Kitchen Knives

W

Walker

Joined
Feb 28, 1999
Messages
139
I'm in the market for a nice line of kitchen knives for food preparation and would like some suggestions. I'll need the following to start with, and the ability to expand it later:

- 7" - 8" chef knife
- bread knife
- 5" - 6" utility knife
- 3-1/2" paring knife
- steak knives
- something to cut frozen chicken

I bought my son a set of Henkels Classic for his birthday - he has plenty of time to improve on that, but I want something a bit better. The Wusthof Classic line looks okay in price and design, but then it occured to me to run this choice past BF.com, as you have likely faced this choice before. What's a best deal in that price line?

A quick search of "kitchen" brings up too many threads to count, but I did see references to Forschner, Messermeister, and a few others. I'd like the kitchen knives to match, and the steak knives, too, if possible, but I can stand separate steak knives if necessary.

Walker
 
Check out A. G. Russell's knives. He offers a few different levels. I love the looks of the White Corian handled ones with Damascus-over-VG10 blades. I have a friend who bought the Steak Knife set, and then went back to order the Santuko knife. Those are very high on my want list. And with the highest price being $75, you'll be getting a heck-of-a bargain.

Here's a link to the section:http://www.agrussell.com/knives/by_maker/a_through_d/a_g_russell_knives/kitchen_knives.html

Daniel
 
Daniel, thanks, I am considering the Russell set. The only problem is the lack of a matching tool to split bone and frozen chicken - the edges on those are too thin for that.

Chef, thanks, those are interesting, particularly the vote for both quality and ergos. Would they happen to have knives other than "chef" styles available? I'd like the kitchen set to match.

Walker
 
I like Misono. Available from the same people Chef mentioned. I have a 8-inch gyuto, and a 7-inch china cleaver. Both of the value consious "misono handmade" line.
 
My dad gave me an older AG Russell kitchen knife. Over all it was very nice. The one thing I didn't like about it was the handle to blade geometry didn't feel right when I used it. I had to hold my wrist at a slightly awkward angle to use it. I'm not saying that they are bad knives, but they just didn't feel right for me.

One of my favorites is a 10" Gerber's chef's knife (their old balance Plus line). Then I have a couple of knives I made from 01 that get alot of use.

Ric
 
I've heard a suggestion to treat the kitchen knives and the steak knives separately - and to treat the steak knives as disposable. Their fine edges would be ruined by the plates, anyway, the reasoning goes. Buy good kitchen stuff, but $30 Costco steak knives and toss them when dull.

Walker
 
Thanks, Chef. I bought two Tojiro knives from JCK - a 210 gyuto and a 170 santoku. These things are amazing, especially for under $50 each, and a total of $7 delivery charge for a four-day delivery. Pretty amazing, so far.

I haven't cut anything but hair, so far, but I'll note one thing. I've been sharpening knives for 50 years, mas y menos, and I've even used the term "razor sharp" before, but compared to these, out of the box, I've been wrong. I can imagine someone wanting to get a knife sharper than this, but I can't imagine needing it...

Walker
 
Good for you! I was gonna say if you looked at all the kitchen knife threads and didn't see any recommendations for Japanese kitchen knives, then you weren't looking hard enough. :)

Good on ya for trying the Tojiro's! :thumbup:

I use nothing else in my kitchen but Tojiro-Pro.
 
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