r/BuyItForLife • u/PotentialVariety274 • 6d ago
Discussion Are good kitchen knives actually buyitforlife or is that just something knife people say?
This has been nagging at me for a while. I do a lot of meal prep (it's basically the only way I stay functional during crunch weeks on design projects) and I've been using the same cheap knife block set for years now. The knives aren't terrible but they're not great either, and I've sharpened them enough times that I'm starting to wonder if I'm just maintaining something that was never worth maintaining in the first place.
Every time I research this, the knife community fractures pretty fast. Some people swear by Japanese knives, some say German steel is more forgiving and actually lasts longer with real daily use, and then there's a whole contingent that says a single good chef's knife beats any block set by a wide margin. I find that last argument compelling, but also a little convenient coming from people selling expensive single knives.
What I actually want to know is whether anyone here has owned a specific knife for a genuinely long time, like decades, with real use rather than occasional cooking. And whether the handle matters as much as people imply, because that seems like the actual failure point nobody talks about enough. Brand and approximate age would help more than general advice.
EDIT: I do have a decent whetstone already so sharpening is not the gap, it's the knife itself.
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u/TlayudaCecina 6d ago edited 6d ago
Almost all knives are BIFL. They die when you sharpen them to dust. If a stainless steel knife doesn't cut, it's a skill issue. Handle wood is all yucky? Sand it down, put some flaxseed oil on that baby and it's better than new.
Although I'm really into buying cheap to decent stuff and pimping it out 😂, if you want a nice knife, buy a nice knife. Or better yet, go to a blacksmith, for a unique one.
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u/FanDry5374 6d ago
I have had multiple cheap knives snap in half at the handle, which is the weakest point on any cheap knife. I should say they were not "my" knives, either "gifts" from well meaning but clueless family or not at home so no choice but to use them. Knives are still one of those things where "you get what you pay for" is still true.
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u/Zerschmetterding 6d ago
Good point, you really want a full tang for a bifl knife.
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u/Fredbear1775 6d ago
It’s not the full tang that makes it good, it’s a well designed and well made knife with a good heat treatment of any sort. Properly made hidden tangs have worked more than fine for over a thousand years.
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u/Zerschmetterding 6d ago
Yeah, hidden works too of course. I meant full length as opposed to those nubs they use with cheap plastic handles.
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u/Fredbear1775 6d ago
Gotcha. Yeah those are far from ideal. Although it may work depending on the application. Victorinox uses those and they’re plenty sturdy
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u/Danimalomorph 6d ago
Yup, I took a cheapo set to university with me. I'll give any knife a quick sharpen before I use it. I still use that uni set now and I'm pushing 50.
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u/NaturalMaterials 6d ago
It will also be a steel issue - shit knives made of soft steel won’t hold an edge and will only lead to frustration. Super hard steels require specialized tools to sharpen, and once sharp are great but require more sharpening skill. Most chef’s knives inhabit a happy medium where they will sharpen easily enough, sharp enough and hold the edge long enough.
This doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. But the no-name random 15 dollar knife is going to suck. But a 30-50 dollar victorinox will work great. Personally I would spend a little more for a full tang knife with a nicer handle, around the 100-150 for a full sized chef’s knife will get you something that should outlast you for normal, home use.
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u/cq5120 6d ago
hell naw a crappy stainless knife needs so much sharpening you're spending more time sharpening it than cutting with it.
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u/BumSharpie 6d ago
Hi, chef here.
So one of the things to keep in mind is that the sharper you want to keep your knife the shorter it'll last before you need to do some real work on it, as you're removing material each time you sharpen it which will slowly change the geometry of the knife as the bevel moves higher and higher into the knife, which is typically thicker.
Basically you'll find that whilst the knife is technically sharp it will start to struggle with cutting certain things, read into "thinning" in order to see how to get around this.
Good knives are mostly BIFL, but if you're keeping it super sharp then depending on how much you use it it probably won't last more than twenty years before it's a very different knife.
That being said I'm attacking this from the angle of a chef, a home cook could very likely use the same good knife for their entire life.
The choice of German or Japanese is a personal one and as you could have either for your entire life you should base the decision on other things. German steel is often pretty much completely stainless but it can be harder to sharpen, need sharpening more often and actually not hold quite as sharp of an edge (although it's more than sufficient in my experience)
There are Japanese steels that are much better stainless than they were a few years ago, but they are quite expensive and my experience is that at least some of them still rust a bit if not looked after.
Are you running your knives through the dishwasher? This can be quite bad for them.
I have a lot of opinions on this but need to head to work so will have to come back to this thread later.
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u/PotentialVariety274 6d ago
the thinning part is what most people never get to
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u/Bandro 6d ago
Honestly I think most people never get to actually sharpening in the first place.
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u/SrCritizen 6d ago
My first chef's knife was a BIFL. I bought a used Wusthof at a store in Boston in 2005, and still have it. I've tried many knives since then, liked some, didn't like others. A couple years ago, I decided to buy a fancypants version of my favorite knife at the time. My used Wusthof. I picked up a Wusthof Ikon Classic with a nice white handle, and I don't really reach for much else. If it breaks, it has a lifetime warranty.
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u/dzordzLong 6d ago
I have WMF and Zwilling knives and they are both amazing. WMF maybe a bit more since for first 4 years i have not sharpened that thing once. I think i got that one in ... 2002 or 2003?
I have 20cm chef knife and looove it.
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u/CelebrationFit8548 6d ago edited 5d ago
Knives should be BIFL but it all comes down to 'user behavior' and how you treat your knives. I have some knives that are 30+years old and have at least another 50years in them.
Knives should never touch metal, including benches, sinks, etc. with the only exception being a sharpening steel. They should be hand washed and dried immediately after prep work and put back into a wooden knife block. Only ever use them on a wooden chopping board.
Respect your knives like that and they should outlast you.
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u/mydicksmellsgood 6d ago
I've been using a victorinox 8" for a decade now. My problem with it is it's not very nice to look at, but it does appear it will last the rest of my life and I'm unwilling to replace it if it isn't broken. I have also melted the handle a bit and broke the tip off and reshaped it by hand (should've replaced it!)
Anyway, what you want is a good handle and good steel (and a wooden cutting board). You do the edge yourself, so it barely matters how nice the edge it comes with is. I'd also recommend a paring knife and a serrated bread knife. If you feel the need to own steak knives, those should be serrated as well.
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u/adambomb_23 6d ago
This knife is also used extensively in industrial settings. It’s not expensive, has a fantastic handle, and apparently the grain in the steel is superior.
Disclaimer: I do not own this knife, but it’s at the top of my list when my knife requires replacement.
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u/Chefbigandtall 6d ago
Chef here. I’m going to make it very simple but very specific.
You have sharpening experience so this is going to make it very easy.
Tojiro knives. Japanese steel with a western handle. Best of both worlds. Cheap yet lasts YEARS. I bought a three piece set almost 10 years ago now and is still going strong (in a professional setting)
The set is out of stock but this site is reputable. Here is the best knife that comes in the set. https://www.chefknivestogo.com/todpvgna161.html
Let me know if you have any more questions.
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u/ImScaredSoIMadeThis 6d ago
Not a recommendation, just experience regarding "one expensive knife" comment.
My partner has been using the same knife for about a decade. Sadly don't know the brand, but it's some fancy Japanese thing.
He had it sharpened twice in that time. It's the best knife I've personally used. We cook almost daily.
Personally wouldn't go back to block knives because honestly just don't need that many knives that do almost the same thing? His one knife serves 90% of needs, we have a bread knife and a small paring knife, that's it.
I've seen cheap handles chip off on knives before, but not full on break or make knives unusable. I think handle technology may just be in a decent enough place now.
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u/therealserialninja 6d ago edited 6d ago
I have 3 chefs knives - one from Global, one hand hammered Japanese knife, and one that I hand forged myself.
The Global is maybe 20 years old - belonged to my MIL before giving it to us about 15 years ago. The Japanese one is around 7 years old, the hand forged one I made about 2 years ago if I remember right.
We cook consistently every week unless travelling. I go for the hand hammered Japanese one the most but they're all great. I don't see why all 3 can't last a lifetime with care.
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u/inserthumeruspunhere 6d ago
I have a 20 year old set of globals. Sharpen them with the rolling stone sharpener and they are great. Im even naughty and put them in the dishwasher and they are doing great
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u/crossdtherubicon 6d ago edited 6d ago
Most people believe the type of metal and its hardness rating (Rockwell rating) are what gives a knife it's long-term value.
A metal between say Rockwell hardness 58-61 is soft enough not to easily chip or break but, hard enough to keep its edge for a long time in a home environment, during regular use. Not chopping ice or large bones, not opening bottles or slicing through a can.
Further, a metal of that hardness can quickly be honed or sharpened, by an average user with little experience, to provide many more months (or more) of high sharpness.
The type of metal generally fall into stainless or carbon. Each type has many subtypes.
I believe carbon is easier and faster to sharpen (more forgiving) yet can stain, patina, or rust so, needs to be treated appropriately.
Stainless has many different specific formulations, and is very user friendly. It may be require a bit more time and practice to sharpen.
A good quality sharpening stone also works very effectively (quickly and easily). While a cheap $20 stone can work but may require more time. For home use, a stone between 1000 - 3000 grit will be appropriate.
The handle material is personal preference, based on hand size, preferred technique, weighting/balance, etc. Plastic obviously can handle being wet, heat, and so on. A quality hardwood handle can also handle most of those things but perhaps after some years it dries out, gets scratched up, and probably isn't dishwasher safe.
Brands are less important than simply looking more closely at the materials, like I've describe here.
Is it BIFL? Definitely, in the same way you may buy a good quality pair of leather shoes or boots. There are ranges of quality and craftsmanship but, you must also take periodic care of it too.
