Knife - What Makes a Good Kitchen Knife and How to Shop

What makes a good knife? Knives of all types can be quality, but there are a few things to keep in mind when youre picking out a knife.

Forged or stamped, either type of knife can be a good knife, if its well designed and made of quality materials. Of course Rita prefers forged knives, but also has quite a few stamped knifes in her collection.

The channels in a knife blade also are added to keep food from sticking, but Rita wouldnt buy a knife just for that. In this video from AboutEating.com, Rita also talks about santoku knifes.

In this video, Rita Heikenfeld from AboutEating.com talks about the Knife; and which kitchen knife if right for you?

Which knife should you buy? What ever feels best in your hand - and fits in your budget.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• knife
• knives
• knifes
• kicthen
• chefs
• chef
• cooking
• abouteating

[evilkate666]

that is pretty awesome!!!! I actually was thinking about getting a new set of knifes and wasnt sure what to get....i am more partial to a knife that has been passed down to me (30+years old). It looks similar to "Old Hickory" knifes......might have to get a set of those???what is your thought on that?

[RecipeCook]

A quality knife should last a lifetime with good care. If your old knife is still usable, I would keep it - get it sharpened by a professional who will sharpen it correctly without taking off too much metal, etc. I agree with the chef - Forschner knives are good ones. There are lots of high quality, reasonable (but not cheap) lines of cutlery out there.~Rita

[banduril]

Good video. Any thoughts on ceramics or non-stainless blades?

[RecipeCook]

Ceramic blades are light weight and stay very sharp a long time but they can be rather fragile - if you drop them on, say, a ceramic tile floor, good chance they'll chip. An excellent knife will have both stainless and carbon steel - stainless for beauty and durability; carbon to set a nice edge. Thanks for watching! ~Rita

[Slic3R1]

That Santoku looks ideal for the kitchen

[RebelWrestler45]

@gamewildkid No, Santoku knives are usually not chisel ground, they are full flat ground.

[RebelWrestler45]

Carbon stainless? All steel in existence contains carbon.

[TheTenshitobias]

I think a important factor to look at is near the start of the blade where your fingers at you need space for your fingers to the board while cutting tried some really bad knives where you can't chop anything since your hands keep knocking eiother the table the board..

[kiminokami]

@gamewildkid It depends upon the actual knife and the style of the manufacturer. Traditional Japanese blaces of almost any type are ground on only one side or mostly one one side and a half or token bevel on the other side.

[death2pc]

Knives are purely utilitarian, a tool, period. Lots of fancy schmancy knives out there, but at the end of the day, they are simply tools.

You work enough with knives and you come to realize that all the fancy stuff while good, is no better than commercial product such as Dexter Russell and Forschner which are simply superb and then some! If you want to pay up for something well worth it to put it mildly, get Mac. Really fantastic those...

If you don't need ceramic, avoid them big time.

[gamewildkid]

Aren't santokusharpened and honed on one side not both giving it a smaller angle degree and making it more Sharp than the traditional chef knife?

[smolir]

Kyocera or zaykastore , they have ceramic knifes but they chip very easily.. i have one Kyocera

[MrNapalm138]

You dont pour steel into a mold to forge it just saying,otherwise this is a great vid.

[chefgiovanni]

@len0808 I agree Kasumi or Kyocera, but SHUN knives are too thin and brittle.