The Best Chef’s Knife, Tested and Reviewed

For handling long-term wear and durability, the Global knife is also a good choice. It’s made of a proprietary steel blend that’s resistant to rust and staining, and the Epi staffers who use the knife at home report that it stays sharp for an extremely long time and is easy to sharpen when the need arises. For slightly less money than the Mac knife, we think it’s a solid pick that will serve you well for years to come.

This is a lightweight knife that feels very lightweight, and it may not be the best choice if you’re not confident with your knife skills, as its extreme sharpness is not something to take for granted. Some online customers have noted that because this knife is sharpened to a finer edge, so it’s more difficult to hone correctly, making it a good candidate for having professionally sharpened every now and then, or for manually sharpening yourself if you’ve got sharpening stones. We didn’t necessarily find issues keeping it properly sharp, but it could be an issue for less experienced knife sharpeners out there.

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Our previous top budget pick was the Victorinox fibrox pro. It’s been discontinued for home cooks and wouldn’t you know it, the knife Victorinox replaced it with still took home the honors for top affordable knife. Weighing an ounce less than Mac Professional, this is a lightweight, easy to maneuver, solidly constructed knife that’s also a great value. The quality of materials aren’t what you’d get for a more expensive knife, but it performed nearly as well right out of the box as our other top contenders — making a delicate confetti of tender herbs, gliding through joints as we took apart a whole chicken, and cleaving through hardy vegetables like sweet potatoes and carrots with ease. The blade shape is more of a Western-style or German-style design, (apt since it’s made in Switzerland) and the more rounded belly is excellent for making rocking motions, and effective for easy slicing and dicing.

Despite not being a full tang knife, which means the blade doesn’t continue all the way into the handle (almost none of the lower-price point knives are full tang), this is a very solid knife that stayed sharp through our tests, feels sturdy, and has got a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects to back it up.

This knife isn’t as much of a looker as the more expensive knives are, with a durable plastic handle and lower quality metals in the blade. And while it is durable and sturdy, we expect that it will start to show some wear and tear over time. And for those who aren’t accustomed to working with a larger blade size like this, it may feel unwieldy.

A classic for a reason, this is one of those knives that defines the category. At 9.4 ounces it’s 50%(!) heavier than the Mac Professional, but for those looking for a Western or German-style chef’s knife, the heaviness is part of what they’re after. This knife feels sturdy in your hand, like a Cadillac of chef’s knives, and glides through whatever you’re cutting with stoic, steady force.

Having a higher steel-to-carbon ratio, the blade is more durable and holds its sharpness longer than its higher-carbon counterparts (though it may not get quite as sharp as a Japanese knife immediately after hitting the whetstone), and it’s also a bit more durable on the use and care front, as the steel isn’t as likely to rust or discolor over time. We love its deep, rounded belly, which makes any kind of rocking motion on the cutting board feel like you’re gliding through soft butter, and its heft is an asset for punching through tough vegetables and proteins. Comfortable and easy to pinch-grip, you really can’t go wrong with the Wusthof Classic if a heavier, Western-style knife is what you’re looking for.

Some may find the heft off putting – if you’re more accustomed to a lighter knife it will take some getting used to. And because it’s a lower carbon blade, its sharpness isn’t quite as pronounced as the Japanese style knives we generally prefer.

The first step in evaluating a knife is getting a feel for the tool: We looked for a well-balanced, ergonomic knife. We spent some time with each of the chef’s knives just holding them in our hands, observing the quality of the metal and sharpened edge, the feel of the handle, and the overall weight of the knife. We then put our knife skills to use chopping a bounty of vegetables, from raw sweet potatoes and onions to soft tomatoes and citrus, tender herbs, and broke down chicken. In our 2022 retest we also had our favorite knives professionally sharpened to see how each would handle the process. We chose not to make ease of washing factor in our decision as many of the best knives require handwashing and are not dishwasher-safe. But we did evaluate knives on the following factors:

To some extent the ideal weight of a chef’s knife is a matter of personal preference. If you tend to use a rocking motion while cutting, a heavier knife with a curved blade will keep your hand stable in one place. If you prefer a slicing motion, a light thin-blade will be easier to maneuver back and forth.

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Generally we liked thinner blades, which make slicing easier and smoother and also weigh less overall. In testing we found that we preferred the flatter belly characteristic of a Japanese or French knife to the pronounced curve of a German-style knife; the latter requires a bit more force. Thinner blades do have a downside, however: “Chips are going to happen to any knife after a while, especially to ones that are thinner and have less metal behind the edge when you’re slicing through tough vegetables like butternut squash,” test kitchen director Chris Morocco says. You can combat this by sharpening your knife regularly.

Naturally, we wanted a knife with a comfortable handle, which we interpreted as lightweight and smooth rather than heavy and long. When it comes to responsiveness, Morocco explains that you want a knife that feels “alive in your hand.” You can determine the responsiveness by tapping the blade against the cutting board or counter—a responsive knife will vibrate in your hand. When you chop something, you’ll feel like you have greater control over the cutting motion and more of a connection with the knife.

We sliced through raw sweet potatoes to test each knife’s sharpness and smoothness. We didn’t want blades that would catch on the veggies—we wanted the clean, easy slicing that comes from the sharpest chef’s knives. We also tested the knives on onions to examine their precision when slicing and dicing. Certain knives yielded thinner, more even, and more precise slices than others.