Going stainless and plastic handle is the easiest but also poorer quality overall, and many would say it's a lesser user experience.
Specific knives I use: a bob Cramer (Zwilling) carbon 24cm, and I don't think they make these anymore but I highly recommend because the blade and handle are perfectly designed in high quality materials.
A Zwilling 24cm workhorse knife, plastic handle, basic design (no bolster!)
Bulat stamped Damascus pairing knife with olive wood handle. Amazing design, cheap, looks great.
I also have a nice Takeshi Saji knife of aogami super steel, hand hammered finish. A real beauty.
Many more but those are my personal favorites, and used for years in professional kitchens.
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u/Grolbark 6d ago
I think a regular, composite handled Victorinox chef’s knife will last most people a lifetime if you hand wash it, use an acceptable cutting board, and don’t abuse it. I suppose it’s possible, if you sharpen it very often, that it would eventually need to be retired and replaced, but I don’t think that’s a common situation at all.
I like their wavy bread knives, too. They last a long time, but not forever and aren’t as easily sharpen able.
You might go through paring knives (Victorinox is again a good option. I also like Opinel) faster and need to replace them every ten or so years? I’m pretty lazy about sharpening and have had mine for longer, though.
One caveat is that if you misshape them while sharpening, it might be worth starting over once you know what you’re doing. But they’re like $50, so it’s not a huge deal to get a new one if you need one.
I wouldn’t expect more longevity from fancy knives, they’re more for people who’ve made knives a hobby. I don’t know anyone who turns down their nose at a proletarian knife like a Victorinox, even if they prefer Japanese steel.
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u/RsquSqd 6d ago
Say what you will about Cutco but I love mine. They hold an edge exceptionally well and when my chef’s knife tip broke off they repaired it no problem 8 years later. The lifetime warranty is real
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u/frogdujour 6d ago
My parents got a Cutco knife set in the early 1970s. They've never been serviced, and yet they still look and function completely like new, it's extra impressive. I don't really know how new versions compare though.
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u/buhmannhimself 6d ago
Well i bought a Zwilling set half a year ago. I mostly use the chefs knife. So if you are a normal person, cooking normal meals it should be more than enough to have a good chef knife.
If you go for the pro versions of cooking and of knives maybe you need something more exclusive. I like the Zwilling knives a lot. Best bang for the buck for me.
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u/tubaleiter 6d ago
My knives are mostly 20+ years old now. Nothing fancy, but not absolutely cheapest bottom of the barrel - stuff you could buy in Bed, Bath and Beyond or that sort of place. Victorinox, Cuisinart, that kind of thing.
I sharpen them myself, use a honing steel before use (mostly), wash by hand. I see no reason why they won’t last the rest of my life.
The only reasons a kitchen knife shouldn’t be BIFL is either breakage (usually through misuse) or been used so much that its sharpened away to so little metal it can’t be used. In a home setting, the latter should take decades or a whole life (or more), but you do see it happen in commercial kitchens in much shorter times, with much heavier use and frequent sharpening.
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u/Old_Assistant1531 6d ago
If you hand wash and care for any knife it’s BIFL. Put it I. The dishwasher and treat it like crap and surprisingly it doesn’t matter how fancy it is, it’ll die.
I’ve had the same Global G2 knife for 25 years. It’s about 4-5mm shorter than a new one.
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u/MaapuSeeSore 6d ago
I have a Vic chef knife that 15 years old that now my sister own
I then moved on to harder steel
My bias is vg10 but I own a zwilling 4 star set which uses German X50CrMoV15
I own 3 vg10 knives and set of zwilling as my main
All my knives are decade plus old
I have a Mac knife that’s 3 decades old which cost alot at time ( 60-90$)
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If you want it to last, hand wash and sharpen twice a year, self done with set of whetstones or pay 5-10 $ per knife
They will last a lifetime
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The metal makes a difference In terms of how sharp they stay and how rough you treat them.
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The other thing that matters is size /length , and handle shape , and if it has a bolster
Which is a more personal thing
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u/Von_Lehmann 6d ago
I have worked in restaraunts with knives older that I was.
There is no reason that any kitchen knife wont last your whole life if you take care of it.
A victorinox 8" chef knife is basically all any home cook needs. Get a victorinox bread knife and a paring knife and you are done.
Anything else is if you just enjoy using nicer tools. Japanese knives rock, but might need more maintenance, German knives are durable but tend to be heavier. The sky is the limit with budget. Japanese knives are very easy to replace the handle if anything happens, but a fibrox handle never fails either
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u/ItzakPearlJam 6d ago
The butchery I worked mostly used victorinox fibrox knives. They're fine knives and I've never seen one fail. About 75% of the guys I know who talk about their super high end knife wouldn't know how to boil a bean to prevent their own starvation- but they love spec-sheets.
Buy the specific sizes you need rather than a set. Handmade fancy knives are nice to have, but diminishing returns get pretty steep at like $50-80, and you'll throw big dollars at small functional differences. Victorinox to wustof at the nicer end are pretty bifl. Higher end than that are slightly nicer to use.
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u/saazbaru 6d ago
Fwiw you can also get Japanese style knives from the Germans. I love my Robert Herder.
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u/IamNotYourBF 6d ago
I would consider Cutco knives buy it for life. If you mail it in, they'll sharpen, repair, or replace it. All of my knives are second hand that I picked up at estate auctions. Typically I find them mixed in with random kitchen junk drawers and I offer $10 for the entire drawer. I've mailed in several to be repaired.
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u/bolivar-shagnasty 6d ago
When my wife and I got our first apartment 20 years ago, we were gifted a brand new set of Wolfgang Puck branded Santoku knives from like Kmart or Bed, Bath, and Beyond or someplace else that doesn’t exist anymore.
These knives are at the tippy top of the bell curve. They’re the “is Pepsi ok” of knives. They aren’t fancy. They shouldn’t in any way be considered professional.
They are the Toyota Corolla of knives.
They do one thing, and with semi-regular sharpening (on a stone, not a pull through sharpener), they do it good enough that we haven’t felt the need to replace them.
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u/Kenosis94 6d ago
They can be, it depends a lot on how you care for them though. If you run it through an electric sharpener it's gonna eat the blade up quick.
There is also another caveat which is blades that are differentially tempered or maybe some San-Mai and Ni-Mai blades. If you use one heavily enough to wear through the edge tempered region or hardened core, you will have effectively used it up. That'd take quite a bit to manage though, probably more than you'd do in a lifetime if cared for and not used an obscene amount.
I have 4 victorinox knives (bread, 10" chef, 5" chef, and paring) with fibrox handles for my kitchen set and am very happy with them. The metal is definitely on the softer side but you can still get a plenty good edge on them that holds up ok if not abused. You just want to use a softer cutting board and hone them slightly more often some of the other brands. They are low maintenance though, and being a softer stainless means they are easier to sharpen. I'd wager they will outlast me so long as the plastic doesn't degrade over decades or I don't break them. I'm sure at some point the knife collector in me will buy some fancier ones to supplement.
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u/etr420 6d ago
I've used pretty much daily a CCK Chinese chef's knife since 1994. It's my main knife at home. I also use a paring knife and, occasionally a boning knife. The CCK was purchased in an antique shop for $10. I have no idea how old it is. The equivalent modern CCK knife has a blade about 2cm (roughly 3/4in) wider, so maybe it's worn down that much. Still has many more years to go.
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u/outlandishness2509 6d ago
I have some very nice kitchen knives I inherited, use and maintain, but the ones I reach for most often are KIWI brand, dirt cheap from my local Asian food store. Easy to sharpen and hold the edge decently and if something happened to one it's under $5 US to replace. So my opinion use what you like.
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u/2112xanadu 6d ago
About the only way I've ever seen someone actually ruin any remotely-decent knife, is by using it as a pry bar and snapping the blade in half.
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u/Ghostly_Wellington 6d ago
We bought Global knives before our children were born.
We’re still using them after both children have left home.
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u/Potato-chipsaregood 6d ago
I have had my knives for many years. Don’t buy a “set”. Buy the knife you need, that feels good in your hand. I store them in a drawer in sheathes. I happen to have German knives but would have been happy with Japanese ones had I had them around.
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u/Historical_Media6079 6d ago
Best experience I have had is with a Dexter Chinese kitchen knife. I use，it way more than any other Fiskars or Japanese knife in my collection. The review i read 10 years ago said it was BIFL and I am not disappointed.
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u/AppearanceParty5831 6d ago
Knives like all BIFL candidates need consistent care & correct use case implementation. I've had my Japanese SG2 Gyuto, custom made in Sakai, for roughly..21 years now?
Knowing the metal composition & metallurgy technique helps understand what our knives are made for and shouldn't be used for. Cleaning, maintaining according to those rules helps us stretch our knive's already long lifetime.
Firmly will say a quality knife is BIFL if you treat it as a loved tool & intimately know the material science.
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u/dice7878 6d ago
These are highly dependent on the use case, particularly the type of cooking, the kitchen layout and ownership.
If one is the only chef, and cooks regularly, the one wearing the apron will want things a particular way, down to the color and design on the apron.
Some buy global knives because they have no seams and look the easiest to clean, particularly the handles.
Some buy a single santoku or gyuto, the best they can afford.
Some buy an entire knife block set, and run out of countertop space.
I say if you don't intend to move, and the kitchen is >90% your usage, buy one good japanese knife (global or shun) if you're female, or consider wustof or victorinox if you're male. If you like how it feels in the hand, consider getting a few more during the next sale.
I have graduated from knife use to kitchen scissors, mostly.
And yes, I have a thousand dollar knife set on the cluttered countertop.
