Recommend me a decent knife set?

[Chloefairydust]

Anyone know of a decent knife set they can recommend me?

the last two sets I have had haven’t lasted long, have felt very cheap, bendy, get rusty quickly and break (which can be kinda scary).

Price isn’t too much of an issue, I can’t afford to be throwing good money to bad all the time. So would rather spend a bit more and have a set that actually lasts.

Sabatier are what I have, they have lasted years! Also always hand wash them, and have a decent sharpener too as theyy will need an occasional sharper as they get older.

Watching with interest! Need a decent set

I bought some recently they were from Amazon and also have steak knives and a knife sharpener. Surprised how good they’ve been. Brand was D. Perlla

I also have Sabatier - I bought the knife block with built in sharpener from JL about 5 yrs or so ago for around the £100 mark (if me work serves me correctly). Would recommend - you can get better for more money but these ones serve our needs fine.

I bought a set of Global Japanese knives for my parents about 30 years ago and they are still going strong.

They are all metal so no issues with rivets and wooden handles that they had with (ancient) Sabatier ones.

Do you need a knife set? Most people only need a chef knife, a utility or paring knife and maybe a bread knife. Generally you’re better off spending the money across a couple
of knifes (bread knifes don’t need to be expensive) than buying five knives,
most of which you don’t use.

Recommendations are hard, especially with an unlimited budget as knifes are so personal. Some people love Japanese steel, some prefer German, handle shape is another factor which can be perfect for one person but awful for another. I’d go to a kitchen shop which lets you handle the knives and get a feeling for what you want. I’d also recommend the chef knives subreddit. They have a huge amount of knife knowledge and with a healthy budget, you’ll be able to pick up something pretty special.

And also, even expensive knives will need to be maintained to keep their edges. I’d always wash by hand and dry immediately, maybe use a honing steel to maintain the edge, and sharpen with a whetstone periodically. Pull through sharpeners generally aren’t very good for knives.

Talk to me about knife sharpening please.

i always buy cheap knives now and bin them when they blunt which is completely the wrong this to do, but is purely because I can’t sharpen knives. I have a hand one and an electric one but neither really do the trick.

how does one effectively keep knives sharp enough for a chef? I’m not a chef but I like sharp knives 😀

I've had it with expensive knives. I did the recommended 'spend a lot of money on a small number of good knives' and spent £50 on a single chef's knife from a naice kitchen shop and it is utterly shit. Looks nice, feels like good quality, but unless you sharpen it every bastard week, it is permanently blunt. I don't use it any more.

Whereas we've had a couple of very cheap multipacks from Ikea, where admittedly they were junk after about 5 years, they cost under a tenner for the whole set, but they feel like reasonable quality and have stayed sharper for far longer than shit knife.

These

We've now also got a slightly more expensive knife from there, and that's very good and will probably last for ever.

Vardagen knives

I got the plain John Lewis ones and have been brilliant

It's called classic

Chefs knives: if you have a local cook shop, they may let you try things out, hold them, even chop things with them. Should feel nice in your hand, well balanced, not unwieldy. Sabatier is a good make, but they have a huge variety of different ones, so look around and see. You want to be spending a decent whack on your chefs knife. Sharpening - Japanese whetstone, as below.

Any other knife - unless you're doing significant amounts of fish filleting/meat prep: Victorinox. You want a couple of those little paring knives, and one of the little tomato knives (serrated) - sharp as a sharp thing, so watch your fingers. The little paring knives you can sharpen - I have a Japanese knife sharpening whetstone, YouTube for how to use. The serrated ones don't really sharpen, so when eventually they don't cut so well, replace.

For cutting bread - victorinox do a pastry knife that is the bee's knees. Honestly. I thought I couldn't cut bread - I couldn't, til I had that. Have bought them as presents for so many people too. Incredibly sharp to start with, so again, fingers.

Look after your knives. Don't just Chuck them in a drawer, always hand wash.

If you want links to anything, let me know.

I'm a chef, have worked in kitchens for 20+ years.

I have Robert Welch, in a knife block with a built in sharpener. Had them about 10 years, still perfect.

Sabatier are good value. Ive had a set for 12 years that are still razor sharp with regular sharpening.

However, only ever use the chefs knife so I treated myself to a Wusthoff classic ikon chefs knife and I love it and use it for literally everything.

To keep them all sharp I have a whetstone that I use when I have the time (its very relaxing to do) but I otherwise use a minosharp double ceramic wheel sharpener that is excellent. (Just make sure you choose the right wheel for your blade as european knives are angled differently to japanese knives).

I have a honing steel which I use frequently to keep the edge day to day. Lots of YouTube videos on technique, I’m not sure I’m great at it but it still works. As for sharpening a whetstone is the best way. It only needs to be done once or twice a year. This video is long but detailed I’m, easy to follow as a beginner and I find it pretty satisfying. Some people’s butchers will sharpen knives for them and there are service which do it for you.

I would second Sabatier.
I have a large knife that is still going strong after 30 years.
I do sharpen it, and is still razor sharp.
I would be wary about buying a complete set though, you may find there are knives in a set you won't use at all.
And we work in different ways. I don't have use for a vegetable parer, but I do use a Chinese cleaver type of knife- it looks large and unweildy, but surprisingly deft at cutting delicate things like julienne.

It’s a good point raised about not actually needing a whole knife set, I could probably get away with just buying a couple, and I still have the wooden knife stand thing so I guess I could keep using that..:

Just seen a really pretty Tower rose gold knife set on amazon… I’m just having an internal argument with myself because It would look really pretty in my kitchen but I don’t want to buy crap knives again… lol

So I’m thinking of getting the Sabatier ones and just buying a couple. Talk some sense into me haha.

Also I have no idea how to sharpen knives so I’m reading some of these comments with great interest. (My knives normally break before they need sharpening, it’s any wonder I still have all my fingers 😱).

I can't imagine knives breaking! Do you out them in the dishwasher?

I don’t put them through the dishwasher but DH has done a few times 🙄 … I tend to just leave them to air dry though, so think this is why they have been getting rusty. They are also not that strong, the blade feels quite bendy, even when they were new. I have always bought cheap ones though, got the last ones from the range. Also had a couple of handles break off.

I always go for ones that look nice lol. So have just bought some very boring sensible looking sabatier ones. Just bought a set of 3 because I probably wouldn’t use all 5 anyway and I still have a wooden knife block to store them in.

Was very tempted by the pretty rose gold shit knife set though 😂