Cutlery is the most important tool in your kitchen. There are 3 essential knives: a chef’s knife or Santoku, a serrated knife, and a pairing knife. With these 3 knives, you can complete just about every task in the kitchen. There are as many different shapes and sizes of knives as their are stars in the sky. Anything beyond the 3 basic knives is just gravy…and we all like gravy don’t we? 🙂
Wusthof Classic 8″ Chef’s Knife: The Wusthof Classic Chef’s Knife is my first “good” knife. To this day, I still love this knife. It is a great for both the beginner and the experienced cook. This knife is full tang, durable, and fairly easy to sharpen. It has a full bolster. It is a great knife for those that like to cut with a rocking motion.
Wusthof 7″ Santoku Knife: This is the sister knife of the Classic Chef’s knife in Japanese style. This knife is great for those that like more of an up and down cutting style rather than rocking. It is easier to sharpen because it does not have a bolster. This means that it can be sharpened all the way to the back of the knife. If you want to try out a classic Japanese style knife, this is an excellent choice.
Shun Classic 8″ Chef’s Knife: There is nothing that you can say about this Shun except fantastic! This is a Japanese knife made in the German tradition. However, it does not have a full bolster like a standard German Chef’s Knife. This means that you get the rocking ability while at the same time you are able to sharpen the entire length of the knife.
Shun Classic 7″ Santoku Knife: This is the sister knife to the Shun Classic Chef’s Knife for those who prefer the Santoku style of cutting. It is an excellent knife that does not have a bolster. This knife is thinner than a traditional chef’s knife and is great for cutting fish and chicken. I would not cut a lot of bone with this style of knife because you can chip it.
Global 8″ Chef’s Knife: This is a Japanese knife made in the German tradition. The Global Chef’s Knife is really thin so I wouldn’t use it on bones. It is one of the sharpest knives that I have in my collection.
Global 7″ Santoku Knife:Â This is the sister knife to the Global Chef’s Knife. It is made in Japan. Like the Chef’s Knife, it as a two piece handle that is filled with sand to improve the balance. This knife does not have a bolster so it can be sharpened all the way to the end of the knife.
Zwilling J.A. Henckels 8″ Four Star Chef’s Knife: The Four Star Chef’s knife from Henckels is the second “good knife” that I purchased for my collection. This is a German made knife in the German traditional chef’s knife style. This version of their chef’s knife is a forged, full bolster knife that full tang.
Dalstrong Santoku Shogun: The Shogun series from Dalstrong is made from forged and layered VG-10 Japanese super steel. This knife is 62 on the Rockwell scale. When I opened the package of this knife, I had one only word to describe this knife: Stunning!
Dalstrong Santoku Phantom: I really enjoy this knife. It retains its edge well and it is really sharp. It is lightweight than the Gladiator series so it is more nimble.
Victorinox 8″ Chef’s Knife: This is a budget friendly knife that blows away a lot of higher end knives. It is very basic but you will get years of use out of this knife. The heel of the knife is not encumbered by a bolster and it is very easy to sharpen. I purchased my Victorinox Chef’s knife about 5 years ago and it remains one of my favorite. There is a reason that this knife is so popular: it is an affordable workhorse.
Wusthof Paring Knife: A paring knife is one of my “big three.” Out of all the knives that a home cook needs in the kitchen, a paring knife is one of the essentials. A pairing knife is used for a lot of “off board” tasks like peeling, slicing small items, and cutting citrus fruits and cutting strawberries. I bought a Wusthof paring knife years ago. It has served me well over the years and it is worth every penny. I grab this knife almost every day.
Naniwa Chosera 800 Sharpening Stone: Keeping your knives sharp is one of the most important tasks in the kitchen. A dull knife is susceptible of slipping when you are cutting. Nothing is worse that trying to cut an onion with a dull knife. It is dangerous. Learning to use a sharpening stone is a vital skill for the home cook. This stone is one of the best.
Naniwa Chosera 3,000 Sharpening Stone: Along with the courser grit of the Chosera 800, the 3,000 grit stone is used to polishing your knife. This is a really great stone that does an outstanding job.
BearMoo 400/1000 Combination Sharpening Stone: This is a budget friendly stone that works great! If you want to learn basic knife sharpening on a whetstone but you do not want to invest a lot of money, this stone is right up your alley. It is highly rated, it is a great price, and it is easy to use. It comes with two girts: 400 and 1,000.
BearMoo 2000/6000 Combination Sharpening Stone: This is a nice budget friendly stone to compliment your BearMoo 400/1,000 stone. It is great for fine tuning and polishing your knives.
Chef’s Choice 3 Stage Professional Knife Sharpener: If you aren’t quite ready to learn to sharpen on a stone, the Chef’s Choice Sharpener is one of the best electric knife sharpeners. It is quick, easy, and does a good job on western style knives.
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Amy is the host of the cooking show "Amy Learns to Cook." She is a self confessed "cookware junkie" who has an entire room in her house filled with cookware and kitchen gadgets. She is on a mission to become a better cook. 