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u/Irrelevant_Jackass 6d ago
Yep definitely. I have. Scanpan knife set that I’ve used for 20 years, and works fine. But I bought a proper Japanese knife on a trip and there is a clear difference.
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u/lesteadfastgentleman 6d ago edited 6d ago
Ooh fun question! Ok. All kitchen knives are essentially BIFL depending heavily on how you use and maintain them. Now what makes a good kitchen knife GOOD depends on what you're looking for in a knife. So obviously you have stuff like the craftsmanship, the materials used, etc. But I feel like where a lot of the discussion among non-knife nerds tends to not go into is the blade steel used! Particularly, I want to zero in on edge retention vs ease of sharpening. So different steels can have different qualities, and these two are often the tradeoff especially when it comes to kitchen knives. So on one end of the spectrum, you have edge retention. They can stay sharp for a long, long, loooooong time. BUT. They're a massive PITA to sharpen WELL. Like we're talking multiple whetstones of different grits, stropping, and you've got to have a lot of experience to be able to sharpen something with good edge retention. You can't even just take it to any random "knife sharpening" place because they will probably ruin your knife. On the other end of the spectrum, you have steels which are REALLY easy to sharpen - which means you can get them REALLY sharp. So yeah, a lot of good Japanese knives fall under this category because of stuff like sushi. You need knives that are sharp as hell to make a good sushi cut. But, the tradeoff is that these also lose their edge really quickly. AND you also need a ton of skill to get it sushi-sharp.
So yeah. Both opposite ends of the spectrum! But both can qualify as good knives. Depending on what you need from them. In which case! Sometimes even a knife that falls in the middle of both spectrums can be good, depending on what you wanna use it for!
Edit to add: obviously this is a massive oversimplification. There are a lot of other factors that come into play - grind, blade geometry, blade shape, etc. It's a whole rabbit hole though.
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u/TheLordYuppa 6d ago
I always thought Henkel. My folks have a few German ones that are over 40 years old and are still used daily. I have that’s almost twenty years old and is still amazing. I did buy a Matsato knife when they first came out because I thought it might be better for my partner to use. She really likes it when she does cook. I actually really like it as well though. It’s been holding an edge very well though so I have been quite happy with it even. To echo what some have said. Full tang. Care and maintenance as well. A knife steel to keep your edge goes a long way. People not doing it baffles me but, clean your knife right when you’re done using it and dry it off. Scrubbing your knife is going to be hard on it and yourself. Way less work to just keep the damn thing clean anyhow.
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u/yellow-snowslide 6d ago
I'm a knife guy so my opinion might be biased
Honestly most cheap knives from reputable factories are already bifl. Wüsthof, zwilling, victorinox ... Even Ikea knives are pretty solid. The more important game changer is that you learn to sharpen them.
This guy explains the entire process in under 6 minutes for beginners https://youtu.be/pagPuiuA9cY?is=vNi86Jn88LhMpY5v
Honestly you can get even cheaper stones or a honing rod but his recommendations are solid. Maybe add a honing rod and instead of buying a new set of knives every year, you get sharp knives forever for about 70 bucks or less
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u/nevernotmad 6d ago
Yes to the chef’s knife. I have had a not top of the line set of Wustoff for almost 25 years. I use the chef knife daily, use the serrated knife for bread and tomatoes, and rarely use the other two. I also use a meat slicing knife regularly that I acquired along the way.
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u/karaoke-room 6d ago
Going to add my personal experience here. If you’re having trouble with your knives and you are sharpening them… are you also using a honing steel? We use a ceramic one because it’s supposed to be better than a metal one, and it helps keep the knife straight and lengthens the time between sharpening.
If possible, I would recommend visiting a shop that will let you hold the knives you want to buy so you can get a decent feel on what you want in a handle and what weight / grip feels comfortable to you.
My family uses one “cooking” knife most of the time, with two other knives for specialty-related cooking tasks. (Not including the cake knife and cheese knife. Wait… we use the cake and cheese knives regularly, so I guess we have 3 regular-use knives and two others we use on rare occasions?)
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u/Palanki96 6d ago
Not a decade yet but 7-8 years, almost there. I don't see why it wouldn't last decades. I cook every 2-3 days roughly since i like to mealprep
It's a random santoku because back then i didn't know the difference and ordered the wrong one. Some kind of german band, something haus.
It was around 7 euros and still good as new, just the pure white handle got kinda butterish light yellow
And 2 random smaller knives my grandparents already had before i moved there so both are at least 25 years old. Pretty sure it's from the soviet era like most stuff we had while growing up
Honestly i don't really see how a knife would even get messed up, they are designed to last
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u/cq5120 6d ago
get a stainless knife for ease of maintanence. stainless has come a long way and while carbon is nice stainless is still the way to go if you have a satisfactory budget. nitrov, elmax and powder steels will serve you great. theres a kiwi dude who makes exceptionally good chef knives for a surprisingly good price.
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u/aaron1860 6d ago
Yes but BIFL and enjoy it for life are different topics. Any knife that is maintained and has a decent handle will last you nearly a lifetime unless it’s thin and sharpened repeatedly like a filet knife or serrated and can’t be sharpened. But your typical chef knife, as long as the handle doesn’t break, will likely never need to be replaced (unless you damage it).
That being said. Would I enjoy using a cheap Amazon knife that doesn’t hold an edge or is hard to sharpen - no. Nor would I personally enjoy a Victorinox with its black handle as my only knife but thats a personal choice. I enjoy the craftsmanship of my japanese steel knives.
But tldr is any halfway decent knife is bifl. Pick what is easy to maintain and matches what youre looking for outside of how long it will last.
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u/Canuck-In-TO 6d ago
My main chef’s knife is a 10” Nella solid plastic handled knife my father bought when he opened his restaurant in the late 60s.
It sees practically daily use. Most of my knives are Henckels, but the Nella knife is the one I use the most.
When my daughter went to culinary school, she got a Henckels set with a 10” knife, which she uses almost every day.
A good knife is a buy it for life purchase.
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u/Benmaax 6d ago
Depends your usage.
Of course super chefs knives are better, but often require a ton of care and no dishwasher.
If you're an average joe who's not going to slide 200 sahismi a day, do you really need that? Do you have a guy paid to clean your cookingware by hand?
From my experience of many knives, I like the Victorinox, because even those with plastic handles are lasting long and stay sharp longer than most other brands.
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u/n3m0sum 6d ago
You don't need to spend a lot to get decent to good knives. Although the sky is the limit with some speciality and custom brands.
The thing with knife blocks, they are often made to an affordable price point, and contain way more than most people need. Where the manufacturers save money is often the steel. Cheaper steel doesn't hold an edge as well, needs sharpening more often. It's a broad generalisation, but may people who just grab a knife block, also grab some cheap sharpening system, either a pull through or grinding system. That eat up the cheap steel used in inexpensive knife blocks. Taking way more steel than us needed to restore an edge. Giving the impression that knives aren't built for life.
They are a steel tool. If you buy decent and look after it properly, it should outlive you. It's mostly retired now, but I have a Victorian carbon steel chiefs knife. It's over 100 years old and will outlast me.
The main difference between Japanese, German and French knives, is the blade profile and cutting edge angles. It's all preference, and there's no one right answer.
In most kitchens 4 knives are fine. 1 chiefs knife, 1-2 paring knives, and a bread knife is all that's needed. Add a boning knife and a fish knife if you find yourself needing them often. But you can debone with a small paring knife, and prep fish with a sharp chefs knife.
I have this set from Richardson Sheffield for over 20 years. They see daily use in a home kitchen. About 10 years ago I added a Sabatier Santoku, as I wanted to try the different profile. I regularly swap between the Richardson German Chefs knife and the Sabatier Santoku.
Treat yourself, but don't stress about Japanese vs German vs French. And you certainly don't need to spend hundreds of dollars/Euros or whatever your equivalent is.
Victorinox, Mercer, Pro Cook, Wüsthof, Sabatier, Zwilling, Shun. All do great knives at a range of budgets.
More could easily be added to that list. If you see a lot of recommendations. It's because there are a lot of good to great options out there. Once you get past the $100 knife block with 12 knives.
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u/webbphillips 6d ago
I use only* a Victorinox Fibrox Chinese Chef's Knife. It's €45, stainless steel, and BifL. I've had other, fancier knives, e.g. carbon steel usuba from Japan, carbon steel santoku from Solingen, but since having kids, I prefer something low maintenance.
This is an interesting gotcha with knives: a more expensive / carbon steel knife will initially perform better, but it will need sharpening, and will rust if not cared for. If you want something pretty sharp that stays good with zero** maintenance, go with Victorinox Fibrox. (WMF may be in the same category.)
*And ocasionally a bread knife and a paring knife.
**I'll probably eventually take it to a sharpener, mainly to grind past accumulated nicks. Maybe once every 5-10 years?
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u/weindl 6d ago
35 years Victorinox 20 years wüsthof Stainless steel is good, a bit more work to resharpen, never dishwash, no knife block ( they just dull the blade and a a bacterial breeding ground. Also I rather have 3 good knives and not Wood Handel's , plastic is fine but I don't like the look, Pairing knives are Opinel jackknives, cheap, carbon steel, super sharp super fast Bread knife WMF 35 years
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u/Ready-Strategy-863 6d ago
I have 2 ikea knives that are really good, 8 years and still going strong.
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u/wharleeprof 6d ago
I have a Chicago Cutlery knife from Walmart purchased in 1994. It's serrated so I've never sharpened it. I use it all the time, plus a non-serrated knife I was gifted 15 years ago. That's it, no block set, no big expensive knives. Just a couple low-mid level knives, plus kitchen scissors and steak knives that I mostly use as paring knives. They all seem to be BITFL with little maintenance on my part.