In addition to handling the heft and toughness of something like a sweet potato, we wanted a knife that could handle mincing herbs without crushing them. A good chef’s knife shouldn’t muddle or mash a pile of parsley.

How nice is the steel? How are the transitions between blade and handle? Is the handle made of a high quality material? Is the blade smooth and even? Again, understanding the difference between a German-style knife and a Japanese one is important here: German-style knives tend to have a bolster that runs between the knife blade and the handle. This makes the knife heavier and better suited for rocking motions. We ultimately liked a smoother transition without the cuff as it resulted in a lighter knife that made for an easy and comfortable slicing motion. But again, this comes down to personal preference: A bolster does allow a user to choke up on the blade more easily. As for steel quality, we were preferential to high alloy stainless steel blades over high carbon-steel blades, which, while generally sharper, are prone to corrosion and chipping without proper care. We felt that the ideal knife set for the average home cook would consist of cutlery that’s more forgiving and tolerant of mild neglect.

This Shun is a lovely, relatively lightweight knife, with a deep, well curved belly and a strong, sharp cutting edge and beautiful blade that’s designed for smooth, slicing motions. We really enjoyed using this knife for how comfortable it is and the distinctive touches on the textured blade and soft wood handle. Side by side, we didn’t find it to be as razor-sharp for making paper thin cuts as either the Mac Pro or the Global Classic, but still believe it’d be a timeless addition to your collection.

The Shun Kazahana Chef’s Knife has a similar shape to our top pick, the Mac Pro, and with its full tang and quality steel blend, it’s reliably sharp and durable. It performed well but we found the handle to be a bit uncomfortable to hold.

The Made In chef’s knife was extremely sharp out of the box and sliced through a sweet potato more easily than some of our winners, but it dulled quickly with each subsequent use. It also couldn’t handle the more delicate jobs of slicing onion and tender herbs nearly as well as our winning knives.

The Bulat chef’s knife sliced through the tough sweet potato with force, but it was too heavy and bulky to handle delicate knife jobs well—it resisted cutting through the skin of the onion and crushed the parsley a bit.

The Brandless chef’s knife isn’t a great knife—it felt slippery in our hands and did a lackluster job with both sweet potatoes and tender herbs.

The Mercer Culinary Renaissance chef’s knife felt clunky and choppy, especially compared to the Mac and Victorinox, both of which glided as they chopped.

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The Miyabi Kaizen chef’s knife is a Japanese-style knife, and though the blade is super thin and allows for real precision, the handle has some bulk, which makes the knife feel steady. It is very sharp, made of high-quality materials, and compared to similar knives on the market, isn’t too expensive. But it wasn’t quite as responsive as the Mac knife.

The J.A. Henckels Classic chef’s knife features a squared-off handle that we thought would be hard to hold, but was actually one of the most comfortable knives of the bunch. It was extremely sharp and sliced an onion with ease, but it required more force than we would have liked to cut through sturdy sweet potato.

The Wüsthof Gourmet chef’s knife was pleasantly light—lighter than what we’re accustomed to from Wüsthof. It was sharp and effective for delicate knife work, but had a bit of trouble handling the tough sweet potato.

The Misen Chef’s Knife ($85) is a great, comfortable knife with a low price for its quality. Like the Mac Professional, it has a bit of a hybrid shape with a moderately rounded belly and a higher-carbon blend, but we didn’t find that it held its sharpness as well as our top picks.

The Material chef’s knife comes in a few neutral colors and was easily the chicest knife we tested. It was heavy and a little unwieldy to use comfortably, but very sharp out of the box.

The Five Two chef’s knife from the in-house brand at Food52, weighs nearly nine ounces, making it the heaviest knife we tested. Also available in a few color options, the knife is good-looking, but it feels too heavy duty and is a bit burdensome to use, requiring too much force to complete the testing tasks.

The Zwilling Professional chef’s knife was comfortable to hold and relatively lightweight. As a German knife made with carbon steel, it features a thicker blade, but it was still easy to maneuver. The downside was that, even when slicing an onion, this model required a bit more force than we felt comfortable using on the regular.

The Messermeister Oliva Elite chef’s knife was very pretty, but the extra-long wooden handle makes the knife feel bigger and more unwieldy despite having the same size blade as all the rest.

The New West Knife Works chef’s knife has an exceptional blade with a light and comfortable handle. The cutting edge holds up well to wear and use, requiring less frequent honing than cheaper competitors. However, at this price point we think this knife is more appropriate for knife enthusiasts. The artistry and craftsmanship that goes into making the knife making means its price-point is high—as such, it isn’t practical for everyday home cooks.

The Zyliss Control chef’s knife ($22) is a true beginner’s chef’s knife with lots of design choices to support someone unfamiliar with an 8-inch knife: “safety touch points” at the top of the blade to help with the rocking motion, a divot for your thumb on the top of the handle, and easily gripped spots under the handle. But in the budget category, it wasn’t as easy to use or as sharp out of the box as the Victorinox. It’s also currently available only as part of a three knife set.

Yes and no. Buying a new knife that’s razor sharp straight out of the box is a good indicator of manufacturer quality, but it isn’t necessarily the best way to judge the quality of a particular knife. If you buy a high-quality knife, don’t expect the cutting edge to last without care. All knives eventually need honing and sharpening, no matter how nice they are. What’s more, a blade is only as sharp as the knife sharpener can make it. In the hands of someone very skilled, even cheap blades from the supermarket can become exceptionally sharp.

Source: https://gardencourte.com
Categories: Kitchens