Kitchen Knives

M

magikbullet

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Sep 16, 2009
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Hi guys,

I want to get my dad a new set of kitchen knives for his new house, and I don't really know any other brands than cutco. I suspect that cutco is over priced, but I don't know other brands. What are some of bladeforums' favorites?

Reading this forum for just a few days tells me there must be a wide variety of sets out there. I think I'd like to keep the set's cost under $750.
 
You can get a set of Old Hickory kitchen knives for about $30. The handles are ugly, and the edges will need quite a bit of work, but they're made from pretty good steel, and you can't beat the price.

The Victorinox Forschner Fibrox handled knives are also fairly cheap, and they get consistently excellent reviews.

Don't know too much about higher end kitchen knives.
 
Victorinox knives offer a very good value. I have some of their paring knives and steak knives.

Global knives are nice Japanese knives. I have the G-2 cook knife. You can have most needs met with a few knives: a 8 inch cook knife, a couple paring knives, and a serrated bread knife will go a long way.
 
I have a Shun Classic Chef knife and paring knife which get me through most of my kitchen tasks. I'm very happy with the Chef knife right now but not all that happy with the paring knife. It's a tad bit incomfortable for me using it.

My MIL has a set of nice Henkels that she likes very much. They hold an edge great and are comfortable in hand.
 
I would say avoid anything from china or taiwan.

Shuns are very good. They keep a very sharp edge longer than any other brand I have used. The Furi knives with the weird shaped orange handles are pretty decent from what I understand. The victorinox rubber handles are all right. Dont seem to hold an edge as long as I would like but not bad.
Mac knives are usually good, even their cheaper ones. You really dont need a whole set though. A pairing knife and an 8 inch chefs knife will do almost anything you need. A serrated bread knife is nice especially for crusty bread but I rarely use mine, same thing for the slicer. You could even get a cleaver. The asian style is nice because its a thin blade, not for bones and hacking, but great for chopping vegies and scooping foods.
I would say its better to spend $100 on a pairing and a 8 inch chefs than $100 on a 13 knife set thats so-so.
You can get a nice chefs knife for 80-100
 
Lots of things to consider. First and foremost, how much of a knife nut is your Dad, how fancy do you want to get? Are there other family members who might abuse the knife accidentally?

I would actually give serious thought to NOT getting a set, as sets often contain knives people may not use, like serrated utility knife, or slicer that's not long enough, bread knife of questionable quality. Instead put that money to use on knives which will get used.

The 2 most used knives in the kitchen are the chef knife and paring knife. The Shun paring knife has received excellent comments by many and is readily available on Amazon. If you wanted something extra, next would be a slicing knife for carving roasts and turkey. Mom or sis might like a santoku.

Do you think your Dad would like carbon steel or stainless? How big are his hands? How much working countertop space is there in the kitchen? What size chef knife, 8" 9" or 10" ?

A huge range of high quality production knives is available from japanesechefsknife.com, chefknivestogo.com, http japan-blades.com, epicureanedge.com, and thejapanwoodworker.com

Custom kitchen knives -- Lloyd Harner, Phil Wilson, Murray Carter, John Landi, Dan Koster. Arizona Custom Knives carries handmade knives by Carter & Takeda.
 
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If you want a cosmetic step up from the Victorinox/Forschner fibrox handled knives, they put rosewood handles on the same blades for a few bucks more and package them in a nice block set.

DancesWithKnives
 
I'm with Pappy. Knife sets are a bad deal. Most people end up with a lot knives they don't use. The key knife in the kitchen is the chef knife. Get a good one. The best ones are made in Japan (harder, lighter, better balanced.) Get a paring knife and a serrated bread knife. Again, the best ones are made in Japan. Check out the Mac knives, as an example. Very good stuff for the money. Global are also a good value. That will give you the essentials. Then you can add whatever you actually do use to the mix and have better knives all around.