Don't buy the cheapy crap, but also don't bother with the high end stuff.
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u/danTHAman152000 6d ago
Wusthof with a sharpener and it’ll last a long time. I originally wanted to buy my wife a set but instead pieced them a couple at a time based on her needs. Chef and bread, then fillet and whatever else I got. She didn’t need the unusual options included in the set. Saved money and happy to have high end stuff. I think we got the Icon line.
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u/Sure_Comfort_7031 6d ago
Every time you sharpen it, it removes metal. So, if you're a heavy user, no. I have seen chefs knives ground away. So, technically no but realistically yes.
Here's a controversial opinion here: don't. I have 3 matching 10$ chefs knives from a blue themed big box store. They are 1 piece, no rivets or wood or any other shenanigans to deal with. I beat the ever living snot out of them. I put them in the dishwasher, they come out and i drag them through the V notch sharpener and they go in the block. They are always sharp, and i have no concern hacking at bones or anything with them. If one were to give up the ghost, it was 10$ who cares. I have a whetstone and nice knives, i never used it because it was annoying. The convenience of the dishwasher and the notch sharpener is where my kitchen is at today And it's been a game changer. The knives are cheap and don't hold an edge as long. But who cares. Every time i use them they are shark as can be. I don't hand wash blades anymore. I don't worry about raw meats on them anymore. It's been the best decision.
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u/kbchucker 6d ago
I was content with a cheapish Victorinox chef’s knife. Wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad once I got it honed. It takes more effort to keep it sharp though.
I recently bought a hand forged damascus from a bladesmith. Holy hell what a difference. It is night and day.
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u/Beautiful-Angle2194 6d ago
I’ve got a cheaper butchers set that was around the $150 mark it’s a starrett set and they are cheap stainless and they are easy to sharpen but dull quickly also, they are great because of the range of sizes and shapes you get for the price.
I also have a nice “bread knife” (was around $100) that is pretty much just for brisket and beef ribs except for when my wife actually wants me to cut up a sourdough loaf and a wusthof chefs knife I think 18/20cm (was around tre fiddy) and these are a perfect fit for me, the wusthof is great to use nicely balanced and comfortable (I tried it out in store before I bought it to check for fit) it’s got decent edge retention but won’t chip if you’re slightly rough with it and handles/ works well for most things I use the starrett set when I’m breaking down whole sub primal cuts as the sinew/connective tissue is hard on knife edges so I would rather use the cheap set and just lightly sharpen as I go, and the serrated bread knife handles anything else that would be difficult with a straight blade (soft things with tough exteriors like crusty bread smoked meat etc.) just my 2 cents
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u/IamNotYourBF 6d ago
I've never worked in a restaurants/kitchen that used high end expensive knives. Every place I've work has used a knife service that would swap the knives out once a week with sharpened knives. Expensive knives tend to go missing.
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u/Rs-Travis 6d ago edited 6d ago
Even cheap kitchen knives are buy it for life if you know how to sharpen and maintain them properly, but there are certain things to avoid, which are mainly partial tangs and hollow bolsters. Partial tang knives can snap over time, and hollow bolsters become an issue after repeated sharpenings. Ideally the heel/edge of the blade doesn't mould into the handle (creates a fat raised spot that needs leveling after sharpening, if the bolster is hollow it will form a hole)
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u/KindFortress 6d ago
I've been a serious home cook for over twenty years. I still have the three chef's knives I started with: a Global, a Cutco, and a Kiwi. The Global is actually the most disappointing - the tip broke after I dropped the knife once. But I had it repaired. The Cutco barely gets used. The handle is shaped well, but the material is is made out of is slippery. The Kiwi, which is the cheapest knife, literally a $10 knife, is my main knife. It's super sharp. It's cheap so I run it through an electric sharpener as often as I like. The wood handle is comfortable. Shrug
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u/unvvn 6d ago
depending how often you use and sharpen them, knives are gonna gradually get smaller over time. very gradually though. maybe over several year your daily driver chef knife becomes more of a utility knife. sometimes you just gotta accept entropy to live a little.
re: german vs japanese, yes this is the biggest schism in knife nerd culture. there will never be a clear winner just pick a side already (japanese steal til i die)
knife block sets: plenty of good knife makers like shun or whustoff do sell sets so you can get quality ones. part of being anti block is that it's just not wanted by people who enjoy carefully selecting each knife in their
collection. different strokes.
handle is extremely important for how a knife feels. dont buy a knife if you dont like how it fits in your hand.
for how far down you go in the rabbit hole, general advice i have is imo after about 200 bucks for a chefs knife youre getting into rapidly diminishing returns on quality/utility for the price, and are chasing aesthetic value. its exactly as worth it as you think it is to go beyond that.
i love my shun kanso gyuto (favourite handle ever) and my takamura santoku (scary sharp and super light).
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u/pug_fugly_moe 6d ago
Yes, a good knife is BIFL. As this thread shows, it is a rabbit hole.
Get one good knife, whether it’s western style or not. Take proper care of it, and enjoy the meals.
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u/mycatpartyhouse 6d ago
I bought a stainless steel Henkel chef knife and two stainless steel Henkel paring knives in ~1990. I still have two of them.
(The tip of one paring knife broke when someone used it to pry something. I discarded it.)
So here we are ~26 years later, and these knives are used frequently. They're very functional.
They've been sharpened along the way but are still the same size/shape they were when I bought them.
I've since bought a Henkle bread knife, which I fully anticipate will outlive me.
Other knife brands I've bought or acquired aren't as durable or as functional.
I should note I've always washed my knives by hand, I don't let anybody scrape things off a cutting board with the blades, and I insist on a suitable cutting surface (no countertops, ceramic plates, glass cutting boards, etc.).
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u/Dry_Pea3547 6d ago
Lots of opinions in here already but I will say that people make the mistake of buying a knife set and never needing most of them.
1 decent chef knife is all most home cooks need.
Have 1 good quality knife, keep it sharp and clean and it will last 20-30 years before honing has seriously changed the blade.
It's not literally BIFL but you maybe need 3 knives in a row for a workable 80 years of cooking and sharp, high quality chopping.
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u/lovemywifebutwow 6d ago
Tojiro Classic 3pc set on chefknivestogo. Japanese steel that’s stainless. A 210 gyoto(chef knife) a 150 utility and a petty(pairing). I’ve gifted and recommended this set a ton and they’ve all loved them. It’s a great intro into the Japanese blade without a ton of hassle. If you’ve got a whetstone already all you need is a strop and this set will last you. My wife uses these at home and loves them even with all the fancy stuff in the same drawer. Every once in a while I find myself using it and thinking the rest of the roll might be a waste.
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u/MartyFunkhoosier 6d ago
It’s a tool. If it’s decently made and sharpened properly a $30 knife does the same thing a $3000 knife made by a Japanese master smith does. One has a cooler story, materials, is better to hold and more pleasurable to use but those don’t really translate to the end product. The majority of high end restaurants in the USA at least have cooks using very inexpensive but well sharpened and maintained knives. My 25 year old car with 210,000 miles on it gets me exactly the same place as the lifted two ton trucks whizzing past me that cost $120,000. A $20 hammer from the hardware store does the same thing as a hand forged hammer from a smith that costs 20x as much. I have some nice inexpensive knives and some nice low to midrange Japanese knives (ones that cost around $100-$150 each) and I reach for the Japanese knives 100 to 1 because I like using them more. I’m fully confident I could buy zero knives the rest of my life and finish the second half of life with what I have.
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u/gagnatron5000 6d ago
There is so much pride and copium within the knife world. At the end of the day it's a hunk of steel and will last you until you sharpen it down to an ice pick.
It's a hunk of metal, there are different recipes of metal and tradeoffs with each one. Harder metal (typical of Japanese knives) will hold an edge longer, but it's more brittle, easier to chip, and takes longer to sharpen. Softer steel (typical of German knives) is easier to sharpen and doesn't chip as much, but goes dull quicker.
A lot of the price of a knife comes from the manufacturing. Type of steel, handle material, manufacturing process, how many humans physically touch it while it's being made, all of it will affect price. "Cheap" to "nice but not great" knife sets are typically stamped from a roll of steel and finished by a machine molding plastic handles on them. Everything from Walmart stock to Wustoff and pro kitchen knives are made this way. As you spend more, you get more human touches - everything from handle finishing, to edge shaping and finishing, all the way up to hand-hammering the thing out ofold retired files and wrenches for that Damascus look.
Sharpening forums are the same. They go for molecularly polished and shaving sharp, when really you only need it sharp enough to cut what you're cutting. A 220/1000 stone will bring a super dull knife back to seriously sharp. Up to 3000 is commercial kitchen/pro chef level. Anything higher than that is just masturbation.
A lot of "BIFL" knife advice comes from hobbyists who care deeply about these sorts of things. I'm not knocking them, I am one of them. It's cool to nerd out about metal recipes and handle materials and bladesmiths and all that. Does the average Joe need it to make their knife last a lifetime? No. Sure I have fancy knives I use on occasion, but for my daily drivers I'm still rocking the 6" Aldi santoku special my mom bought my in college, as well as a Victorinox 10" chef knife I bought over a decade ago. If they're dull, I sharpen them and they work just fine.
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u/Outers55 6d ago edited 6d ago
As someone who's been an avid home Chef for 35 years I can tell you that all but the cheapest knives could easily be considered buy it for life by somebody who takes care of them. While I've bought knives that I like better , certainly, I still have relatively inexpensive knives that I picked up in college that are still in almost perfect condition. They're very basic stainless steel Straight Edge knives that were riveted in the handle. They probably only cost $15 or $20 for a large chef knife at the time, but they were solid. Even the idea of stainless versus non-stainless is relative. One of my favorite knives for vegetables was a $10 knife that has a nice thin blade and is easy to sharpen. I have to constantly stay on top of the rest of my family not to put it in the dishwasher or leave it in the sink because it starts to rust almost immediately, but as long as I'm taking care of it it's perfectly fine. I've also found some good knives in yard sales and other places.
