I've been in professional kitchens 25+ years

Miscer official sushi chef at nobu. But done it all. Lost track off how many pro kitchens I've worked in. Traveled in the seasonal gigs for 15 years at big resorts.

I have had thousands of dollars in knifes.

A large Gyuto 10.5 - 9 and a solid prep knife about a 5.5 will cover just about everything in a pro kitchen. But you still need special knife like a slicer and a boning knife.

For home cooking a decent Chinese cleaver and a pairing knife is mostly what I go to.

But you really don't have to spend so much on knives if you know the best value bang for the buck and exactly what knifes are best places to get them…

Some of my all time favorite knives are about $40

It's all about the steel. There are some great budget German steel brands out there.

With my experience I often recommend knives to younger coworkers. Just by watching how they use a knife I know what will work good for them by simple mechanics of its shape.

So try to give me some more info.

Cutlery & more has a clearance page that is great for deals on name brand knives. Shun wustoff all the names

Cangshan and dalstrong have some good knives but you have to know what to look for some are not good.

Hammer Stahl is a good cheap German steal knife.

Mercer and victornox are budget greats.

Dexter.

Do you rock chop French style or do you push or pull cut japanese style? Big hands? How good with knives are you?

I’m not an expert, just someone who tries to cook healthy eating clean and working out. Thanks for your advice, repped you bro

this

Wusthoff Icon line.

Don't use home sharpeners, unless it's a sharpening system with an angle guide or you're going to fuk up the edge and ruin it.

Decide whether you want a steel that either keeps an edge longer, or is easier to sharpen. Get the former if you're not going to sharpen it yourself, the latter if you will do it yourself. Can't have both, obviously.

Don't get complacent with "corrosion resistant" knives, the blade edge will still rust if you don't at least keep it dry after use, if not maintain it properly. They can also be more brittle in some cases, leading to edge chipping or the blade breaking entirely depending what you're cutting

Thread is low on pics. My two sets, and old pic.



Both have their advantages. 8eggs mentioned Dexter. The cleaver I have from them is one of the best kitchen tools I ever bought.

The dexter clever is a great one. One of the best values in all kitchen knifes period.

It is a little on the heavy side but not a bone cleaver. The also have a smaller Asian clever under the Russell name same brand that is a great knife.

Mercer Chinese cleaver is a great Chinese cleaver also for a thinner blade than the dexter.

I'm out of house right now. But later I will post all my favorite knives from over the years. And a brief about them.

You can get great knifes cheap.

I've owned maybe 100 knives. And used tested maybe 300+.

I've had this set for 3-4 years now and its going great:
https://www.mercerculinary.com/produ...ife-block-set/

I sharpen them once MAYBE twice a year depending on how snobby I'm feeling.

here are some great knifes for a budget.

this is the Dexter large Chinese chefs knife, Arguably the best value in knives period and maybe the most versatile knife once you get used to using a good chinese chefs knife. Its a little bit of a heavier chinese clever but not a bone cleaver. but it can still do the light work. a real mother of a workhorse.

https://www.dexterrussellcutlery.com...e-08040-s5198/

This is a smaller "duck slicer" or vegetable nakiri style chinese knife, it makes a good buddy to the big clever by dexter but you still need a pairing knife, its an ultimate tomato and onion knife and light vegetable knife. A great " line work" knife, can cut sandwiches , fast prep and even cut meat like a steak or chicken breast fine, a bit softer metal but gets razor sharp with a quick honing…no pint also makes it nice and safe for busy line work.

https://www.dexterrussellcutlery.com...e-08030-s5197/

the mercer chinese chefs knife is also a real champion. A true full sized vegetable clever and razor sharp, thinner blade than the Dexter, you would do things like cutting live lobster like you would with the heavier dexter clever, but it will still effortlessly cut meat with a little more care to avoid bones and such. RAZOR sharp. The naxoprene handle version is also great

https://www.mercerculinary.com/produ...20-3-x-8-3-cm/

OK thats for clevers, The Chinese clever is arguable the best tool in a kitchen, I love them, but its a toss up to which is best the chinese clever or the Gyuto….IMO french chef knife is an inferior design, however a 8 inch french chef knife is a good line knife for grill station. And many home chef's are just more familiar with them so its ok.

Hammer stahl is a cool brand with some cool budget knives, especially the 7 inch vegetable clever, the handles are quad tang and a bit on the heavy side but it feels nice in the hands. this one knife is one of those knives that are just a standout in a brand but they are pretty good stuff for the budget friendly

https://www.heritagesteel.us/collect...oducts/hs-6307

Cangshan knifes are a nother good budget brand. These are as good or better than Shun . I especially like the TC series with the high quality sandvik swedish steel.This 7 inch santoku is probably the best deal in a high quality do it all smaller chef knife for $70 . Cangshan are legit

https://cangshancutlery.com/collecti...ood-sheath-set

You want a really polished shun type knife but better for the same price look at Yaxell and Enso they are the same brand just 2 names. you can find some good deal on them at cutlery and more often.


this is a really nice $200 knife that will be great for any Home dude chef . https://cutleryandmore.com/products/...ta-knife-40177


Spyderco is a cool brand that focuses more on pocket knives, they do some kitchen knives in cts-bdn1 steel thats holds an edge extremely long a great value knifes. I like their main Gyuto 10 incher, this is a real work horse stay sharp AF forever professional japanese industrial kitchen type knife

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/det...ade-Gyuto/2257


there are lots of great knives brands Tojiro,Mac pro, Henkals, Miyabi, too many greats for me to list them all.

another great one to look at for a good Japanese knifes at reasonable prices is Yoshihiro , Probably my main goto for knew knives these days. they got it all from cheap to top of the line without gouging prices. Highley recomend for good knifes

https://www.echefknife.com/collectio...iGzsFI1I0VchjN

Some great choices, thanks, bro

just too many great knives to nail it down with out some more feed back. $150-$250 is really the spot for the uber value and aesthetic knives. you can get some real exotic high end metals and finish and cool factor, sure you can spend $400+ on some real swanky nives but not really any better than a great $99 dollar knife.

half of it is just getting a cool looking knife that you like. and it should perform well, most home cooks are not as pickey as us that work in a kitchen 50 hours a week for decades. Its often hard to recomend exspensive knives for the home when I know lots of great budget knives.

the home cook only needs a few good knives and those can change a little depending on the main Chef knife style he goes with.

say you like a big Gyuto 10 incher or better, you probably won't need a slicer but you will like a boning knife a medium knife and a small knife.

say you like a chinese clever, then you want a long slicer a small utility then is probably good.

if you like a french chef knife 8 inch, you will want a long slicer and a small utility and maybe a pairing.

So its all relative.

you can find some good deals on combo 2 and 3 sets. But its nice to mix and match a few.

if given some ideas I can narrow it down to the best options. I know lots more good ones too look at but got bored on the one post.

German Knives are good, Wusthof are good but often a little over priced, Henkels and messimiester , mercer, hammer stahl and many other are good german brands for less money.

I tried not to recommend the more common shun and wusthof because everyone knows them and they are just sub par IMO, I have some and have had them they are ok.


I try to recommend good value knives that really function. A lot of knives are sold on cool factor alone….Dalstrong is an example of this, they have some good budget minded knives but they also sell a lot of knives that just look cool, well because kitchen people like cool knives just because. I too just like cool knives because they are cool.


but if you give me some price ranges and size and shape what kind of things you want to prep , I can nail down a good couple knives for anyone. even simple good victornox rosewood series is great house knives.