Knives

[TyrannosaurusRights]

We’re at the point of replacing our very old, supermarket specials with proper knives.

Reasonably proficient in the kitchen. I’m assuming I’ll want a chefs knife or equivalent and probably something for carving but happy to be told otherwise/add to the list.

Looking for recommendations of good value knives that do a good job.

Hopeful bump

Can’t help as I need to buy some too - will watch with interest if anyone else comes along with advice.

Depends on your budget really. We really like Sabatier knives, but they are about £35 + per knife.

I guess it really depends what type of cooking and food prep you do.

For me, I could not be without a big (25cm plus) chef's knife, and a smaller vegetable knife (about 15cm). These are non-negotiable. A cerrated 10cm-ish veg knife is useful for cutting tomatoes (tomato skins on varieties sold in the UK blunt straight blades unbelievably quickly), and a cerrated bread knife are the other things I use regularly enough that I'd prefer not to be without.

A 3-4cm paring knife is helpful but although I use one two or three times a week I could probably manage without. Small sub-10cm vegetable knives I personally never use, but my wife cuts cheese and fruit with them.

I managed without boning and filleting knifes, and poultry scissors, for the first 20 years of my adulthood. I have them now and use them, but rarely. Two meat cleavers, same story. The Santoku knife gets used a couple of times a month, but I wouldn't miss that either.

Carving knife and fork get used for roasts probably two weeks in every three, but when I was single I could easily go one year's end to the next without using.

As for "good value" - that really comes down to preference and how you prefer to work in the kitchen. I have a Global block set which set me back an eye-watering sum 15 years ago, but it transformed things in the kitchen and has been worth every penny. You'll have to prise them out of my cold dead hands to get me to give them up. I use a sharpening stone to keep them in shape.

It's supplemented with a pair of 30 year old Kitchen Devils dating back to my school days, a wood-handled bread knife I bought overseas as an undergrad, and a collection of Sabatier knives and the carving set which all came from Aldi about seven or eight years ago. If I recall correctly they were about £20 for a set of three and therefore something of a bargain, but obviously not a regular product line.

I don't know about the quality now but my kitchen devils knives are 30 years old and no intention of replacing.
I also have a victorinox paring knife that I got 35 years ago when I worked in a factory making m and s ready meals and that's still good.
These are my preferred paring knives.

I have a pro cook gourmet set (on a magnetic wooden board) which seem fine

I don't fillet fish myself or any sort of significant butchery though

I have 2 pairs of strong scissors that I keep for meat which I would not be without

@Topbird29

Depends on your budget really. We really like Sabatier knives, but they are about £35 + per knife.

We bought a few in a sale - for a bargain. Look around!

Although you tend to get what you pay for, you can spend all sorts of different amounts on knives, some cheap ones are very good, some expensive ones are not so good. The main thing, though, is to prevent them getting blunt. Get a good knife sharpener and sharpen the knife each time you use it. Just a couple of strokes each time you use it will keep it sharp.

Global knives are a game changer. You can get blocks of them on offer on Amazon.

I have three good knives (bread, utility and a chef knife)

I really only use the chef knife and sharpen it after every use.

Meant to say, they are Globals. You don't need a block of 8 knives in a home kitchen.

TKMaxx often has Sabatier knives at reduced prices. Whichever make you get, buy a good knife sharpener.

We use global knives too, they're amazing 👍🏼

I recommend Global knives. IMHO at the very least you need one chef's knife and one pairing knife and a proper knife sharpener. If your budget allows more, I'd also get their bread knife.

Global knives are good but I don't put them in the dishwasher and I use a whet stone to sharpen it and frankly it's a bit of a flaff.

Go to a department store/cook shop and test out the weight of knives for yourself. I don't like a knife that's too heavy so I have a fairly light cook's knife. Ikea are actually quite good for knives.

My absolute staples would be a cook's knife, a long bread knife and a small paring knife.