The best chef knife is a base on which a great meal is made. But if you ask three chefs what makes a fine knife, you’ll definitely get at least five replies. The reality is what makes the right knife for you would depend on several things, including your level of confidence with your knives, the size of your hands, and what kind of food you want to prepare.
That said it’s a reason that the simple 6-to 8-inch chef’s knife is widespread: it’s the most flexible knife. The chef’s knife is capable of digging vegetables, grinding beef, slicing herbs and nuts, and even going through small bones without too much difficulty.
There’s a bewildering selection of chef’s knives open, from cheap dirt to sophisticated specialist blades. To help you make sense of it all, we sliced and diced hundreds of knives before the plain truth came to light: a low-profile $10 blade that you sharpen every day is more effective than a $125 blade that’s rusty. Any knife needs to be sharpened, some require more than others. Many of the price gaps between knives are due to the consistency of the materials, which also translates into how well the blade keeps the tip.
We were always left with 8-inch knives, the sweet spot for the modern chef’s knife. Testing included the things you would do in your own kitchen peeling, filling, scraping, cutting, cubing, grinding, and all other regular meat and vegetable prep jobs. Here are the options.
What to see when shopping for a chef’s knife?
When you’re shopping for the best chef knife, it’s important to keep them and make them feel like you can. At the end of the day, choosing your chef’s knife is mainly dependent on personal choice. What may feel perfectly balanced with one cook should feel heavy with another cook. Here’s what you need to consider.
Knife Handle: The very first thing you’ll definitely note is the various handles and the way they’re connected to the blade. Some of them are made of wood composites, a few on metals, and a few on plastic. The type of material influences the weight, feel, and price of the knife.
Knife Tang: Many knives often have a complete tang, which ensures that the blade passes around the handle and helps to stabilize it.
Knife Bolster: Another area of distinction is how the blade flows through the grip, aka the bolster. Some are curved, and others are level. We find that the angled bolsters allow a more protected grip, safer for the novices, while the straight bolsters allow a more controlled grip for the best chef knife who likes to pinch the heel of the blade.
MAC MTH-80 Professional Series 8-inch Chef’s Knife with Dimples
Our pick
Hayward called this knife “a terrific all-rounder and I agree. Crafted in Japan, it has a rough, super-sharp blade and a plain wooden handle that is incredibly comfortable and stable on the side. It’s razor-sharp for a reason—designer MAC’s modeled the company’s razor knives. The blade is beveled to a very narrow, very acute angle, which makes it incredibly sharp. High carbon stainless steel makes it very strong, but still has a dose of molybdenum, which decreases brittleness and makes the metal more resilient and less prone to chip. It’s light and it looks balanced, with a form that’s natural and simple to handle.
The basil can be sliced cleanly, without bruising the leaves at all. It slices quickly through the skin of the tomato and slices clean onion dice quickly. It’s the fastest and most reliable orange. The combination of the razor-like blade and the familiar, convenient shape of the blade and the handle was what made it the best overall choice. It’s on the hand of the light, but not the lightest aspect of the light.
It’s less suitable to cutting a whole chicken or sweet potato than the German knives, but that was the perfect Japanese knife for such jobs, with just sufficient lightness to get the job done. If I could have had one knife, I would have preferred this one.
Best if You Live Near a Good Sharpener – Misono UX10 Gyutou
Our pick
When you chiffonade the basil with this knife, it looks like the leaves spring out of the blade in beautiful ribbons all by themselves. This knife is a treat. “Like butter,” springs to mind time and again. It’s almost alive in your palm, ultra-light, and incredibly agile. It bites effortlessly into tomatoes and adds orange to perfectly clean, tidy pieces in a few seconds.
However, unlike with the Mac, which has just enough robustness to cope with meat and pecan squash, this knife just doesn’t even have an oomph for hard work. It has a scalpel-like delicacy, and when I used it to deal with huge, rough ingredients, it looked strange, even a little risky, and I was worried that I might hurt the blade.
It also needs expert sharpening: one of the keys to this knife’s astonishment is that it is sharpened to an inverted edge—one side is 60 degrees and one is 40 degrees, so you have to buy a left-handed or a right-handed model. That’s perfect, so it’s going to have to be sharpened by someone who knows what they’re doing to remain that way. Hayward calls it a “living hell” to keep it sharp.