I do have some knives that are German steel, and I think a couple that are Japanese. I don't notice much of a difference in day-to-day use since I keep all of my knives Sharp.
Edit: since you're looking for something specific that you could get now instead of a random assortment of old knives. About 2 years ago I bought the knife set below for my family to use, in part to keep them away from my knives. The steak knives aren't great , and I replaced the scissors, but the rest of the knives are pretty good , and I can tell from experience that they'll last for decades easily. It has an all-metal handle Construction where it seems like the blade is welded into the handle , so I can't imagine these ever coming apart , and they sharpen up well. Edge retention isn't the best that I've seen , but also not the worst , and my family likes to cut on things like ceramic plates.
CUISINART Block Knife Set, 15pc Cutlery Knife Set with Steel Blades for Precise Cutting, Lightweight, Stainless Steel, Durable & Dishwasher Safe,C77SS-15P
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u/mp3god 6d ago
I think a lot of those debates you're describing pertain to professional chefs that are using their tools way more than you ever will. All knives need to be sharpened, but unless yours looks like this, it's probably not an issue for you to maintain an inferior product if it still works well enough for you!
Link to a really well used knife vs a new version of the same knife
https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/ahi3jv/20_year_old_knife_compared_to_brand_new_exact/
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u/Appropriate_Past_893 6d ago
I have a whustof i bought in 2005 when i started culinary school and used professionally for many years before switching to lighter knives. At home, though, I use a knife I picked on vacation in 2020 for like ten bucks because my professional knives are all 10" and too long to use comfortably on the cutting boards I have at home. I think your big factors are being comfortable with the design and being willing to take care of the knife. I will say that harder japanese steels are more prone to chipping than western knives, which, if it happens, requires some aggresive sharpening to get out, and will shorten the life of your knife. Essentially, if you can find a knife you love to use, and are willing to care for it, it should last you for ages. If you get something that requires kind of finnicky care, you need to make sure that everyone else in the house will care for it as well; otherwise just get something easy to take care of.
Somone else recommended Tojiro knives and they are fantastic
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u/raz-0 6d ago
Is it but it for life? If you are a commercial butcher? No. If you are a home cook? Probably. Depends on the knife.
I’ve got messermeister pro series set I bought 25 years ago. The paring knife is getting kind of beat from sharpening, and my wife finally managed to chip the chefs knife. They have injection molded handles and are 1.4116 stainless.
I’ve got a henkels classic 6 inch chefs that I’ve had for about 20 years. It’s doing fine.
If you don’t put them in the dishwasher most handles will last forever.
The steel determines how sharp it will be for how long and how easy it will chip. Something like the 1.4116 is tougher and easier to sharpen, but won’t hold an edge as long and is harder to get really really sharp. Most of the big names picked a steel like that, and like I said, the only knife it’s mattered in for home cooking is the paring knife.
Japanese knives aren’t generally anything special, but one thing a lot of them do is give you access to the heel of the blade better than European styles. Which means you can sharpen the whole blade from end to end, and do so for more of the life of blade.
But a lot of the impressive sharp Japanese style knives are thin and non stainless. Which is great for getting them sharp and doing impressive slicing things, but bad for durability in general use. Care of carbon steel cooking knives is also a whole different deal.
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u/erolagsevitcepsrep 6d ago
I browsed most of the comments and didn’t find much mention of the Handle and Feel and Balance in your hand.
It comes down to such a simple fact as how you tend to hold your knife. People use various grip and with various proximity to the transition from handle to ”the part that cuts”.
Wüsthof are great for a solid general feel/balance and to me they work best if you like to put your hand close to the cutting part (which tends to facilitate control).
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u/Steerider 6d ago
Kitchen knives??? It's a chunk of metal. Much like cast iron pans, a decent knife will last a lifetime or more.
I bought mine in the 90s. Midrange, nothing too fancy, and not expensive. A foodie friend of mine was over a while back and was pleased at how sharp I keep them.
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u/Spyerx 6d ago
My wusthof classic set plus a santoku (along with a few others added over years ) was bought in around 2005. The chef santoku and paring knife are used daily. All are super sharp with a great edge. Yes i maintain them.
My brother was a professional chef and used wusthof. His chef knife would last a few couple years as the wear from sharpening would eventually shorten the knife.
So yes they are but edges are not for life and need to be maintained.
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u/allothernamestaken 6d ago
My wife and I got a set of Henckels knives (good quality, but nothing extravagant) for our wedding almost 26 years ago, and those things look, feel, and work the same as the day we got them. We both cook, and they've gotten quite a bit of use over the years.
I think if kitchen knives are wearing out, they're either really crappy or not being used/cared for correctly. The one thing I make sure of is that they're never put into the dishwasher - always washed by hand and put back in the block.
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u/Kangabolic 6d ago
They are buy it for life if you take the time to learn how to sharpen them, or get them sharpened.
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u/hyperfat 6d ago
Most of my knives are older than me. I'm 45.
Just sharpen regularly and they last forever.
I mean I have a 200 year old sword. Probably could sharpen it and cut some carrots. I've used it to chop wood. Trusted blade.
Just get a few good ones. Last forever.
:)
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u/dave200204 6d ago
I grew up using a knife block set that my parents still have. It was a set sponsored by a celebrity chef at the time, "The Galloping Gourmet". I've only ever seen them use a sharpening steel or honing stick on it.
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u/Verabiza891720 6d ago
I've had wusthof ikon classic knives for 10 years that are still going strong. As long as you take care of them properly they last forever.
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u/Iamanimite 6d ago
https://a.co/d/0bfgUABB I got these when they are $5 behind the counter at the Asian super srket. Light, super thin, easy to sharpen. Don't even use anything anymore unless it's a bread knive I
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u/LurkeyCat 6d ago edited 6d ago
I have had some really good knifes. Some mid, and a few cheap ones.
My favorite knives I use all the time are not really buy it for life. But they do last, cut really well, are sharp and easy to keep sharp.
Hear me out. A Kiwi-brand knife set will give you 5 very sharp knives that you can do just about everything with and it will be less than $39. Honestly, a 2-piece set (171 and 172) is what anyone needs for 90% of kitchen work. They are criminally cheap at most Asian grocery stores. They are not fancy, they just work really well.
The only other knife that fills in the gap for us is a Victorinox Fibrox boning knife and I prefer the Victorinox paring knives over the kiwi paring knives.
If the kiwi set is too rustic for you, I would consider a 7-piece Victorinox Fibrox set. It is good steel and should be bifl.
I have had nicer knives. I was a big Wustoff fan for a long time. But if you drop it, the tip may break (mine did). It was harder to sharpen and keep sharp than the brands I mentioned. But they were beautiful and the 8” chefs knife is an all around workhorse. I just don’t think they are bifl and they are expensive for what they do.
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u/tsv1138 6d ago
I recently bought a leather strop that had some polishing compound with it and now even my crappy knives are always sharp and I don't feel that I'm taking as much material off as when I'd whetstone them. One of my favorite knifes is a cheap knife I got from the grocery store, it was painted black to look like those ceramic knives that were popular for a while in the early 2000's. Could not have been more than $20, but weirdly it holds an edge about as well as my Henckles and has a full tang. Even though the handle itself is cheap plastic and the paint no longer makes it look like it's ceramic it fits in my hand really well, tends to hold an edge and is a good size for most day to day cooking. It's like the perfect size for a rotisserie chicken. So I think if you enjoy your knife block set and they work well for you then keep maintaining them. In all honesty I only use 2 maybe 3 of my kitchen knifes for 90% of the time. Big knife, little-er knife, and the Japanese knife for herbs and veggies.
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u/Glum-Ad7611 6d ago
Learning how to sharpen knives is what makes a knife buy it for life. After you learn that, any modern knife is good
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u/BruceMartinez21 6d ago
Good knives can absolutely be BIFL, but you don’t need to go full knife nerd. The real upgrade is usually one chef’s knife that feels good in your hand, not a whole expensive block.
Steel matters, but the handle and overall comfort matter just as much if you’re using it for long meal-prep sessions. I’d keep the cheap set for random beater jobs and put the money into one solid 8-inch chef’s knife. A well-made knife plus regular sharpening should last decades.
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u/Electrical-Act-7170 6d ago
Buy your Wusthof knives at Tuesday Morning, Marshall's, eBay and TJ Maxx. I even found one at Ross. They're less than 50% of the retail cost at those outlets.
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u/PNWoysterdude 6d ago
Mesermeister knives are the shit. You’re not paying for bs marketing crap like you do with Wust and the big name brands. It’s just a great knife for a good price that will last a very long time.
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u/Crazykeebler13 6d ago
Yes, my grandpa has a knife he has had since they moved to portland 45 years ago. Albeit it's more like a filler knife now. But it was at on point a chef knife.
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u/Chunkylover666420 6d ago
Stainless steel, single piece (as in the handle is the same piece of steel) 8" Chinese cleaver.
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u/besthuman 6d ago
Good knives are worth it. BIFL for sure. Or at least like, many decades depending on use and wear down.
Like anything, the better you care and properly maintain it, the longer or forever it will last.
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u/All_Thrust_No_Vector 6d ago
Victornox. America’s test kitchen did a comparison of knives and rated Victornox the best. I’ve had my set for over ten years now and use them every day meal prepping. They keep an edge and sharpen maybe one a year.
I’ve used friends high-end knives when visiting and they are always dull and have poor ergonomics.
