[Closed] Decent kitchen knives we don't need a 2nd mortgage for!...

Arcos are a decent Spanish brand, good VFM and available on Amazon. Victorinox are also worth looking at.

How much do you want to spend (apart from "not 400"!)?

Victorinox - the workhorse of professional chefs (the non-pretentious ones anyway).

Go for the Rosewood handles if you're feeling flush

I have a few victorinox knives. I purchased them from tkmaxx. They are sharp out of the box and hold an edge well.
They don’t look pretty but who cares.

How much do you want to spend (apart from “not 400”!)?

Up to £50/£60 a knife. Don't mind spending a modest amount for something that will last.

Sharpening "tools" and steels generally deserve to be one place only and thats the bin.Steels especially are worse than useless, and I've never seen anyone use them effectively.
Sharpening stones on the other hand should bring your knives back to life, unless you have knocked lumps out of the edge with the steel that is!
There are some cracking devices that allow you to use differing grades of stone locked in place that will replicate the same edge angle consistently.
Decent knives - well I use tescos finest and kept sharp (monthly is enough) they are more than good enough to butcher a deer carcass or chop onions - feel free to spent loads on a fancy set though.

Best knives I have are the Sabatier LIONs that we got from John Lewis for our wedding.  They were reasonably priced and still going strong 14 years later.

I bought other Sabatier knives which looked similar from TK Maxx (before I knew that the Sabatier name is licensed and that there are a number of different manufacturers).  They were cheaper than the LION ones, and are nowhere near as good either in sharpness or holding an edge.

I agree with most of what sanobegger said except for the Steel. A steel helps a sharp knife to keep its edge, they won't however sharpen a blunt knife.

A Whetstone, get one with a guide, will only be around £30 and will allow you to sharpen your knives relatively easily and allow you to keep your knives pretty much forever. Most of my knives are around 20 years old now and are still pretty damn sharp.

.Steels especially are worse than useless, and I’ve never seen anyone use them effectively.

Funniest thing I've read in a long time , steels aren't meant to sharpen a knife just to help keep an edge sharp until a shoulder forms , you then sharpen the knife with a whet stone or similar . If you want to see a steel being used properly pop in to your nearest butchers .

I use a steel most times before using the knife, makes a huge difference when you're cutting tomatoes or similar.

I use a steel most times before using the knife, makes a huge difference when you’re cutting tomatoes or similar.

This. I didn't even know I had a steel until a couple of months ago and now it use it before carving, toms, etc.... makes a difference.
Still got stones for a self-indulgent sharpening session though.

I've got 3 Signature knives from Robert Welch. Didnt break the bank but great quality. The sharpening tool is effective and dead easy to use.

https://www.robertwelch.com/kitchen/kitchen_knives/signature_knives

Got a pair of Tojiro Damascus about 15 years ago, they're brilliant. They were 120 quid the pair, no idea how much they are now.

They've not seen a whetstone since I bought them, only a steel, could shave with the buggers.

In the spirit of recommend what you've got, Wusthof Trident. Ours must be 20 years old with daily use and still better than anything else I've used (a lodger melted the handle of one leaning it on a pan but otherwise they're fine).

I must have tried every sort of sharpener in that time - standard steel, diamond steel, anysharp, one with two angled steels. Katie's got traditional flat diamond stones and whetstones for the workshop as well.

For the last 5 years or so have been using one of these and it's quick and foolproof and only cost £20. Recommended.

Morrison's own brand forged kitchen knives. Bought one to replace a large Sabatier. It was so good, I bought all the other sizes in the range. Cheap as chips and proper sharp. Keep them keen with a steel (was shown how to use one when I worked in a butchery dept). Can recommend.

I’ve got 3 Signature knives from Robert Welch. Didnt break the bank but great quality. The sharpening tool is effective and dead easy to use.

https://www.robertwelch.com/kitchen/kitchen_knives/signature_knives/blockquote >

+1 for Robert Welch, went to the shop to get a few cheap knifes again and came back with a set of these + sharpener, got about 3 years on them now. lifetime guarantee and customer service is pretty good as well from what I hear, thankfully not had to use it.