He feels it’s the best knife for that list if you have access to a pro sharpener. If you run this through an at-home wheel sharpener, you’ll hone the blade to an even “v,” which is normal, and you’ll lose the distinct consistency of the knife. As much as I love this knife, I can’t recommend it as an all-purpose blade.
Mercer Culinary Renaissance 8-Inch Forged Chef’s Knife
Our pick
This is a good price knife. It’s in a heavy, strong German style, made by a family-owned company in the USA. It handles just about everything you throw its way, even though it’s a little sloppy in the hand and less about delicate ingredients like basil, leaving subtle bruises on it.
This was one of the best knives to cut chicken—giving Wüsthof a run for his money—but it was also shockingly adept at slicing onions, supremating oranges, and chopping onion. It has a plain, convenient wooden handle with no bells and no whistles.
Henckels Professional S Chef Knife, 8-Inch – Best Chef Knife Brand
Our pick
Henckels is one of the biggest knives manufacturers in the world and has been around since the 17th century. They manufacture at least 24 different lines of knives (if you consider Henckels International), so it’s very important to know what type you’re purchasing.
Henckels Specialist S is one of their top-of-the-range lines and is made in Solingen, Germany, where their core factories are situated. Henckels also has factories in Spain and as the newest development, in Japan. It’s in Japan where they’ve made one of their new inventions, the knives crafted by Bob Kramer, the American bladesmith who set the bar high for quality kitchen knives.
The Specialist S is made of one piece of steel—and with a bolster, a full-tang, and a three-rivet handle, it’s as classic as it comes. Although the handle was made to look and sound like wood, it wasn’t. Wood handles are no longer the trend (although they are making a comeback!) and most producers believe that consumers will rather have the longevity provided by synthetic material.
Wusthof Classic Ikon Santoku, 7-Inch
Our pick
Wusthof is the other “Big Two German knifemaker, and some pros swear it over Henckels because they believe the standard is better. Not sure if this perception is justified, but it is undoubtedly supported by the fact that Wusthof has been family-owned and operated for almost 200 years. Interestingly enough both Wusthof and Henckels are made in Solingen (along with hundreds of other blade makers) which is one of the world’s knife-making capitals.
It’s a santoku, Japanese-style blade that many homes cooks favour. It allows you the breadth of a long knife with no more bulky length. And it’s notably smaller and smoother than the regular 8-inch German chef knife. This thinness gives you less resistance when digging into thick materials such as carrots and squash. Yeah, a major plus!
The Traditional Ikon santoku also features a scalloped edge that is all rage—to prevent food from sticking, technically. (This is most effective only for some styles of cutting, but it definitely looks cool.) Since this model is Japanese-style but made by a German knifemaker, I would call it a hybrid.
If you like the santoku look, but don’t care about the Ikon’s curvy handle and want to save some cash, check out the santoku Wusthof in the Classic line. The feel differs marginally (because of the different handle), but the blade itself would be precisely the same. You cost extra for the handle.
A Great Carbon Steel Knife – Best Chef Knife for Restaurant
Our pick
I’ve used a Korin Carbon Steel knife for almost 20 years and it’s still the strongest knife I’ve ever used. Korin’s house brand knives are very well made and not very costly. This sharpens the model to the edge of the razor and keeps that edge longer than all of my other blades.
That said, care for carbon steel takes more time, and if you don’t care about it this knife can easily turn into a dirty nasty thing you don’t want to use. What you just need to do is clean your knife any time you use it (but especially with highly acidic foods, like lemons and tomatoes).
Regularly cleaning your knife is a healthy thing to be clean and to make sure your carbon steel blade doesn’t rust. If you have small hands, or would like a smaller blade, the Korin Petty knives (about 5-6-inch blades) are also really cool.
Japana Sakai Kyuba Gyuto – Best Japanese Chef Knife
Our pick
Continuing with the Japanese trend, this brand has a very fascinating story behind it. Apparently, this gyuto – literally Japanese for a chef’s knife – is made under an alias by a legendary master knife maker. For cultural purposes that I don’t pretend to grasp, blacksmiths are prepared to produce a Western brand knife as long as it doesn’t bear their name. That’s also why this knife is just costly, not outrageously expensive.
