Looking for cutlery suggestions

[thatguychuck]

For many years I've wanted a really nice set of knives for the kitchen. I've always held off, knowing that I have roommates and I wouldn't be able to be sure they'd be taken care of. Well, that's going to be changing.

I want a good set of knives. I'm looking for suggestions on brands and styles

Comments

[fourgotten]

Henckels or Kershaw are two knifemakers that I know to be outstanding quality, though I don't know that Kershaw makes much for the kitchen... but what they do make is gonna be sharper than you could believe... I bought one of their Alaskan Blade Traders for hunting (the wide-blade is AWESOME) and it blew me away with its keen edge... and that's coming from one who hones his own straight razors and uses them

[mistrtoad]

I don't know that Kershaw makes much for the kitchen

Not Kershaw per se, but Ken Onion has a line of Damascus steel knives made by Shun. You're definitely moving into mid-price blades here, though. I'd have trouble using a work of art like that on a daily basis.

[jer_]

Wusthof is my knife of choice. Pre-divorce, I had amassed a reasonable collection from their Le Cordon Bleu line, which is sort of their middle-of-the-road knives and they are TOP NOTCH. I've never been happier with knives than with my Wusthof and Kershaws. That said, the Wusthof Bleu's are around $100 per blade, which gets a bit steep.

[guyfie]

The best knives to be found are at Kapabashi-Dori in Asakusa, Tokyo. You can get a fine kitchen set for a few hundred dollars, or go all out for around $15,000.

[jklumpp]

Henckels is good, we've also liked Wusthauf's.
We've found a paring knife, an 8" knife, and a larger knife, as well as a bread knife, are good. (as said above)
Perrin swears by the ceramic knife that I got him for Valentine's day a couple of years ago. They are delicate, Do Not Bend, but they are sharp as can be and cut through vegetables like nobody's business.
The important thing to do is to try a lot of knives, weigh them in your hand, feel the grips. Any good cooking/knife store will urge that you do this.

[dagibbs]

The single knife we use the most here is a 6" Chef's knife. Next most used is an 8" chef's knife. Also very useful would be a paring knife. I would think carefully about getting a set -- you really don't need an especially high quality bread knife (for example) as cutting bread really isn't that challenging. We don't do roasts often, so don't have a carving knife -- but if you do, a good carving knife would be nice, too

[thatguychuck]

Why do you prefer the 6" to the 8" chef's knife?

And thanks for the info, it's appreciated. I'm taking a look at the Sabatier knives online right now.

[dagibbs]

Another page of information on knife sharpening, and with it steel hardness and other good stuff about knives:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=26036

Though, I will note he is quite serious.

As for 6" vs 8" -- I was noting the observation. I got two nice 8" chef's knives and a 6" one. I thought I'd use the 8" ones, but almost all the time, I reach for the 6". The 8" ones get used if the 6" is dirty, in use by someone else, or I'm going after something monster... hacking a rutabaga (turnip) in half or something like that. Otherwise, I use the 6". I find it lighter, more maneuverable, but still with enough weight and power to cut everything I want generally want to cut easily enough. It will easily go through a handful of celery stalks, yet is light enough that when I'm dicing green onion, it does feel like over kill.