kitchen knives

[Joshatdot]

WÜSTHOF

[Ethelred]

Well, you have a couple options here. Professionally speaking, I believe that the home cook needs a couple knives of which being: 6" Prep Knife, Carving Knife, Bread Knife, Paring Knife and if you do a lot of cooking perhaps a chef knife (8" probably).

I wouldn't recommend a full chef knife because most of them are far to unwielding for the average home cook, most prep knives are around six inches in length and they work out well enough.

For a cheap good quality knife look towards Forschner (or Victorinox), great quality knife comes in both a plastic handle (bit better for professional use) or a nicer wood handle. Forschner makes a really great carving knife (I actually use this one in my knife bag, relatively cheap and you really don't use a carving knife as often as other knives).

For what you said specifically looks towards Henckles (sp?), they offer some really nice knives, rather thin blades. I would look to spend probably about 79 dollars on a prep/chef knife, 39-49 on a paring, maybe 79 on a carving knife. And probably about 240 for the 4 knives.

Ceramic knives are cool, I use a ceramic paring knife in my kit. They do stay sharp for a long time, however, you have to send them away to get sharpened.

As far as santokus some people like them, I can't stand them. I find a prep knife much better, particularly when you need to do fine cuts that require precision. But like like most things in life it really is up to the opinion of the user.

And as for where to get them, for a Sur La Table or Williams and Sonoma. (If you have loose morals say you are a culinary student or professional and you get 10 and 15 percent off respectively)

[Culverin]

i will echo the previous comments.
wusthof

i've got a 7" santoku, and a pairing knife.
next one to get is an 8ish inch chef knife

i absolutely love them. just don't forget that your parents are probably still using the knives from when they got married, i know mine are

[Davesrose]

I gotta echo most recommendations on a good chef's knife. They are far from unwieldy if you learn the proper way to use them (which only takes a minute to learn). I use a 8" chef's for 90% of my cooking.....the others I find I use are one paring knife, one boning knife for poultry, shears, and occasionally a santoku just for a few meats. The main block set I have on my counter that I use is a $10 Ikea knife set !! I use the cheap knives for opening up food packages, and the sarrated blades are fine for breads. Save all of your money for a really good chefs or santoku knife. When I was at the cooking supply store near me, this is the chef's knife that I settled on for myself. All it takes is one cut and you realize how the higher grade knives cut most foods "like buttah". But they're all weighted and balanced differently....everyone is going to have different preferences.

I personally can't imagine using anything but a chef's knife on vegatables. Love the balance of a nice heavy one that lets the knife do the cutting via rocking motions vs me having to put forth more effort! I like how Wusthof's own website describes a chef's knife as a "manual food processor"

[Ethelred]

As I read over this there is one bit of advice I have for you: Make sure you can sharpen the knife you buy.

This is important as some have stated, the harder the metal (stainless) the more difficult it will be get an edge on it (however, the longer the edge will last). The softer (carbon) the metal the easier to sharpen (as well as easier to lose the edge).

So keep that in mind when purchasing. Most knives are a mix of carbon and stainless steel (some like Shun have a mix of a couple). No point in buying a knife that you hate sharpening or is a real pain in the butt to sharpen.

[Contrastique]

I use this knife mostly:

http://www.zwilling.com/locale/en_ww...artikel_id/189

It's not too big or too small. Is perfectly balanced, razorsharp, easy to sharpen, quite flexible (maybe a little too much, that's why I'm loooking for a new one to cut through firm objects). But it's a joy using it.

[Davesrose]

Originally Posted by Ethelred

This is important as some have stated, the harder the metal (stainless) the more difficult it will be get an edge on it (however, the longer the edge will last). The softer (carbon) the metal the easier to sharpen (as well as easier to lose the edge).

It's the other way around actually......steel is quite soft if it doesn't have much carbon (steel is a mixture of Iron and a small amount of Carbon). In order to harden it, sword makers learned how to combine more alloys to harden the steel and keep it's edge sharper for much longer. All modern day steel has a certain amount of carbon in it, and it starts turning into semantics about how much carbon it takes in order for a batch of steel to be named "carbon steel".

Cheaper knives tend to be stainless and lose their edge very easily, because they are stamped steel with less carbon. The main advantage of stainless steel is it's less likely to tarnish. A good carbon steel blade will maintain an edge, but will start to tarnish after slicing acidic foods or not washing right after use. But cooks don't mind since it's about the usefulness of tool vs looks

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

I'm of the camp that uses a paring knife for a utility knife (which honestly only gets used to open the rare foodpackage or remove a lobster rubberband). I don't see the point in buying two seperate 3" blades.

[Icarium]

I've been thinking about getting Shun knives or one of the other damascus/faux damascus steel knives because they look cool. How are they as knives? I am a big fan of steel with high carbon content currently, but I've always wanted to own something damascus looking.

[Davesrose]

I demoed a few of the Shun knives at my local cooking store. They do seem nice and durable.....but I didn't like the action as much as the Wusthof classic blades. The Wusthof seemed to have the right weight/ curve for me. Some Shun styles have a lot of curve (Alton's Angles....crazy logo!!) and some thick guage steel (pro Debas).....but they're still much lighter compared to the Wusthof. So matter of preference really.