Recommend your fave knives!

[Penguinade]

So I'm in the search for a new knife since my old one just won't cut it (pun intended). What are everyone's favorite knives, in the following categories?


1. All around, multi-purpose (the one that can chop through a squash in .3 seconds flat as well as peel the skin off grapes like a pro)

2. Budget basic (under $15, the college student must-have for everything from impressing a hot date with your vegan cooking skills to fending off zombies on the way to class)

3. Best specialty knife (the bread knife that slices your fresh baked loaves just-so, the pizza wheel that demolishes both crust and toppings, the lettuce knife that you still don't understand the existence of, etc)

4. Ceramic vs. stainless? What features are a must-have for your favorite cutting utensil?

[LetoTheTyrant]

For your under $15 knife I would suggest these multi-colored plastic knives, that come with a matching plastic sheath.

My all-around and specialty knives are produced by the same company. Shun Kaji (http://www.kershawknives.com/searchresults.php?search_by=category&search_value=32&brand=shun)knives are great knives. About six months ago I needed to get new knives, and I went ahead and just got every knife I will need (for most cases). I picked up their 3.5 inch pairing, 7 inch hollow ground santoku, 8 inch chef's, and 9 inch bread. These are awesome knives constructed in a fashion similar to samurai swords of yore. They are single edged blades, made from folded steel. I'm not positive if the blades are stamped from a large sheet of the folded steel or if each blade is produced singularly, but they are extremely good knives and hold an edge for a long time as long as they are properly maintained with a steel. I also got one of these steels.

I've never gotten a chance to use ceramic, but I've heard it can be very difficult to maintain their cutting edges?!?! Also I've heard that they can have issues with staining.

Okay, so this isn't really a knife, but microplanes are a great slicing tool given the right plane. Nowadays they have every shaped microplane, an if you ever want shave garlic or something like that, these are cheap, quick and easy alternatives to a mandoline, and I prefer to a traditional box grater.

That got a little more winded than I orgiinally expected, so
4¢

[gingerlove]

i not sure how much they cost but my mum bought cutco knives and they work pretty darn awesome

[sleepydvdr]

My favorite knife is my Henckels 7" Santoku. I bought it and a standard chef's knife at the same time on eBay. Both retail for over $100 each. But for some reason, on eBay, they sell for less than $50 each. I barley used the standard one. The Santoku knife is lighter and easier to handle. Plus, veggies don't stick to it as badly.

I bought a set 3 pack of Kitchen Aid knives for smaller jobs like paring or cutting core out of bell peppers. It cost $20. I can't complain about them, either.

I decided against ceramic knives because from what I read, they were fairly easy to chip the blade.

[danakscully64]

I know you're talking about knives, but someone here mentioned Cutco and the only thing I have from them is their ice cream scooper. It's AWESOME.

My fav knife is my Mom's Meridian Elite Chef's Knife. It was $120 for 1 knife, but it's the only one I use.

[SobeVegChick]

Depending on your budget, natch, a set of Kitchen Aid (I got mine for a steal at TJMax/Homegoods) work great. Henckels are a good standard if you can spend a little more IMO.

[Beachbnny]

i not sure how much they cost but my mum bought cutco knives and they work pretty darn awesome

Cutco is wicked expensive. But you're right, they're good knives. For $15 get what you can and move on. My only advice would be to not wash them in the dishwasher, don't store them loose in a drawer, and look for ones with solid handles.

The handles should not be seperate from the knife itself. It's hard to explain but the interior of the handle should have the metal from the knife running up through it. Otherwise you run the risk of the knife getting "wobbly".

This is my favorite knife that I use for almost everything :) You can find a good one at some place like TJ Max.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santoku

[LetoTheTyrant]

The handles should not be seperate from the knife itself. It's hard to explain but the interior of the handle should have the metal from the knife running up through it. Otherwise you run the risk of the knife getting "wobbly".


This is considered aknife with a full tang. And if you don't have a knife with a good tang, you might as well have no knife at all! Some high end knives will stop at 3/4 tang, but it is commonly accepted that full tang is the best type of knife. The way you can tell if it is full tang or what not is by looking at the knife handle. It'll look like a sandwich with either two wood, plastic, or metal pieces around another metal piece that is one with the knife.

Tang wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_(weaponry))


Obviously not a kitchen knife, but it demonstartes the idea of tang pretty nicely.

[codemonkey]

I'm in love with my Wusthoff knives. Not cheap, but truly awesome knives.

[danakscully64]

You know, Black Friday is coming around, you can get an AMAZING set for REALLY cheap... if you don't mind waking up at 3am at fighting other customers :p

[osito]

i work at sur la table and these are cheap knives that people seem to love and buy all the time although i've never personally used them before
http://www.surlatable.com/product/cutlery/paring+%26+utility+knives/kuhn+rikon+paring+knives.do
most of our other knives are really expensive though :(

[starryeyed]

I would highly recommend against getting a ceramic knife. I have one that I absolutely love and it works amazing, but they can be very fragile. If you drop it or hit it to hard on something it can break. Using it to cut squash or anything hard would also be difficult as you can't use it to wiggle the item at the end of the cut to get it to fully break. I have a really pretty pink and white one of whose ultimate demise from my clumsiness I fear.