Tis un
https://www.robertwelch.com/kitchen/kitchen-knives/knife-sets/signature-bamboo-knife-drawer-set.htm

 

Victorinox Fibrox here, not pretty but come sharp and stay sharp with a few slides up the steel every now and then.

All my new pans & knives are from ProCook

Very happy with the pans & knives. One frying pan came slightly damaged non-stick coating and they sent a new one out immediately. I still use the damaged one too and what looked like a scratch in the coating hasn’t changed in 2 years of heavy use & dishwashing.

I really like their knives - I have the X50 range, which are very nice - equivalent to the Victorinox Santoku one I bought in the states years ago.

Victorinox is all you need.

Got three global from somewhere about £120 and a global whetstone sharpener which turned a blunt rubbish knife into a finger slicer in 15 swipes.

Victorinox Fibrox here too. Holds the edge well and can cut a tomato so thin you can read through it.

America's Test Kitchen winner

I got some knives from Sainsbury's ages ago with a 'stay sharp edge'. Was a bit sceptical initially but...they've done what it sad on the packet. They're still razor sharp...certainly sharp enough for veggies and general food choppage. Not sure how the edge has not worn or stay'ed sharp. I've been careful to keep them in their protective plastic sheath that came with them so the edges don't get battered with everything else in the utensil draw, and have never used them for anything other than cutting food, but they have remained super sharp.

+2 for Robert Welch

The Sunday Best cutlery is RW and rather lovely, but I also have the 17cm Signature Santoku. It's been put to good use for 4-ish years now and still scalpel-sharp. Half of that is down to using an end-grain wooden chopping board and hand-washing and drying immediately after use. It's not just the quality of the blade, it's how you treat it.

I bought a Dalstrong (Japanese steel) chef's knife from Amazon about 18months ago which was about £50 reduced.its been really good and was proper sharp for quite a long time. It can be a bugger to sharpen as the steels very hard but with a good stone and about of time it's good as new.

Being a butcher, though retired I think I know a wee bit about the sharp stuff, having stuck them in my hand arm and leg over the years, i could say you wont go wrong with a simple set of victorinox kitchen. Good enough for trade butchers is good enough for a household.
That said unless you keep them sharp and out of a drawer(magnetic racks look cool and pro) basic knives, in fact all will dul and need honing on a sharpening stone, and I cant say how competent you'd be at that.
Ive a sharpenset whetstone at home mainly for planer blades but its the same machine ive used in several places. You can get them on gumtree for a lot less than they cost, but always pick up only do to being pretty heavy.

About 20 odd years ago for my sisters wedding I got them a set of 5 Gustav Emil Ern professional knives, and I'd say they were mid range price wise. Not stupidly cheap with god knows what exactly steel, to stupidly overpriced and so fine in a trade environment they would bend or snap.

An 8"cooks, a bread which doubles as a serrated slicer and a parer is ideal for just about any job, and will last you at least 20 years.

I also got a couple of vegetarian friends who got married the same make of prep knife for their wedding gift.
They divorced about 5 years later and apparently had a fight over custody of the knife. 😆

Consider what you'd spend on a rear mech these days. Thats a set of top end knives in that, and you certainly wont get 20+ years out of it.

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/gustav-emil-ern-7-piece-knife-set-with-wallet/s092

Tesco 'Go Cook' are brilliant.

I got the set for £50 and included a magnetic block.

Maybe not fully comparable to the far more expensive Robert Welsh we got as a wedding present all those years ago (which still go strong for the ex missus), but not miles away.

They are incredible value for money. Decent handles, well weighted, stay sharp and can be worked to remain so.

Surprising bargain. Easily surpass much of the branded stuff I've wasted money on over the years (inc Sabatier).

Worth a look.

Victorinox.

All but 1 of my chefs at work use them for a reason (and I use at home.)

I’m very happy with my David Mellor knives. Admittedly they were very local when I lived in Hathersage so nice to support a local employer but great quality nonetheless.

https://www.davidmellordesign.com/kitchen-knives-and-boards/david-mellor-knives/black-handle

There’s a review of a Victorinox Santoku on an American site I noticed this morning, $50, and a very nice looking knife. Probably available through Amazon over here, certainly worth a look...
https://manofmany.com/living/victorinox-santoku-kitchen-knife-melds-japanese-design-with-swiss-craftsmanship

Global

For that kind of money you can get some really good Global knives.