Cutco are good knives but way, way overpriced because of the distribution system they use. Old Hickory, to be honest, is pure junk. The Victorinox Forschner are not too hot but are better than some other knives in their classification. They suffer from soft steel. Basically they are cheap restaurant house knives. The Shun mentioned above are good knives and Japanese made to boot. Those would be a good option like the others I mentioned above. Spend over $100 on the chef knife and let the others fall where they may. Think Japanese.
 
Get full set of Wenger Swebo kitchen knives. They will last long time. They're better than Victorinoxes (edging them out in hard use) or anything yet I've or my brother has tried. Two of my Swebo's have served me soon 9 years and still going strong. My brother has used them for nearly 15 years. His oldest is about 15 years old Swebo Cooks knife.
 
$750 is a lot of money.
I would not spend that. Especially not on some "set" of knives when you really need 2 or 3.

My advice would be, go to japanesechefsknife.com ($7 EMS shipping worldwide :thumbup:), and pick either e.g. Hattori or SHIKI brand for looks (but being VG-10 @ 60HRC they are also quite a performer too :)), or Hiromoto Tenmi Jyuraku (carbon steel (Aogami) for very good performance.

You don't really need many knives, but it would be good idea to buy some sharpening stones too.
 
I recently purchased Benchmade's Prestigedes set for my wife and we are very satisfied. Chef's knife, paring, and utility, so most bases are covered.

Bark River has some really nice kitchen knifes and were my second choice.

Also, you may want to look on the Maker's subforum here under fixed blades. Landi and others have some great looking kitchen knives. Had I noticed them before getting the Benchmades, I would have probably went with a custom option.

Lastly, we have some Kershaw kitchen knives and for the price they are a great inexpensive option.
 
I just bought a set of Cutco knifes and did not spend no where near 750.00.
Depending on what knives you need the price can be less. I received 8 ( 4 being steak knives) including an upgraded wood block ( to add knives later ) all for around $300.00. They are very good knives even though they are slightly over priced. I know people who have been using the steak knives for over 10 years and they still are sharp. You cannot sharpen them yourself and must send them back to the factory to be sharpened. ( It's Free).

Bill
 
I have both Wusthof Trident Classics and Globals in my kitchen....the Globals are like surgical instruments, they take a wicked edge. Knives are very personal, and handle shape may influence your opinion of any particular knife....trying them out is the only way to tell. A chef`s knife is the most used....look on ebay, sometimes you can find slightly-used ones at a good price.
 
I have a Calphalon set that the wife and I got as a wedding gift. They're very nice knives, and I'd recommend them.


(click the picture)
 
Unfortunately the only kitchen knives I can comment on are Cutco. I'm glad that a few of those above are happy with theirs, but I think they suck as far as holding an edge- even the serrated knives.

They don't slice well either because of their "Double D" or whatever they call it edge. And, as mentioned, way overpriced for what I believe is just 440A steel.

My $.02
 
I also have several of the Wenger/Swebo knives and have had good results with them. Does anyone know whether you can get them with wood handles like the Forschners (mine are synthetic)?

There may have been a difference between Forschner and Swebo in the past but with the present common ownership of Victorinox & Wenger, I'd be interested to know whether they are using the same steel or if there's any significant difference. Anyone know?

DancesWithKnives
 
I have to say most offerning from Shun, wustoff and hinkles from what i own are all good stuff.... right now i have an onion set of shun and i enjoy them every time i pick them up... the edge holds well , but buying any set is a problem... i normaly buy loose...

my suggestion is find
a 8-10 inch chef
a parring knife
a butcher knife
a bread knife
a pair of break down kitchen shears
a ceramic hone
and a very good cutting board

oddly i think the cutting board matters more then the knives in some cases....

also , i would say some offerings from cutco work pretty well... the industrial series in kitchens seams to do pretty good, but i only use em for specialty knives i only use now and then and are kinda disposable , like oyster knives ....

good luck and i hope your dad enjoys it
 
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