None of this would be so relevant if the knife weren’t fine, but this and its siblings – you can even buy the gyuto as part of a package with a nakiri vegetable knife and a tiny knife – are exceptional. Handmade from Japanese Damasco 46-layer stainless steel, with an octagonal maple wood shaft, the knife is perfectly balanced and very light – part warrior, part ninja, if we’re going to get stereotypic, here.
As a consequence, it’s a delight to use, although it’s certainly on the larger side than the chef’s knives. In fact – and I confess that this is not an opinion likely to curry favour with knife purists – I actually find myself using nakiri from this collection more frequently than not as a ‘chef knife,’ even though it’s not one, strictly speaking. The scale and form of the nakiri, as well as the sharpness of the razor, make it a perfect choice to cut just about everything.
IO Shen Oriental Slicer – Best Budget Chef Knife
Our pick
The IO Shen Oriental Slicer doesn’t sound like the typical chef’s knife, but it doesn’t. This cleaver-style blade with its angled cutting edge is perfect for getting through difficult root vegetables as well as more delicate work such as rock-cutting herbs. The breadth of the blade also makes it suitable for scooping the chopped herbs or the ground garlic to add to the pan.
The knife has the heft of a European blade with the finer cutting angle of a Japanese knife, although the maker says that the blade can keep its edge longer because of its structure which contains a sheet of incredibly hard Japanese steel, sandwiched between two layers of softer stainless steel. Apparently, a softer layer provides a defensive shock absorption element to the blade.
It’s definitely been our understanding that IO Shen needs to be sharpened even less often than Global. The knife also has a free warranty from the maker.
If you have the option of choosing two chef’s knives, a heavy German-style blade like the Wüsthof or the Zwilling combined with a lighter one like the Global would give you a pairing that will see you well for years to come. But if you want only one Jack-of-all-trades knife, then the IO Shen Oriental Slicer is a really good choice.
8-Inch Chef’s Knife – Best Professional Chef Knife
Our pick
This chef’s knife from Misen, a specific brand, is made of Japanese AUS-8 high carbon stainless steel, which means it’s rugged, robust, and super sharp. Its blade is sharpened to 15o, which is sharper than conventional western-style blades, which are normally sharpened to 25o. It has an angled bolster that facilitates better grip during use. It felt healthy, robust, and relaxed in our tests
The blade is marginally thinner than the other chef’s knifes that we checked, which proved to be fine for chopping. It’s wonderfully designed—knives of this calibre normally cost more than twice as much!
Shun Classic 7-inch Santoku Knife – Best Steel For Chef Knife
Our pick
The Shun is a classical Japanese Damacus steel blade. Indentations help minimize pressure as the knife moves through food and help keep objects from sticking to it as you cut. The Shun kept its edge well, but it’s more difficult to sharpen. You’re going to want those high-quality stones to get a sharp razor.
Damacus steel coating, and that is what gives knives its distinctive ripple pattern, has a reputation for being tough to care for but in my experience, it’s nothing more than carbon steel. Also, note that this is Ho handle (round and notched to the right-handers. The Shun is a good-quality knife, but it’s almost always on sale so don’t spend more than $130 for it.
How to choose the best chef’s knife for you?
There are two major types to choose from when it comes to the chef’s knives: German knives and Japanese knives. They are not as distinct as one would imagine (and several knives actually mix elements of both styles!), but here are the key points of distinction worth noting:
German knives: Heavy and thick, particularly on the bolster (where the blade meets the handle), German knives can be used for anything from mincing garlic to cutting through chicken bones. They have thicker blades that appear to be bent to make rocking smoother and are made of softer material, so you’ll need to sharpen them regularly.
Japanese knives: Lightweight and razor-sharp, western-style Japanese knives tend to have a thinner blade and a straighter tip than their German equivalent, making them suitable for precise tasks such as clean-cutting cucumbers or tuna. And since they are made of hard steel, they can normally go longer between sharpenings, but they may be vulnerable to cracking or chipping.
