and blade shape at all.

The contoured handle and bolster is specifically designed for a pinch grip (only). For those that know how hold and use a regular handle – properly, it’s an unnecessary enforcement (like training wheels) as well as an undesirable impediment, as it doesn’t allow using different grips for different cutting strokes. Plus, the distance between the handle and bolster indentations are sized for a specific hand size / finger length. I found it uncomfortable and my wife found it impossible to hold.

The extreme belly curve on the blade nearly runs from the heel to the tip. Making it a wet dream for rock chopping, but a nightmare for other strokes. There’s not enough flat cutting edge so you have to lift and drop the handle, further and excessively to drive the tip down, roll the blade for longer cutting strokes. Plus sharpening the thing is going to be a bear.
 
Captain Spaulding said:
I just got a 10" Shun Classic Chef Knife and i looooooooooove it. A few friends are getting me a couple other pieces i need for my B-day. I just might be a customer for life depending on how the next year goes with these. The handles are more substantial than the Globals and the shape contours my hand better. I like the Global 7" Asian Chef I have but for extended use it is uncomfortable.

All of the sets i looked at had pieces I didn't need so i steer away from sets.

Also, check out www.japanesechefsknives.com

They have some really nice stuff you won't find in the states with ease.
Click to expand...

Way to go, I'm glad you didn't go with the other one. Sorry to hear about the global...nice knife, but the handle doesn't work for me either.
 
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