A good basic kit for an average domestic kitchen would include: An all-purpose utility knife (13cm / 5 inches) – used for a range of foods; often a choice for the first knife as it can do many things. A chef’s knife (20-23cm / 7. 8–9 inches) – used for chopping, dicing, mincing, and cutting. A vegetable or paring knife (8cm / 3") – used for peeling, cutting, and trimming small items of food that you hold in the hand (such as trimming small potatoes). A bread knife (serrated) – used for bread, cake, fruit, and tomatoes. A cleaver – used for meat, and a smaller version for chopping herbs, etc. Only buy if you need to chop serious pieces of meat. A filleting knife – helps to fillet fish. Only buy if you intend on filleting; most people don’t bother anymore but buy food ready filleted. A carving knife – used for getting thin and even slices of meat from roasts, full roasted poultry, etc. Sharpening steel, knife-honing stone, or electric honer. Quite often you can buy a knife set which may contain much or all of this range; often these will be cheaper than buying them individually, but the same rules outlined in the following steps should still apply to picking a good set of kitchen knives. Also, the risk with buying a cheap or prepackaged box set is that you might not like the feel of each knife in the set, or grow to dislike the brand, whereas if you had trialled simply one knife first, you can quickly change to another brand if that one doesn’t work for you.
The key reason to consider balance is that a well balanced knife makes any cutting action easier and requires less effort. It is essentially the leverage point – like a seesaw’s balance – and it has to be at a specific point or it is unbalanced. If you are using the knife a lot for large quantities of ingredients, a balanced knife offers far less strain on the arm.
Good knives are often made of non-stainless steel (carbon steel), which gives a good edge fairly quickly, but care should be taken so they will not rust. Carbon steel knives are easy to sharpen at home but need vigilance to prevent rusting. Stainless steel is what many cheap modern knife blades are made of, but they often tend to go blunt quickly and take a very long time to sharpen again. Aim to purchase high-carbon stainless steel knives; they require sharpening but they won’t rust. With less carbon content than rust-prone older carbon steel knives, these ones hold their edge better and are harder. [6] X Research source Cheryl Mendelson, Home Comforts: The art and science of keeping house, p. 95, (2001), ISBN 0=304-35624-7 If you’re on a budget, an inexpensive stainless steel is a good choice until you can afford a high-carbon stainless steel knife. Forged blades are better than stamped ones because the forging renders the metal stronger. Avoid knives that claim to never need sharpening. They are not very sharp to begin with and they cannot be sharpened, meaning that when they lose their edge (and they will), they have to be disposed of.
Serrated chef’s knives should be avoided for general use such as vegetable and meat chopping as they can be very unsafe, being more likely to slip than cut. They cannot be sharpened and they saw rather than slice, unless you apply direct downward pressure (like when cutting a block of hard cheese) which is dangerous. It sounds like a good deal and is often packaged or advertised as an all-in-one knife that both chops vegetables, etc. , and cuts bread, but they are not worth the money. You almost never see them in a knife set from a quality manufacturer, so it can be quite indicative the manufacturer is targeting a customer looking for what seems the most economical option. Serrated knives should be included in your set but only for slicing bread or baked products.
A diamond steel can cost a lot more, but will give a very fine edge. They also wear the knife down faster so knives can start to take a curved or sickle shape if care is not taken when sharpening. Very often people sharpen the middle of the blade on a steel, which also often happens most when you sharpen it with high speed (as it can look impressive to sharpen knives that way). Take it slowly and evenly the whole length of the blade, so it wears and sharpens evenly. Do not use the knife on stone, glass, steel or ceramic cutting boards or surfaces; this can damage the knife and put fine chips in your food as well as being more likely to slip and cause an injury. Wood or rigid (not flexible) plastic is still the best cutting board. The board must be cleaned regularly and if plastic soaked in a 10:1 water and bleach solution once a week in high-use environments on top of regular cleaning. Most knife handling injuries are caused by blunt knives rather than sharp ones as more pressure is applied to cut and the knife is more likely to slip. Be sure to use a sharpener that’s meant for the blade material so you don’t damage your knives.
Try not to let anyone else use your knives if they are your personal set. Ultimately the most knife injuries where bluntness was not the cause was someone using a knife with which they were unfamiliar.
Storing them loose in a toolbox or utensil drawer is not recommended.
