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Fed up with our blunt excuses for knfes in the draw.
What can I buy hopefully from a standard shop, Lakeland or procook type of thing etc
For about £100-150 for a set of maybe 4
Thanks
What four type of are you thinking? Lots of ppl seem to get lost in show business trying to get loads that they'll never use or something so expensive they need to be mounted & just gazed at
Most chef/cooks I watch recommend a good main (chef's) knife, and a pairing knife (or two) this assumes you have bread knife (& fish knife if you do that often). I bought a 8" Mercer, not pennies but definitely not expensive, a while back. While it is excellent, I find myself using a smaller 6" (Jamie 'chop' knife I was given) almost as much, as it's more comfortable
As for sharpening, I'm sure the artisans on here will be aghast, but I just use a knife sharpener regularly (chef's recommendation for those not interested in learning to do it properly... me!)
PS: Buying a nice end grain chopping board was an excellent accompaniment to a decent knife
As above, you're unlikely ever to use a full set, so spend good money on a few decent ones. My most used knives are an 8" chef's knife, a six" chef's knife and a parer.
My heartiest recommendation is Phillip Welch signature range. Very comfortable/ergonomic and razor sharp.
https://www.robertwelch.com/collections/signature-knives
Get a Chantry steel (used by many professional to keep an edge) https://www.thehomewareoutlet.com/products/up00585419?variant=55226339688822&country=GB¤cy=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=free_shopping_listings&utm_content=Chantry+Knife+Sharpener,+Ivory&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19002861984&gbraid=0AAAAADf8wQjsB1CUes1eeefIiuNFxxUQY&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhO3DBhDkARIsANxrhTqGD1ZB5ZgOGgZqgQXH5TuHAjfeE7gKDOsofuWPHQ1b9DVh1aky3mMaAmSDEALw_wcB
And learn how to put an edge back just every so often using a stone.
IKEA Briljera knives currently on sale. Down to £15 each for the kitchen or chefs knife.
I have three. Sharp as xxxx. Feel good in use. Good reviews. In store only.
https://be-sharp.io/2024/01/26/ikea-brijera-knives-80-cheaper-than-the-competition/
IKEA knives are often OK.
IRL what knives do you need?
If I were starting over I’d go for bread knife, medium chef’s knife, maybe a paring knife, maybe a cleaver/vegetable knife.
check outkitchenknives.co.uk for various offers on Global knives and others.
What four type of are you thinking? Lots of ppl seem to get lost in show business trying to get loads that they'll never use or something so expensive they need to be mounted & just gazed at
Agreed. I have 5 good old Lion brand Sabatiers - 12" chefs, 8" chefs, paring knife, serrated veg knife and bread knife. All now about 45 years old.
Bought a few Pro cook X50 Profile knives to replace some ageing Globals a few years back, they are performing really well and haven't needed a sharpen despite relatively heavy use. The nakiri is one of the best chopping knives I have used, perfect shape and balance.
Here's a thing I learned when buying a set of knives last year. IKEA ones as it happens. These don't have a small blunted section at the rear most corner of the blade. They're (bloody) sharp there and it's surprising how many times I initially nicked myself on the hand or finger from it.
I seem to have developed a natural avoidance reflex since, but I'd not buy another set like it.
Here's a thing I learned when buying a set of knives last year. IKEA ones as it happens. These don't have a small blunted section at the rear most corner of the blade. They're (bloody) sharp there and it's surprising how many times I initially nicked myself on the hand or finger from it.
I seem to have developed a natural avoidance reflex since, but I'd not buy another set like it.
Yeah mine were circa 30 too, definitely paid for themselves 😂
Fed up with our blunt excuses for knfes in the draw.
The knives are your third problem here. The first problem is where you're storing them and the second is what you're calling it.
Sharp knives do not belong in a drawer. That's a really good way of turning them into blunt ones.
Here's a thing I learned when buying a set of knives last year. IKEA ones as it happens. These don't have a small blunted section at the rear most corner of the blade. They're (bloody) sharp there and it's surprising how many times I initially nicked myself on the hand or finger from it.
I seem to have developed a natural avoidance reflex since, but I'd not buy another set like it.
As above, you're unlikely ever to use a full set
Huh, I'm not saying you're wrong in general. Just stood out to me as I'll use all knives in our set, most of them daily. No meat cleaver, fillet knife in the mix mind you
If the OP does go for a full set, we have been using a Henckels set with a self sharpening block for years now. Can't even remember the last time I sharpened a knife. Similar to this https://www.zwilling.com/uk/henckels-definition-7-pcs-knife-block-set-brown-19485-007-0/19485-007-0.html
I thoroughly recommend Global knives. Some great deals on sets here:
https://www.kitchenknives.co.uk/by-brand/global-knives/
A good three piece set is all you need. And as above don’t just chuck them in a drawer.
