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Our TOP 5 kitchen knives for your knife block
There are countless knife shapes for daily use, making it sometimes difficult to find the right selection for your home kitchen. That's why we're presenting our top 5 knives here, with which you should start.
First and foremost, with this top 5, we don't want to give the impression that all knives not mentioned are unnecessary. Each knife is perfectly tailored to its intended use through its own blade geometry and size. For example, cutting vegetables with a Japanese Nakiri brings a lot of joy. And we can't and don't want to do without a boning knife. What is crucial is always what you usually cut and what tasks the knife is needed for. Your selection should be based on that. Over time, you will notice whether your knife collection is complete or needs to be supplemented.
Place 1 – The Chef's Knife
We start with the jack-of-all-trades, the universal genius, the all-rounder, the most important and frequently used knife.
The chef's knife can handle almost 90% of all cutting tasks. Therefore, the chef's knife should be the first knife in your collection. Choose a sturdy chef's knife with a wide blade and a thicker blade back, preferably made of chrome-vanadium-molybdenum steel. Knives made of this steel are relatively easy to care for, almost indestructible, and equally sharp and robust. In a pinch, you can even use it to cut poultry bones or fish bones.
A blade length of around 20 cm makes sense so that it can also be used for larger pieces. Chef's knives are also available in shorter (about 16 cm) and longer (about 26 cm) versions. However, we believe that the golden mean of 20-21 cm is the best choice.
Place 2 – The Small All-Purpose Knife
It is also known as an office, vegetable, paring, and garnishing knife. They only differ in blade geometry: while vegetable knives are equipped with straight blades and rounded spines, the rest of the knives have pointed blades.
A special form is represented by peeling or tourne knives, which have very short, around 6 cm long and crescent-shaped blades. This makes them perfect for peeling or turning (= shaping/cleaning vegetables or fruits).
The small all-purpose knife should have a blade length of 8 - 10 cm. The type of steel is secondary and left to your personal preference.
You use the all-purpose knife for peeling or cleaning fruits and vegetables, as well as for all other fine work that is simply better to accomplish with a short blade.
3rd Place – The Medium All-Purpose Knife
Short blade too short? Large blade too large? Take the golden mean!
Medium all-purpose knives are also often called preparation or universal knives and usually have a blade length of around 16 cm.
With the narrow and pointed blades, you have very good control over your cuts. It is perfect for cutting fruits and vegetables. Similarly, preparing, filleting, and paring fish and meat works wonderfully with these knives.
Just like with small all-purpose knives, the type of steel is entirely up to your personal preference.
4th Place – The Bread or Serrated Knife
Some cutting tasks are easily done with a serrated knife, such as cutting fruits and vegetables with hard skins like melons, pumpkins, and pineapples. But primarily, a bread knife is meant for cutting...? That's right, bread!
The serrated blade not only effortlessly cuts through hard crusts and skins, but also cleanly through the soft interior. If you, like us, love fresh bread from your local baker and want to slice it at home...you should own a bread knife.
In summary, there are two types of serrations: pointed and slightly rounded teeth:
Pointed teeth (e.g. from Güde) make it easier and more efficient to cut really hard bread crusts compared to rounded teeth. For cutting soft bread and aforementioned fruits and vegetables, it is recommended to use bread or serrated knives with rounded teeth (e.g. from KAI).
Serrated knives are often recommended for cutting roasts. You can do it, but it's not necessarily the best choice. If you take good care of your knives and sharpen them regularly, you're better off with a meat or ham knife, as the cutting surface is smoother and less frayed. But more on that later.
Serrated knives are generally very easy to care for and durable. Therefore, they need to be sharpened less often compared to knives with smooth blades. If sharpening is necessary, we recommend having it done by the manufacturer to maintain the original edge.
The final "choice of steel" is not crucial for bread and serrated knives, but rather a matter of personal preference.
5th Place – The Fillet Knife
If you want to portion whole pieces of meat or fish or even prepare them for cooking and frying on your own, you should definitely own a fillet knife (also known as a meat knife, carving knife, or ham knife).
The blade geometry is identical for all the mentioned knives: the blade is thin, narrow, and tapers to a point. The narrow blade reduces the sticking of the cutting material and offers very good control over the cuts. With fillet knives, you can of course also do many other cutting tasks.
The different names also allow conclusions to be drawn about the blade length. From a meat or fillet knife with a blade length of about 18 cm, it becomes a ham knife from about 21 cm blade length.... drumroll please....
Fillet and meat knives are also available with flexible blades. These knives are used to remove tendons, skin, and fat without cutting off too much meat. The flexible blade adapts to the cutting material. Attentive readers now know exactly what work is meant: Exactly, paring or filleting.
Carving knives also have rounded edges to visually enhance the blades. It is used directly in front of the guests at the table so that the carving of the wonderful piece of meat can be celebrated with dignity.
In addition, there are also salmon and ham knives with a blade length of around 30 cm. The blades are usually very narrow and the blade is often flexible. This makes it perfect for removing a complete fish fillet from the skin - especially with large fish such as salmon - or for cutting wafer-thin slices of Parma ham.
As with our previous rankings, we refrain from giving advice on the steel used.
Although we only wanted to list a TOP 5, we have an additional knife that you should add to your collection. Not right at the beginning, but definitely to complete your collection.
Rank 5 + 1 - The Santoku
The Santoku is the Japanese version of the chef's knife. Or vice versa, depending on your perspective. For many chefs, it is a sanctuary that is appropriately cherished and maintained. It is then used on special occasions, for special products. Therefore, the Santoku is often chosen from a very high-quality steel and represents the most valuable piece of the collection.
Santokus are available as a short version with a blade length of around 14 cm, standard and our recommendation is a blade length of 18 cm. Unlike a chef's knife, a Santoku has a wider blade. In addition, the back of the blade is rounded and the blade itself is less curved towards the tip. Areas of application are the cutting of fish, meat and vegetables. Santoku translates as "three virtues" and describes the area of application, namely the cutting of fish, meat and vegetables. Just in case you haven't picked up on that yet.
Alternatively, you can also opt for a really sharp chef's knife, Chinese chef's knife or a hybrid knife. The main thing is that YOU get along wonderfully with it, YOU like it and it gives YOU pleasure to cut with it!
For your very special knife, you should choose a type of steel that can be finely ground and gives the knife a high sharpness. These include, for example, carbon, carbon and VG steels. This category also includes the world-famous Damascus knives. We will come back to the topic of steel in detail in the next few days, promise!
Our tip: Save up for a high-quality and really sharp knife. You will immediately recognize the difference and the value at the first cut. The fun of cutting is guaranteed in any case!
If our top 5 still hasn't helped you further or you want to know which other knives you need, just write to us at [email protected]. Of course, we are also available by phone: 0211 44 73 39 0. The best thing is of course if you come directly to our store in Düsseldorf. There you will get the complete package of advice including testing the knives.
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