[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Good Kitchen Knives? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 6/20/2007 5:01:00 PM EDT
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What is your favorite brand of kitchen knives? I'm tired of this Chinese stainless junk I have and want something that will cut, hold an edge and last. Price range is variable depending on comments and suggestions, though I don't really plan on spending 500 bucks on knives right now. Any help on brands and suggested blades would be great. This cutting chicken and other meats prior to or after cooking with a (yet again, cheap) steak knife is getting old. Not going for the kitchenaid crap or whatever at Target. Thanks, Brandon |
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Kershaw has some pretty nice kitchen knives. www.kershawknives.com/ |
The best. I have had the 18 pc. Pro S for going on 5 years. |
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Look for the high end Tramontina knives. They have a low cost serrated line that they sell at Wal Mart which are absolute shit, just like all serrated kitchen knives are (except for, of course, the bread knife) but they do have a "Professional" line which is really good and hold their own easily, if not better, than the more well known Henckels and Wustoff. They are somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a comparable set of Henkels or Wustoff. Fantastic balance, and they hold an edge well. I have the 15pc. set featured on this website: www.abestkitchen.com/store/knifesets.html From my experience, save your cash and go with the Tramontina. |
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I love our Wusthof Classics: www.williams-sonoma.com/shop/cut/index.cfm?cm%5Ftype=lnav PS, love the avatar. One of my favorite pics in recent news. |
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I love my Henckels, Wusthof is excellent, and the high end Tramontina is as well, my favorite parer is a Tramontina. I prefer the riveted handles, found in the "Classic" lines. Now, you need an 8 or 10" Chef's knife, a 4" parer, a good slicer, 6" sushi tyoe, and take a good look at the Santoku style. I use a Chinese cleaver a lot, but I am thinking of getting a good santoku to replace it. After that, get what you like. Butcher knives are not needed, as far as I am concerned. |
| Wusthof and Henckels are nice knives, will last forever and hold a pretty good edge. The Henckels have a straighter cutting edge, so they don't rock as well as the Wusthofs. However, they are both overly heavy IMO. I like Global, a Japanese brand. Lighter and easier to sharpen than the German knives, plus they look really cool. Also, some Globals are sharpened on one side, Japanese-style, if you're into that. I own Wusthof and Global, and have used many Henckels. I use knives at work everyday, (I'm a chef) and I'd go with the Globals everytime. |
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Lots of good suggestions here. You've got just about 3 grades to choose from. Cutco, miracle blade etc: Chinese made cutlery. Generally very low quality in terms of "choice" cutlery. Usually serrated and 420 or 440 steels. Entry level, what you're saying your sick of. Henckel, wusthof, KAI shun: Great knives for the money. Henckel and wusthovs tend to be 1095 and other "older" steels. Great knives, require little maintenance. Kershaw's shun line is very close to VG10 and is a stainless so no rust marks after cutting acidic foods and its also very easy to bring to a tomato pushcut edge. William Henry and other semi customs: Almost always excellent knives on every level. The WH's are a ZDP core sandwiched between a more forgiving stainless or damascus. They generally can go 2 - 5+ years without sharpening. The downside is the price. You'll never buy another set unless someone steals the one you have though. No matter what knives you get, make sure you get a Smooth Steel shapener. You want to make sure its actually smooth with a nice reflection and not groved. The groved rods come with lots off the shelf knife kits and generally do more harm than good. The smooth steel doesnt actually sharpen, it just realigns the edge and returns it to a sharp state. With a set of intermediate knives and a good smooth steel rod you can go years between sharpenings if you limit the knives you use to cut frozen food and bones, which cause knicks in the blade. Generally with normal use you can steel a knife once a month and sharpen every 2 - 6. |
Yep - I've got a big set of Pro-S Henckel's too. There may be better cutlery out there, but I don't know how you'd tell. 
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The chisel grind that some of the japanese knives use is mainly for sushi and generally makes it more of a pain to sharpen. I do like thier santoku designs since you get more utility out of the blade. I would stay way from cold steel knives all together. |
Some people dont like the balance of the henckles. I have a japanese ceramic kitchen knife that I'd put up against any steel knife any day of the week. I dont cut bone or frozen food with it but I've never sharpened it in 4 years either. |
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#1: Go to www.knifemerchant.com, he only stocks quality brands and has excellent customer service. Al Mar makes some good layered steel knives. I use a 8" Chef at work, had it for almost 2 years, 60 hours a week, with no complaints. I prefer a thinner Japanese blade so look closely at the width, it makes a difference if you have big hands, you'll end up smacking your knuckles on the cutting board. I did whack a part of my finger off with it once though. Doesn't look like much and didn't hurt too bad but the *crunch* of cutting through the nail was sickening. That sucker bled everywhere. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/spoonman/DSCF0037.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/spoonman/DSCF0034.jpg PDF Catalog from Al Mar A good dealer. |
Stamped, not forged (cheaper). Start out super sharp, then never take an edge again in my experience. That being said, I own a 12 inch Forschner butcher's knife that I really like a lot. If it starts to suck, I'll get another one for $30. Globals, Wusthofs, etc. cost much, much more. |
I use this one every day: www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku9284084/index.cfm?pkey=ccutwclb 
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German/Swiss knives(Wustof, Henckles, Etc) are good workhorse knives. A 8-10" chef's knife will do most of what you want at home. My main suggestion is that you "audition" the knives you are going to buy. Go to a store that has what you are interested in and hold the knife in question. If the knife feels right after comparing it against others, you have the right one. Take a look at a few Japanese knives too. Mac and Global make some nice knives that are not too expensive. Just be aware that they are finer edges and are not suited to the heavy tasks..so be sure to at least have one big German in your set.(I once witnessed a chef cut a lobster in half with a fine edged Mac knife, causing some serious chinks in the blade..BAD idea!) BTW...if you do get japanese knives, get the video "The Chef's edge" from a knife store called Korin out of New York. Japanese knives are NOT sharpened the same way as western knives. The video + a few water stones will give you razor edge sharpness. |
I have a set of Henckels as well, and I like using a sharpening steel now that I have been taught to use it properly. You also look like a culinary badass when you use it. 
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There is a huge difference between a steel, a diamond sharpening steel, and a sharpener, just so you know. If you have a steel you aren't technically sharpening your knives...you are just realigning the edge and it will eventually need sharpened witha sharpener or diamond steel which actually remove tiny amounts of steel each time. If you use a diamond sharpening steel daily as you would a regular steel you are slowly destroying your knives. I'm not saying you don't know the difference, your post just made me think that people owning their first good set of knives should know that. I know nothing of the item pictured, btw. |
I would like to know more about this product myself. Mark. |
My sharpening steel is just that, not a diamond steel. The thing above is just a pull through sharpener. I've been able to put an edge even on a cheap set of knives with a cheap sharpening steel without the need to resort to actual sharpening stones. |
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I like my Wustoff Tridents. I don't see why people need so many knives to necessitate a block. Just get a nice big $80 butcher knife and some china mart ones. I live in an apartment where my cutting board and knife cost more than all other dishes combined. No shame. If I had an SKS, CZ52, Moisin Nagant, WASR10 and a Dragunov, would you call that a cheap collection? |
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Cooking.com recommends 3 different manual sharpeners. AccuSharp Knife and Tool Sharpener $12 Anolon Universal Knife Sharpener 3-stage Wet Stone $30 Chantry Knife Sharpener $40 none of the above do well at notch removal (damage) Electric Chefs Choice Model 130 $139 Chef's Choice Model 120 $129 |