Or to save money just the main knife and a paring knife, then get a sharpener.
I've got a couple from the ProCook X50 range. Not as sharp or as hard as I'd hoped from reading the marketing nonsense.
I'm also not totally in love with the handles and balance of them. That to me is the most important thing about any tool, including a kitchen knife.
They're a tactile thing and need to feel nice. Doesn't matter how good a knife it is, if it doesn't fit your hand or it's awkward to use, you won't get on with it or maybe, you'll just lose a finger .
As above, you're unlikely ever to use a full set, so spend good money on a few decent ones. My most used knives are an 8" chef's knife, a six" chef's knife and a parer.
Yeah pretty much.
You only need a full set if you are either a professional or you cook serious stuff in the home.
I favour just a couple in daily use - A 9" chef's, a 3" parer and a serrated long thin/flexible 12" slicer that is good for bread, but due to being thin and flexible is really good at filleting big salmon.
I've also a gynormous 14" old fashioned chefs, thats about 7mm thick along its spine. Its probably a century old, carbon, holds a wicked edge. Type of thing if you want to slice a whole lobster lengthways.
You can't really go wrong with German knives. Excellent quality and not too expensive
I bought 3 Gustav emil ern knives as a wedding present for my Sister. 8" chef's(£115), 10" serrated slicer/bread(£70), and the 3" parer(£25)
That was 30 years and they are still in daily use.
Love my Zwillings twin Pollux set. It’s not as nifty as piemonster’s so I have a separate sharpener, but they’re amazing knives. Kinda 3/4 of the way to wusthoff.
Our main knife is over 50 years old and is the one Mrs BigJohn and I both want to use when we're cooking.
I've had many sharpening tools over the years from the big steel rod which can be a bit scary, to a cheap Kitchen Devil pull through ( remarkably effective) but now I have a Hone roller sharpener which is the best one I've used. It can turn a £6 TK Max job into a sushi knife and keep it sharp.
I'd rather have a sharpener (that I know how to use, and is quick and at hand) and a cheap knife than a fancy knife and a rubbish sharpener.
What can I buy hopefully from a standard shop, Lakeland or procook type of thing etc
Have you considered actually looking at ProCook’s website? They offer lots of options, far more than can actually be described.
What do you really need? We bought one at a time and ended up with 8 paring, 14 and a 24 chef plus a bread knife and a flexible knife (rarely used). Wustof Classic. Must be nearly 25 years old now and we've never felt the need for any more. We've got a good thinner carving knife from another brand as well.
The main thing is to look after them - makes no difference how much you pay otherwise.
- store in a block or magnetic rack, not rattling in a drawer
- don't put in dishwasher, don't dry stuck in the cutlery rack on the draining board.
- keep them sharp. Countless views on how but I don't think you can beat one of these for about £25. Pull through so simple to use, but diamond wheels so doesn't take off stupid amounts of material on each use or leave it serrated (Had an Anysharp copy and didn't like it).
Victorinox knives are great value. Get a 9" chefs, a santoku and a parring knife. I got mine off of that there eBay. Not sure you guys can buy knives on eBay though? Did they ban it?
I'm in the buy a couple of decent knives camp. I have 6 decent knives but 3 of them are just not used.
The three I do use are a 7" Nakiri and a 6" Utility knife (like a small chef knife but bigger than a pairing knife, a real jack of all trades) for 95% of stuff and a pairing knife probably 5%.
Victorinox knives are great value. Get a 9" chefs, a santoku and a parring knife. I got mine off of that there eBay. Not sure you guys can buy knives on eBay though? Did they ban it?
They did indeed. UK gov told them to ban all knife sales in the UK due to stabbings etc
Knock on is that all blades are covered, which includes not only chisels(need to prove age) but also crazy stuff like fretsaw and bandsaw blades.
Well it probably won't be long until they do that here. Actually I think it came into play before I left the UK in 2009 as it was impossible to buy a Leatherman off eBay UK!
Machetes have been banned recently (well from Sept 1) but you can apply for an exemption. Does seem to be a knee-jerk reaction as it's really not difficult to grab a chefs knife or cleaver out of the kitchen before you go meet your mandem at the park, before the crew goes on a robbing spree or some gang bizness. We don't appear to have succumbed to Zombie killing knives yet......
I actually need a machete for some garden work so I've been looking at Cold Steel 'chetes. Best get my exemption in!
If you're on a budget Victorinox do have a very good rep... they are used as standard kit in a lot of commercial kitchens as they are relativley cheap, but still up to the job for professional use.
I prefer to have a few fancy Jap knives as they are just wonderfull to use, and look at though, but may require more care depending on type of steel, that's another wormhole there are LOTS of different types of steel!
