Recommendation? Kitchen knives

Just grab a few Mora Companions ;)

I've considered doing it just because. I've also thought about grabbing some Victorinox knives because they are a hell of a value. I have seen Rada dealers at the flea markets and assumed they were there because they were cheap stuff. I may be tempted to check them out tho. I like recycling and the USA!
 
JupiterPaladin said:
Just grab a few Mora Companions ;)

I've considered doing it just because. I've also thought about grabbing some Victorinox knives because they are a hell of a value. I have seen Rada dealers at the flea markets and assumed they were there because they were cheap stuff. I may be tempted to check them out tho. I like recycling and the USA!
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Mora makes culinary knives. They're full flat ground (unlike the Companions) for a reason. ;)
 
coinbuysell said:
I am thinking about getting a set of these for my daughter, no block but $45.95 for the set:

ESEE Ethan Becker Signature Cooking Knives Series 1

Four Essential Blades for the Home Cook, 7" Santuko, 6 3/4" Chef Knife, 5 3/4" Santuko and 6" Utility Knife. The soft handle of Satoprene for a No-Slip grip and easy cleaning. The blades are made from German DIN 1.4116 Stainless Steel, hardened to 55-57 RC with full flat grind. They are dish washer safe, but as we all know the best way to take care of a kitchen knife is by hand-washing it with mild detergent and warm water. Each blade has Ethan Becker’s signature etched into. Manufactured in Taiwan per Becker/ESEE Knives standards.

https://www.knifeworks.com/closeout...nature-cooking-knives-series-1-esee-cook.html

They are not the greatest steel or handles but they look functional, are made for ESEE with the Becker signature, and I don't think she is ready for high end knives at this point.
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That ESEE Becker set would make an excellent set for both the OP's wife and coinbuysell's daughter.

Add to that the Zyliss set of a 4" tomato knife and 3.5" paring knife (typically $10 at Michaels or BedBathBeyond) and you're all set.
 
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No no no. My mother got duped into buying some of those Zyliss knives. They are junk. I can't recommend them.

That said, for the super cheap bottom budget kitchen knives, I find KAIs pure komachi line to be better than the competition.
Of course, that's like trying to figure out who makes the best instant mac n' cheese.
 
Hi. mrbladedude I have also been looking for my sister and have come up with the Ross Henery 5 piece set. They have (so was explained to me) pretty good steel and if looked after the right way they would work well. I am in Canada so was looking on Amazon.ca to find these ones. They might also work for your sister. It has a bread knife (sister makes bread) which she will use and another longer knife. Does any know how the Ross Henery knife sets are? Just thought I would point this out to you in case it might solve your problem.
Regards
Tar :)
 
adamlau said:
Four or five knives for $120 total? Can't help you there. An average of $120 per knife? MAC Professional is a nice step up from Shun/Global.
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There's no way in hell I'm paying $120 for 1 kitchen knife. $120 is plenty money to get a few decent kitchen knives
 
Realistically, in the kitchen, you can do everything you need with a 8" chef's knife, and a 4" pairing knife.

I personally prefer traditional, European style blades in the kitchen, and have been using a set of Henkel Pro's for the last 10 or so years. They've only been sharpened twice since new, but I run them over the steel at least once a week, to touch them up. The 8" gets used almost daily, the 4" fairly regularly, and the 6" only when I need to bone or carve. Picked up the whole set, with steel for around $100 at a big box kitchen store.


C909FD03-D338-482C-B9A9-7169B4AECFE6.jpg
 
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brancron said:
... Although Tojiro does make great entry-level Japanese-style chef's knives, their choice of steel (VG-10) might not be the best for your wife's purposes if she intends to put them in the dishwasher, etc., because VG-10 chips more easily than steels like that in the Victorinoxes mentioned. Chippier and harder to sharpen on the Accusharp.
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Just recently I got curious about a laminated santoku-type knife I got years ago. I think I bought it at some oriental grocery/kitchen place in NYC for maybe $30. Best I can tell from the numerous characters stamped on the knife, it's a Tojiro. Hard as woodpecker lips. My wife managed to put a lot of little chips in it over the years and it needs serious TLC. Never mind putting the laminated wood handle through the dishwasher.
 