I've got the Fibrox Victorinox Santoku knife, use it a lot and it was only £30 on Amazon at the time.

The quality of the decent Ikea knives always amazes me for the price.

Hard to look elsewhere for day to day use.

I have a Sabatier from John Lewis, £20 about 25 years ago, still going strong.

For that kind of money you can get some really good Global knives.

I had a Global, I was never really happy with it, the blade was slightly out of line with the handle, and I’ve heard of the blade separating from the handle if used a bit heavily, like smashing garlic on a block. It disappeared a while ago, I have a suspicion that one of my step-dad’s carers took a shine to it, not really missing it. I’ll have a full-tang knife with a decent handle, preferably riveted through, or something like the Victorinox now.

I’ve got a couple of cheap Japanese-style, a Santoku and a slimmer paring knife, but I really fancy a Nakiri, just did a quickish search and found this one, German Steel, full tang with riveted Micarta handle, for £29! I feel a purchase coming on!
https://www.procook.co.uk/product/procook-professional-x50-precision-vegetable-knife-18cm-7

Victorinox Fibrox are generally well recommended (not just on here), I'd also take a look at the Wusthof Classic Ikon range, the handles are comfy (for most people anyway) and the steel is good.

Steels are for honing (correcting/aligning the edge) not sharpening, the reason they work so well for butchers is they're hitting bones on a regular basis which can roll the edge. If you're only using a knife for cutting soft veg onto a reasonably soft board then you shouldn't need to hone much if at all.

I wouldn't go down the Japanese steel knife route, they're a harder steel than typically found in European knives - which means you can sharpen them to a finer point but they need more maintenance.

Pull-through sharpeners are OK in that they can help sharpen up a very dull knife but they take off a lot of metal and will never get close to an edge you can get with stones. Also with stones you can thin a knife, this gets important over time as the more you sharpen an edge back the more it's being created on thicker and thicker parts of the blades - which eventually means even if you get a sharp edge it doesn't cut as well as the blade is too thick immediately after the edge.

Sharpening stones is a bit of a rabbit hole though (at least for me), I've spent as much on them now as one knives (Naniwa Pros and Shapton Glass). Still learning but it's surprising how much sharper you can get ordinary knives (although the trade off being the sharper you get a lower quality softer steel the less time it will hold that edge).

Opinel do some great kitchen knives, I've got a 4 piece ce set of small knives.

So this thread has educated me to the point where I now know I have inadvertently bought good knives (Victorinox) but that ten years later they are blunt (I knew that bit actually). Having read the comments about the whetstones seems like I need one/some of these. Is this these the best bet to rejuvenate an maintain my knives for someone who at present has only a basic pull through jobbie. Do I need four grades of stone?!

Whetstones and steel

Guide

If they're really blunt a 400 and 1000 grit stone should be enough to get them back to sharp (a strop will help to but you can do that on a bit of leather like a belt or even denim). If they're chipped you might want to start with lower than a 400 grit otherwise it will take a lot of time to take enough metal off to correct the edge.

For starting out I'd just get a cheapish combi stone off Amazon. This seems too cheap but might be ok: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sharpening-Whetstones-Waterstones-Wetstones-Sharpener/dp/B07TXYLHYK/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=whetstone+400%2F1000&qid=1587376502&sr=8-9 I have a different one with a wood holder but you don't really need the wood holder (set the stone on a wet towel on a kitchen counter and it won't move). I prefer to use a sink bridge now but not worth getting that to start out.

I also don't like the guides, they get in the way too much IMO. Key thing I found (from lots of reading and YouTube videos) is don't get obsessed by the sharpening angle, focus on maintaining a consistent angle. It comes easy enough IME (although I still need to practice a lot as I don't get a consistent primary bevel, I do get the edge sharp though).

Don't worry about guides, just rest the existing edge on the stone. If you mark up the edge with a Sharpie you can see where the stone is cutting. Lots of good videos on Youtube.

That Nakiri I posted a link to? Well, at that price...