This is a good set of 3: https://japaneseknifecompany.com/product/tojiro-vg10-nb-set-of-3/
I've got a 15 year old IKEA chefs knife that's my favorite and a 6 block of procook knives, in that set is a santoku which is my least favorite as it's not my cutting style.
I have the micarta range which they no longer do.
Wusthof 20cm chefs (my favourite) was about £90
Wusthof 8cm paring (flat not curved) was about £30
These are the ones I use all the time. Bought a 13cm Procook santoku because I fancied trying one and this is what my wife prefers (it’s a lot lighter than the wusthof chefs).
I could make do with just the first two, a bread knife and a honing steel. Would come in about £150 or so.
I have many many knives ranging from £200 a knife to £150 a set.
I have a soft spot for Global (got their 3 knife 40th set to add to my others!) and its a good working knife that is easy to sharpen.
For most folk I would suggest a softer steel (well less hard… not soft) than some of the uber premium knives promise.
Procook posh range, ikea decent or richardson sheffield do some cracking knife sets without breaking the bank.
For casual (ie other than geek) sharpening i really rate the mino plus 3 sharpener.
Just following up on this, as the thread got me googling and I noticed a very cheap looking Wusthof knife (we have others) and despite thinking the ones we already had were everything we needed this new one has quickly become our most used knife. Really nice shape, a little larger than a paring knife /smaller and lighter than our 14cm chefs knife and very good for cheese (which we eat a lot of and all the 'cheese specific' knives we've bought over the years have been crap.)
it seems a few manufacturers do a 'try me' knife which looks like a loss leader to get you to buy more from their range. The smaller paring knife Wusthof do is £90, whereas the 'asian utility knife' is only £50 and you can pick it up for less -- £36 plus postage here I added a shapener to get it to free postage level.
Agreed. I have 5 good old Lion brand Sabatiers - 12" chefs, 8" chefs, paring knife, serrated veg knife and bread knife. All now about 45 years old
That’s good to hear. After staying and cooking in a holiday place that had a set of these recently, we decided to treat ourselves to a full set. They’re so bloody sharp that I reckon I could easily dismember a body with them! Don’t say you weren’t warned! 😃
I’ve actually had to change the way I cut and chop food after a couple of bloody incidents, with me casually handling them in the same slapdash manner as my previous non-lethal ones.
This is what I'd buy assuming you already have a breadknife. Good knives, will last well if looked after and very sharp. Buy the MinoSharp at the same time.
And stop keeping them in a drawer, I have a magnetic block and it works well.
Global Air-Kaze 3 Piece Knife Set (G-779015) - KitchenKnives.co.uk
Victorinox knives are great value
Gotta agree with this. Bought a few (sorry, from Amazon. not sorry) and man they are sharp. Took the advice to never dishwasher them and months later as sharp as new. Slicing tomatoes has never been easier. Great recommendation
Victorinox Fibrax (plastic) handled series knife is not too flashy looking but blades keep their sharpness very well. I have few Global knives and Wusthofs too but the more often than not I use the Victorinox.
Love my Zwillings twin Pollux set
I have many knives, too many, but my to go knives are Zwilling Twin Pollux, very good, because they are easy to maintain sharpest and comfortable to use.
I am a bit lazy to sharpen my knives even when I have all the expensive sharpening tools. I just use my regular sharpening steel to hone them from time to time. Coarse, medium and fine ceramic steels.
Some of the expensive knives are very hard to sharpen if they have high Rockwell beyond 60. Hardness of around 57 - 60 is good enough.
Anyway, I am going to order some traditional Spanish chef knives soon but still slightly indecisive of whether to go for carbon or stainless steel ... LOL!
I have three. Sharp as xxxx.
Fine, but can you keep them sharp as xxxx?
My suggestion would be ProCook - I have a couple of their knives, a Santoku and a Nakiri, both with Micarta handles, one canvas, the other wood.
They’re lovely to hold, well balanced, and sharp as xxxx; but, like all good knives, use them, and they will lose their sharpness, an inevitable consequence of actually using them for their intended purpose.
I use a leather strop with a medium compound on one side, and a fine on the other - I’ve yet to need anything other than the fine, just to polish the edge back to a decent sharpness.
I’m not a professional cook, I’m mostly slicing vegetables, but that’s where I need a good edge.
They’re several years old now, and I see no need to pay more for a good knife; I don’t think either cost more than around £20, as ProCook often have special offers on.
"Fine, but can you keep them sharp as xxxx?"
I use this.
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/briljera-knife-sharpener-diamond-coated-stainless-steel-30392803/
And store the knives in this rather than a drawer.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SILBERTHAL-Universal-Knife-Block-Holder/dp/B01K8HILMS/
My fave, A tsunehisa migaki nakiri