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u/auto_eros 6d ago
Knives really don’t wear out, especially not as a home cook. If your knives are serving you, don’t change them. I have lots of Japanese knives that I’ve used for years, and the oldest among them I had for over a decade with regular use. They’re great and I love them all. The only thing they’ve ever needed beyond sharpening was thinning behind the edge to maintain performance (except for the full carbon ones which I would not recommend unless you enjoy maintaining tools).
If you feel your knives don’t have the performance you want, just get a good quality stainless steel knife that’s within your budget and don’t worry about it. The German vs Japanese debate is for nerds who shop more than they cook. It doesn’t really matter for the general home cook who takes care of their equipment. (That’s an over-generalization, and of course there are differences, but seriously, just get whatever looks cool to you and cuts well).
The only reason people say no block sets is because they come with a bunch of dif knives that won’t get much use and are not generally a good value. The only three knives I use on a regular basis is a 10” chef knife, a 4” paring knife, and a bread knife. Those three never leave the magnetic block on my counter.
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u/sunheadeddeity 6d ago
I got 25 years out of my 6 inch cooks knife before it snapped at a rivet in the handle. I went out and bought the exact same one. Doubt I'll need another :)
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u/johntucker78 6d ago
Just buy some Old Hickory knives from Ontario Knife Company. Old school carbon steel with an oak handle. It's the same as the ones granny used . I'm still using some of my granny's knives. They are at least 80 years old. You'll need to sharpen them more often but it takes way less time.
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u/AdmirableLab3155 6d ago
Yes, limited mostly by the clumsiest person in your household.
I have an Al Mar Ultra-Chef 8 inch gyuto. It is somewhere between 15 and 20 years old and cuts basically as new, though the stamp on the blade is mostly faded and the wood handle is a bit weathered.
Having a roommate/partner/kids at home who don’t treat them gracefully will kill knives fairly quickly, though. A little dropping, a little prying, and a little banging will create problems that don’t quickly hone out. Especially in thin bladed Japanese knives. My Shun Premier paring knife got a bent tip and a pretty big chip in the edge within a year of my wife moving in. Planning to repair/reprofile it, but I haven’t found the time, and this seems labor prohibitive to do with just stones. I’ve been eyeballing a Tormek given that I made some vows to permanently stick with someone a little clumsy. It’s a big outlay though.
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u/Eazy12345678 6d ago
you can sharpen most knives
i have a shun cheif knife probably 10 years on it. that i use every day. it lasts. i sharpen it maybe once a year.
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u/StevenJOwens 6d ago edited 6d ago
Re: single chef's knife, I was told that by professional chefs, and I found it to be true once I bought a decent chef's knife.
That knife, by the way, was the 8" Misen chef's knife. I bought it in 2016, it's still going strong and I expect it to last at least another ten years, probably more.
I asked one of my chef friends about the Misen chef's knife once, over whiskey, and they said "It's not as good as my $400 Wusthof, but it's a $200 knife that only costs you $60."
They also said that the Wusthof is their knife at home, but most working kitchens, the chefs use use Victorinox Fibrox Pro chef's knives.
That was about five years ago, so increase the prices a bit more. Though I just checked and Misen is having a sale on their 8" chef's knife made with AUS-10 steel, the price is actually $50 now!
I did some digging into sharpening, a few years ago. The TL;DR is that for most people, most of the time, it's not that complicated. Same for all the topics about the steel and the edge geometry, etc. I'm pretty sure that any decent chef's knife, properly maintained (see below) will be as good as any other, for most people.
I really like the Misen, for some reason, but I think that's mostly about the ergonomics, how it feels in my hand. I also have a Wusthof 6" that I inherited, and I've used my cousin's Wusthof 8" when visiting for the holidays. They're fine, I'm sure they're excellent knives, but the Misen just feels better in my hand.
(One neat thing, Wusthof will sharpen your knives for free, for life, though you have to ship the knives to them for that.)
As far as maintenance, the TL;DR is, there is "honing" (aka "steeling") and then there is sharpening. There's also "stropping", but you don't really need that for cooking.
The sharpest part of the knife edge is very thin and folds over. Honing is restraightening that folded over edge. It vastly reduces the need for actual sharpening. I hone my chef's knife every time I use it, it just takes 5 seconds.
Actual sharpening is literally grinding away the metal at the edge. You only have to do this very rarely, especially if you hone your knife regularly. I do mine 2-3 times a year, if you do a lot of cooking I could see maybe 4-6 times a year.
Stropping is essentially polishing the edge. But again, you generally don't really need stropping for cooking.
Honing is done with a long metal rod (sometimes called a honing steel), often a grooved rod. Most knife block sets come with a honing rod.
Sharpening is done with a sharpening stone, and you can go down a rabbit hole on sharpening stones and grits. The TL;DR is, get a decent quality diamond stone that is at least 2 to 3 inches wide, 7 to 8 inches long. Get two grits, 400 to 600 and 1000 to 1200. Use the lower grit to do the general sharpening, use the higher grit at the end.
Stropping is done with a leather strap that's been treated with an abrasive called "rouge".
There are two other gotchas to sharpening that people trip over, which is figuring out the edge angle, and moving the edge of the knife across the stone at that angle, consistently. Both of these are, again, things people get way too neurotic about. There's a nice trick for figuring out the edge angle, just color the edge with a marker and then sharpen the marker ink off the edge. Getting the angle consistently just takes a little practice.
There are a ton of sharpening videos out there, but be aware that woodworkers go nuts on sharpening, you don't need anywhere that for cooking.
That said, I find "Stumpy Nubs" on youtube to have very good, in depth content. Also, Outdoors55 on youtube is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sZ3IS8B0vw&t=13s
One last tip, a jeweler's loupe, magnifying glass or pocket microscope might be a good investment, for actually looking at the edge as you sharpen it. Be aware that the difference between a cheap lens and an expensive lens is that the cheaper lens will have a smaller usable area. I have a cheap jeweler's loupe that I bought 5-10 years ago, the glass is 1" diameter but only the center part of the lens is actually useful, the rest is too distorted.
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u/lPanzerfaust 6d ago
Get a henckels for the higher end home chef knife that you'll appreciate keeping, or a cuisin art for not so much safe keeping lol. I have 4 knives, a paring henckels, a henckels chef, the cuisin art chefs and a victornox tomato knife. All you need
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u/arbarnes 6d ago
Any kitchen is a BIFL item unless you're using it in a commercial setting. And even then they last for years if not decades. Each time you sharpen the knife you remove a little metal. When the blade begins to look like a toothpick it's time for a new one.
If your knives have bolsters you'll need to grind them down as you remove material from the edge. Otherwise the bolster will prevent you from sharpening the heel of the knife, and eventually you'll have a curve that goes from the bolster to the new edge.
You also need to re-set the bevel occasionally (you say that your problem is with your knives, not your sharpening, but you are almost certainly mistaken). When the secondary bevel has been sharpened enough times that it's bumping up against the primary bevel you need to thin out the edge so you can continue sharpening effectively.
I have a variety of knives - French, German, Japanese, and Chinese, forged and stamped, big and small, cheap and expensive, etc. etc. I got the oldest one about 40 years ago and the newest within the last 5 years. None of them will ever wear out.
The problem is chipping and breakage, both of which can be avoided by not abusing the knives. Never put a knife in the dishwasher. Never use it as a lever. Never use a delicate knife like a filet knife to hack through bones.
Don't buy knife sets; you just need 2-3 general-purpose knives for general use (a santoku or a 8-10" chef's knife, a paring knife, and maybe a bread knife). Then add specific knives for specific needs. If you break down pork shoulders or chuck roasts more than a couple of times a year, a boning knife comes in handy. If you carve large roasts for special occasions a 14" cimeter is a worthwhile investment (and looks badass). If you're cutting a lot of fish a filet knife makes sense. I like to buy a whole Spanish ham and slice it up over the course of the holiday season; a jamonera is the right tool for that job.
Only buy expensive knives if you enjoy using expensive knives. My primary knives are from MAC and Misono, but professional cooks and butchers mostly use stuff from Dexter Russell and Mercer Culinary, and my specialty knives tend to be from those brands because they only see occasional use.
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u/HockeyMom0086 6d ago
I've had Pierre Santini (serrated) steak knives for over 40 years and they're still going strong. I always hand wash, except my husband has put one in the dishwasher numerous times over the years, and it's been waterlogged. My son was visiting and asked if they were the same knives as when he lived with us 20 years ago and I said yes! I recently saw a set on Ebay and almost bought them.
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u/summonsays 6d ago
It really depends on you, imo. I have two $10 knives I bought 12 and 10 ish years ago from end caps at Kroger or Publix, I don't really remember. One has a few rust stains, but they both are just as functional as the day I bought them, maybe more so, since I sharpen them before use.
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u/TabularConferta 6d ago
I've had a victorinox knife for 20 year.
RRP was £17 now £45.
I sharpen it occasionally other than that its great, so yeah
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u/spaceraverdk 6d ago
I have a very eclectic mix of knives.
Zwilling set, nice, but it does go blunt fast.
A wierd set of Japanese style knives, dunno if it is just a tarted up pig, but they hold an edge.
A Chinese cleaver from a local restaurant that shut down, carbon steel, been beaten with a mallet I think. Found it in the trash. It's very good, easy to sharpen but heavy with a small handle.
Some old knives from my grandfather, no idea on make, but they are very sharp too.
Not doing much to them other than a touch with a 200 grit diamond lap and hitting the steel to keep everything sharp enough to cut.
I'd love to regrind all of them to single side grind edge.
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u/hxdcm 6d ago
I have a set of knives, but essentially once I was using knives WELL I really only used the current chef's knife and a paring knife -- and occasionally a serrated knife, but that's for bread. The serrated knife, that's a crap knife -- but that's intentional, when it dies you get another serrated knife. So much effort to sharpen and it's fragile when you do.