The knives I use in the kitchen are all Victorinox:
Santoku
Paring knife
Fruit knife (hawksbill blade)
Utility(?) {round-tipped and serrated}

Good geometry, decent edge-holding, easy maintenance (very stainless and easy to resharpen). In fact, when the edges start to lose their bite, it only takes a few seconds to restore the edge on my Sharpmaker at about 15 DPS.

Jim
 
I have purchased MANY an introductory high value kitchen knife. From brands like Kiwi, Forschner, Dexter Russell, I've used forged henkels, shuns (several different lines), tried a friends Misono swedish steel, and so on.

My opinion for the highest value line of knives I have seen on the market is the Mercer Genesis series. They use forged x50cr15mov steel and claim to be heat treated to 58hrc which I have no reason to doubt based on my experience. You would be able to get all 4-5 knives for your budget with this brand. I still have my forschners and several shuns as well as carbon steel knives that I have for fun. The knife I go to most though is my mercer 8" genesis. The really nailed the edge geometry on these knives as well. I can't recommend them as much though I think some shy away due to the made in Taiwan nature, though that's also where many other kitchen knives are made.
 
Our knife block has a mix of knives in it. Such a big mix that I added some rare earth magnets to the top/back of it to hold a few more blades than will fit into the block. There is enough variety that I feel I can offer a bit of advice:
  • The block is a Calphalon block set that my wife like the ergonomics of, even if the steel needs a lot of maintenance. Note that Calphalon had a big recall on a LOT of their knives due to what sounded like heat treat issues. The replaced blades seem to hold an edge a bit better than the pre-recall blades, but they dull quickly.
  • I have three Henkels Pro (8" Chef, 6" Utility, 4" Paring) and a regular Henkels 10" Chef. They are what I use for 80% of what I need to do in the kitchen. They keep an edge well and handle anything I throw at them.
  • Then there is an Oxo Santuko we picked up while Calphalon was replacing their knives. I use it about 15% of the time, and my wife uses it quite a bit.
  • There is a Mercer serrated bread knife that works very well for what it does. It was a toss up between the Mercer and the Victorinox Vibrox when I bought it, but the price difference decided things. In retrospect, I probably should have gone for the Vibrox.
  • The steak knives were swapped a few years ago for a (please don't laugh) AmazonBasics set. There were so much better than the Calphalons, it was almost funny. They are not the best steak knives you can buy, but they do the job, even if they were obviously factory seconds from a big manufacturer.
  • I have also purchased a Victorinox Vibrox 4 piece set (chef, bread, utility, paring) for my wife's church's kitchen when I caught them on a great sale. I used them a bit before donating them, and for the money, they are a great value. If my wife liked the ergos more than the Calphalons, I would buy another set to replace the Calphalons just so I would need to do less maintenance work.

My recommendation: With your budget get the Victorinox Vibrox knives. There is a 3 knife set, the 4 knife set I mentioned above (both a few dollars above your budget), or just buy the essentials separately. However, please invest in either a knife block or a magnetic knife bar to keep your sharp knives out of the kitchen junk drawer.

Good luck and enjoy.
 
Just FYI this is a stale thread from 10 months ago and the OP hasn't been seen since October of last year, so no need to reply directly to the questions raised by the OP.
 
They're pretty high end, but I bought the CMT series by Fällkniven and my god these kitchen knives are something else:
fallknivencmtb5sfv.jpg
 
jc57 said:
Just FYI this is a stale thread from 10 months ago and the OP hasn't been seen since October of last year, so no need to reply directly to the questions raised by the OP.
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Oh Bother.. I missed that. Oooops
 
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