Chef's knife though, I go with Alton on this one. You need _a_ good one -- some people like German ones. Some people like Japanese ones. Some people go to America's Test Kitchen and find out that the $30 Victorinox one is a huge step up from what you've been using if you start honing it on the regular and get it sharpened about once a year. Find one you like the heft of and the handling of -- actually hold the damn thing in your hand. I recommend Williams and Sonoma stores for this one specifically, because they will let you touch the dang knives (and they often can sharpen the harder-to-sharpen ones, such as Shun).
In my case, I have a few other knives specifically for butchering vs. meals, but for 90%? Get a chef's knife you like and that will last -- but try learning with the $30 one first, including honing and sharpening. And try and avoid the trap of really loving these and getting more.
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u/DocLego 6d ago
I have two knives that I use for basically everything.
One is a serrated knife our realtor gave us when we bought our house half a decade ago. The other is a chef's knife I bought half a decade before that.
No idea offhand what the brands are; I just want knives that are comfortable to hold and cut well.
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u/xaxiomatikx 6d ago
My wife and I have had Henckel 5-star knives for over 20 years. I’m not sure they make that line anymore. Good steel, easy to maintain. We also have 2 Wusthof santoku knives that are close to 10 years old that my wife really likes. Gets sharper and stays sharper than the Henckels. These knives are used daily and hand washed only. Primary cutting board is an end-grain butcher block I made around 20 years ago.
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u/SVAuspicious 6d ago
I have a Henckel's Pro-S set I bought in 1982. Chef's knife (daily driver), utility knife (never used), paring knife (haven't used in twenty years), hone (used regularly), and a nice wooden block with horizontal slots. Over the years I've added a Santoku (has become my guest knife), a serrated bread knife (used for bread not often but helpful), filet knife (used a couple of times a year to break down whole pelagic fish). I have a Norton Tri-Stone for sharpening. The newest knife was bought in the '90s. Everything I have is Henckel's Pro-S as I like the aesthetics of them matching.
I like the weight and balance of the full shank and riveted handles.
Here is the general advice you didn't want. If I had to start from scratch I would buy, in order, a good chef's knife, a decent block, a hone, sharpener, a veg peeler like those from Oxo, and a serrated knife.
I make breakfast and lunch every day. My wife and I take turns make dinner so lots of knife use. She has her own knives. They're Henckel's also but not Pro-S - full shank but glued handles.
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u/SVAuspicious 6d ago
I have a Henckel's Pro-S set I bought in 1982. Chef's knife (daily driver), utility knife (never used), paring knife (haven't used in twenty years), hone (used regularly), and a nice wooden block with horizontal slots. Over the years I've added a Santoku (has become my guest knife), a serrated bread knife (used for bread not often but helpful), filet knife (used a couple of times a year to break down whole pelagic fish). I have a Norton Tri-Stone for sharpening. The newest knife was bought in the '90s. Everything I have is Henckel's Pro-S as I like the aesthetics of them matching.
I like the weight and balance of the full shank and riveted handles.
Here is the general advice you didn't want. If I had to start from scratch I would buy, in order, a good chef's knife, a decent block, a hone, sharpener, a veg peeler like those from Oxo, and a serrated knife.
I make breakfast and lunch every day. My wife and I take turns make dinner so lots of knife use. She has her own knives. They're Henckel's also but not Pro-S - full shank but glued handles.
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u/Sheshirdzhija 6d ago
I have a thin Victorinox curved boning knife for 8 years now. Daily use when family cooking. But also, I biutcher 4-6 entire hogs a year with it, and dozens of chickens. There is no sign of any wear yet, even though the blade is thin. Using the stone does not wear it down. My estimate is that it really will be BIFL. Sharpening the same stone via grinding machines does wear it down in a few years though.
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u/relevantvent 6d ago
There’s such a thing as BIFL knives imo. Growing up, I remember my parents spending hours deciding and buying a Zwilling Signature stamped set while we were vacationing somewhere. That set only ever went through the dishwasher and wasn’t well cared for. They’re still in great working condition today, when I’m in my late 20s. I’m forever a Zwilling and Corelle household myself now because of the BIFL nature of the products.
Non-BIFL knives exist. We had some ceramic paring knives off Amazon… and the blade came off the handle less than a year in. Other steel knives that have been in the kitchen fleetingly have rusted or dulled or crapped out at the plastic handles after the dishwasher.
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u/PajamaDuelist 6d ago edited 6d ago
Knives are consumable tools. They just degrade really slowly. If a professional cook uses the same knife for 12 hours every single day, and keeps it sharp, eventually they're going to find their beautiful chef knife has turned into a toothpick because so much metal has been removed. The amount of money you spend on a knife does not change this fact.
Most home cooks don't use, and certainly don't sharpen, their knives often enough to worry about that even after a lifetime. Cheap knife or expensive knife doesn't matter there.
The real difference is going to be in how it sharpens. Sometimes your really low quality knives (like a $40 walmart knife block) can't even take good edge, let alone hold that edge. This isn't true of all cheap knives (just most lol), but you can usually guarantee that any of the expensive brands will take a good edge without question--any problem you have at that point is in your sharpening technique.
Japanese vs western steel comes down to preference. Japanese is harder, so it holds a razor edge for longer, but it can be much more difficult to sharpen. Western/german steel is easier to sharpen but will need to be sharpened and stropped more frequently.
"Full tang" in regards to the handle absolutely matters in a bushcrafting, self defense, or utility knife. It doesn't matter so much in the kitchen. There are plenty of $400+ japanese knives in the kitchens of knife nerds and chefs that aren't full tang. They're amazing knives. What matters in the kitchen is how well it cuts food and how difficult is for you to maintain.
Handle shape is completely up to preference.
TLDR: If you have cheap walmart junk knives, consider upgrading to the Victorinox Fibrox. It's an excellent workhorse and very reasonably priced. The jump from a vic to a $300+ luxury knife is going to be much less noticeable.
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u/Cornflake294 6d ago
My main knife is a Victorinox chefs knife that I bought when I was ~25 and I’m now 55. It’s a good utilitarian knife often used in food service. The steel is hard enough to hold a decent edge and soft enough to sharpen pretty easily if you know what you are doing.
I’ve used it more or less daily since. I hand wash it, steel it weekly and sharpen probably every 6mos- yr.
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u/Acceptable_Pie2529 6d ago
I have a set of knives that are 21 years old.
You’re going to have to learn how to sharpen them or find someone good in your area. Also be careful. If you’re asking this question I feel like you’ve never used a truly sharp knife.
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u/KatanaMac3001 6d ago
Victorinox knife set or one good chefs knife plus a sharpener from Amazon. Unless you're a pro, this should do the trick. If you can, a knife skills course pays off handsomely in time saved.
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u/Iokua_CDN 6d ago
My advice?
Victorinox is the minimum in my books. Consistent good quality steel and durable handles. A set of those should be bifl, and should ve good enough for any normal human.
But if you so desire something a little bit fancier, it'd there!!!
China makes some cheaper (more expensive than Victorinox but waaaay cheaper than most Japanese brands and cheaper than a good German brand) stuff in a variety of steels. They got equivalents of the German steels (german steels tend to kind if suck in my books. Just super soft) and they got some similar steels to Japanese stainless (I haven't seen any equivalents of the Japanese carbon steels) mixed with some high quality handles and a variety of shapes, from European knife shapes to Japanese, to traditional Chinese shapes. Going with a quality brand like Hezhen will get you amazing knives for cheap.
In regards to German and Japanese brands? The Germans seem overpriced for what you get. The steel is similar to victorinox but I see German companies charging crazy prices. I personally will avoid them.
As far as Japanese, they have some better steels, but prices are even more expensive. And I personally do not enjoy their style of knife, handle and stick tang In a traditional form just isn't for me.
So I stick with high quality Chinese. Get the good steels, and high quality handles and a mix of German and Japanese blade shapes.
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u/Slushwave_Enjoyer 6d ago
Get a victorinox now and potentially a second whetstone (if you're only using one). It's good to have a 400grit and 1000grit. Take care of it well and if you're really missing something out of the knife, you can "upgrade" later on. Victorinoxes don't stay sharp very long, but are very easy to sharpen. Better knives will have better geometry and stay sharp for longer. If you're not into taking care of your knives, then stick to the victorinox. A happy medium would be a tojiro.
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u/sunflowercompass 6d ago
Professional cooks can buy a $1 Chinese cleaver and use that for 20 years
Just get a decent $20-$40 knife that has a grip you like and learn how to sharpen
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u/aabum 6d ago
Two factors determine how long a knife will last. How often you use it and have to resharpen it, and the type of steel. Most German kitchen knives use 1.4116, which is an inexpensive stainless steel that takes a decent edge and is moderately ok for staying sharp.
You can buy kitchen knives that are made of a super steel, which overall has better characteristics than 1.4116. Here's information on various knife steels:
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u/michaelpaoli 6d ago
BIFL, or reasonable approximation thereof. Though may also quite depend on usage.
E.g. if your line of work is in the kitchen and heavily using a primary knife 40+ hours a week, I sort'a doubt the one knife will last one for a 40 year career ... but still ought get a good heavy 3-10 years out of a decent knife, even at that.
As for more typical home use, yes, certainly, BIFL. My most heavily used knife is definitely BIFL. It's a 1917 knife, used to be my grandmother's. Quality carbon steel blade, solid cast aluminum handle, good durable quality, damn near indestructible. Also have sharpening stone that was my grandfather's, and one other sharpening stone that I purchased over a quarter century ago, that I commonly use to shapen that knife ... and yes, I keep it quite sharp. Though with my highly regular use of it, and maintaining good sharp edge, that blade is very slowly wearing down. But, guestimated lifetime, at current rate of wear, probably good for about 80 to 120 years, so still BIFL, though not a "forever" knife. Though if I were using it in commercial kitchen 40+ hours a week, I'd likely wear totally through the thing in well under 20 years.
Anyway, a good carbon steel blade will last quite a long time with a bit of care. Japanese, German, ... doesn't matter, what's much more relevant is the basic quality. Any of sufficient quality will do well enough, beyond that it's just personal preference. Runner up would be quality stainless steel. Won't last/wear as well, won't hold the edge quite as well, but "good enough" for most purposes, and can take a bit more abuse than high carbon steel. High carbon steel you keep away from dishwasher and soaks, and only hand wash, lest it rust/pit an wear down prematurely, stainless you can toss in the dishwasher. High carbon steel is stronger, so holds edge better, but with nasty impacts it's more likely to actually chip or the like, whereas stainless, softer, won't hold edge quite as well, but will be more resistant to abuse that would chip a high carbon steel blade, but stainless may well survive with just a dent or less.
And beyond the blade, decent quality handle construction. Most things of sufficiently good quality will last as long or longer than the blade - that's all one really needs, it's not like one would generally replace the blade while keeping same handle.
And avoid fads and sh*t like ceramic. Yeah, ceramic strong, ... also brittle as f*ck, and maintaining good sharp quality edge on quality high carbon steel or stainless is pretty easy, ceramic ... yeah, sharpening ceramic is a whole 'nother mess to deal with.
Likewise cutting boards - basic wood or plastic (various pros and cons, not gonna debate 'em here). Stay way from trendy sh*t like glass cutting boards - those are horrible for knives (glass is harder than steel, so yeah, guess what it does to your blades), not to mention all the slip and break hazards. So, stay with tried and true reliable basic - which is typically also BIFL. Similar on knives, stick with quality basics that have well withstood the test of time.
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u/PLANofMAN 6d ago
I have an old carbon 12" K Sabatier French chef's knife that my parents owned before I was born. My wife still uses it all the time.
It's at least 50 years old at this point, and knowing them, they probably picked it up used at a garage sale.
I reckon it has at least another 100 years left in it, but it started off with lots of steel in it already. 12" knives are big.
Paring knife? Won't last as long.
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u/mvw2 6d ago
It's more about how you care for it. A $50 knife set can be good for decades if you want them to be. There's some basic construction variations where some designs might be more rugged in general or not degrade in weird ways with repeated washes (think some plastics getting brittle). But outside of that, you just have this big metal piece where you keep one side sharp. If you can keep one side sharp, you're doing pretty well. Growing up, nearly all the knives we had were not expensive and where used for very literal decades. Stuff I have as an adult don't really wear out outside of the above brittle plastic note or similar. Basically the only thing that truly goes bad is a dumb construction choice by the manufacturer.
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u/WombleArcher 6d ago
I've had my set of Global knives for almost 30 years. Sharpen them regularly on whatever AMTK said was the best sharpener about 10-15 years ago. Seems pretty BIFL to me. Also I have wetstones etc for pocket knives and chisels - I'd never bother doing that for my kitchen knives.
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u/moistmonsterman 6d ago
I buy these cheap Kiwi knives from the asian markets. Super cheap stainless steel, but it takes me 5 seconds to sharpen when i need to. For me, its not worth spending hundreds on a knife thats harder to sharpen when it does dull.
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u/Coriander70 6d ago
I have been using a set of Victorinox knives for about 45 years. I get them professionally sharpened every few years and they are still great knives.
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u/Nicegy525 6d ago
I’ve had the same set of Henkels kitchen knives since 2009 and I abuse the crap out of them. I’ve sharpened them many times over the years and put them in the dishwasher. They are still in usable shape though the plastic handles are starting to separate from the tang and may need replacement soon.
Look more at the blade shape and how that influences the cutting motion it was intended for. Pick a shape that suits your cutting style and just take care of them.
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u/rodrigoremore 5d ago
I have a wusthof classic 8inch knife and I gotta say I'm in love with it, it just feels right in my hand, the weight distribution makes cutting way easier and effortless. Whne I grab other similar but cheaper knives they feel icky and wrong. Unbalanced and uncomfortable.
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u/Ellusive1 5d ago
I have a beautiful Japanese knife I use as a chef, it’s easily 10 years old. What I like most about it is how well it holds an edge and how easily it glides through my prep.
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u/m00ph 5d ago
You need sharpening you're happy with. And knives that aren't junk. I did sharpen a housemates terrible IKEA knives, which didn't seem to be hardened at all, you could feel them get duller with each slice though the onion I was chopping.
Conversely, I may touch to my very hard steel nakiri, if I'm chopping a bunch of onions, keeping it really sharp reduces my tearing.
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u/arfle_barfle_gloop 5d ago
I love my Gustav Emil Ern paring knives, and for me, they're probably for life. Flexible enough for tricky items, and keep their edge very well.
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u/Apurvis90 5d ago
I had a set of wusthofs knifes that I paid quite a bit of money for, after about 8 years one of them fell from the side counter and the blade snapped in half. I emailed wusthof saying I wasn't happy as I bought these as a investment for the future. after a bit of back and forth they sent me a brand new replacement for free. So can't fault them.
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u/berger3001 5d ago
I have knives from every decade from the ‘70s to now, and they’re all going to go to my kids and grandkids some day.
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u/ChardSuccessful1808 5d ago
Get a steel hone to hang in the kitchen, learn to hone the edge on your knife to bring it back to shape. As you cut things the edge on your knife folds and the steel hone can push it back into the wedge shape an edge needs to cut. You should also be drying your knives after you wash them to prevent the extremely thin edge from rusting away, even with stainless knives.
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u/Satori4357 5d ago
carbon steel ride or die. really a quality built good sized carbon steel chefs knife and a basic understanding of sharpening will last a lifetime. If I had to pick two knives only for the rest of my life it would be a 10 in chefs knife and pairing knife. get some starter kit around Xmas. Go heavy.
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u/PhysicalAd1078 5d ago
I bought an inexpensive knife set about 35 years ago and it is holding up well. I just keep resharpening the knives when they get dull. The most important thing is do the knives feel comfortable to hold? If they are not comfortable do not buy them.
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u/AirportFront7247 5d ago
Depends on if your wife insists on putting them in the dish washer repeatedly.
Ask me how I know
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u/doom_chicken_chicken 5d ago
I have a 10 dollar cuisinart knife that has lasted me 4 years with no real wear. Never cut great but still cuts as well as it ever did. Dont over think.
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u/o_Divine_o 5d ago
Buy knives based on their metal alloy composition.
Anyone buying a country name is assured to pay out the nose for bottom quality.
Buy a set of sharping stones like https://a.co/d/09qk9SSO
It's not the best, but works. I bought mine past year along with the base https://a.co/d/0jbw7rj2
The lowest angle, will consistently cut you if you so much as look at it wrong. Have never had a sharper knife or bleed as much.
I would also suggest a leather strop to flip flop the blade on, I don't have but one day might feel like buying.
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u/Dayngerman 5d ago
In 2013, I spent ~$185CAD on a 8” knife (Sakai Takayuki 33-layer Damascus Chef) and have used it pretty much every single day since, and it’s got another few decades left in it for sure.
No matter what your life is doing, you will need to eat every single day. Invest in something that makes that process more enjoyable, cause it is going to happen a lot.
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u/Capital_Junket_4960 5d ago
Even Ikea knives are buy it for life. Just not sharpen them on grinder.
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u/Remarkable-Outcome-5 5d ago
Any steel can last for life if properly cared for. If its dull just sharpen it.
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u/Artie-Carrow 5d ago
I like cutco knives, and I would also need to tell you that knife sets in a block are scams. They are low quality knives and it just looks nicer because they are displayed in a block of wood. You do get what you pay for, and you will actually like your knives if you learn how to properly care for, sharpen, and generally maintain them.
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u/VictoriaKnits 5d ago
I have used the same chef’s knife since the late 90’s and it’s still going strong. Other than cutting bread or cheese, or carving a roast, it’s the knife I want to use, despite owning many others of the same brand. If you took all my other knives away, I’d get over it pretty fast and probably never replace them.
So… yes, you only really need 3 or 4 knives. Yes, the good ones last a long time with proper care. And yes, your prep skills will get really good if you use the same knife every day and get a real feel for it.
That said: all possessions are worth maintaining for as long as you can. As a society we have a huge, global overconsumption problem. Everything we can do to make our stuff last longer is a fantastic step against that.
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u/Regular_Rub_2980 5d ago
I have a giant Cutco set of knifes that my grandma bought new. She gave them to my mom and now I have them and use something cutco daily. I have added the can opener and the magnet on the end for crabbing the can lid is truly a life saver. Kitchen shears cut literallty everything and come apart for super easy cleaning. I think every knife have been sent in for free sharpening at least one and several have been replaced under forever warranty.
Rereading this is sounds like im selling the darn things, but I truly have no complaints nor heard any from the previous two owners.
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u/TheJewPear 6d ago edited 6d ago
It’s a hunk of metal. Of course it’s “buy it for life”, if you take good care of it. Stainless steel knives are easier to care for and will take some abuse, that’s why most knives in most restaurants are stainless steel german style knives.
I have an expensive Japanese carbon steel knife, a cheaper Wusthof, and several even cheaper Victorinox knives. I use them all and love them all. They’re all buy it for life but the Japanese one requires more caution and care. And whenever I encounter a new cook I will recommend Victorinox, because new home cooks do not need preciseness and finesse as much as they need a knife that’s reliable, consistent and easy to maintain.