Looking for recomendations for a kitchen knife set. I am not a pro chef so I don’t need a $400.00 set of knives. I am looking for something good quality in the $100.00-$150.00 or so range. I have read reviews for a number of sets in that price range and they mixed. I was looking at Victorinox 8-Piece Knife Block Set
online and the reviews are good and it is in my price range. Any suggestions or recomendations?
Thanks
Have the Fibrox handled victorinox and really like them. Might just get the chefs knife and build up from there.
Same here. Choice of Cook’s Illustrated and I love them. When I bought my last one, the guy at the knife shop said they’re what just about every chef in town uses. Great knives don’t have to be expensive. The 8" chef’s knife is $25-30 and the 3 1/2 in. paring knife is about 6 bucks.
I have a Shun 8" santoku and a Shun Pro 10 1/2" yanagiba knife, and I highly recommend them. They are extremely sharp and they’re well-balanced. They’ll run about $120-160 each, depending on sale price. I haven’t used the Victorinox Forschner Fibrox, but, as already mentioned, they’re the preferred knife of America’s Test Kitchen and performed just as well as $100+ knives in their tests.
Wusthoff. We love the ones we have.
Bought the cheaper version (classic?) for my mother in law, because her knives were atrocious. They’re fine knives.
Never really tried anything else, except a few Chicago Cutlery knives that I still have around and use regularly.
Anything with a good weight and a good edge should do you just fine. Keep them sharp.
Really all you need is one good knife for almost all applications. Then at some point you can branch off, but I’d recommend at least an 8"+ Chef’s knife to start with. This will give you bang for the buck be it chopping, slicing or de-boning meat and vegetables.
I bought my wife a Shun Chef’s Knife for XMas last year and she loves it. They work great and I think the damascus blades are beautiful.
I still use a 35 year old Wusthof set.
8" Shun santoku is a good all-around knife. If you’ll only have one “good” knife that’s a good style to get, or a chef’s-style like others suggested. Some Wuesthof knives are kinda heavy. If you have a local source, it’d be a good idea to get a feel for it before you buy. Some brands have a weight/balance/handle shape that may not work as well for you as others.
I have the Victorinox set for a year now. Quality blades and sharp. I recommend it, especially for the price.
The best advice I ever got was to pick up the chef knife from a bunch of different sets and see which one feels best in your hand. I have the Wusthof Classic set and I love it. The chef knife is a bit heavy, but it is perfectly balanced in my hand and I like the extra heft.
we have had multiple brands of knives from solingen as we have had at least 8 foreign exchange students from there and they bring them. my favorite are the made by robert herder. they are not stainless, they are carbon steel and need to be cared for a little bit but they hold edge and slice better than any knive i have including the wusthof, cutco, and a few japanese knives that have been brought over
My Wustof set is only 15 years old, used daily and as good as new. Tried many other bands, but Wustof is the best IMHO. Wouldn’t trade them for all the Victorinox in Switzerland.
But I like my Chinese-made $8 chef’s knife bought at the local grocery store! Virtually indistinguishable from my Henckles Fine-edge Pro sontoku in blade construction, forging and quality for a fifth of the price. The steel is marginally different- slightly softer but can hold a very sharp edge. I hand-sharpen all my knives and suggest avoiding anything cheap with a “ground-edge” BTW.
I figure they’re probably made in the same place. Twenty years ago a cheap knife was exactly that.
slightly softer as in having lead in the alloy? :o
He did say “Chinese-made.” Just like all the kids toys, chances are it has lead.
We had a nice long thread on this in the past, might be worth a read:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=2973.0
My $0.02, you only need a few knives. A like a Chef’s, a paring and then maybe something like a boning. I wouldn’t event get a set. Find individual knives you like and which fit your hand. The German style tend to be heavy, Japanese lighter. You can go high end or low end, but if you don’t use the knife it is no better than a paperweight. I keep mine in a nice divided drawer insert and so they are off the counter and no one sees them.
If I was to just get some knives today I would probably go with/think about (Amazon links) some of the following to keep the costs down:
Victorinox Chef
http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355410777&sr=8-1&keywords=chef's+knife
Sandwich Knife (I really use this one quite a bit)
http://www.amazon.com/Guy-Fieri-Knuckle-Sandwich-Stainless/dp/B002W5VXVQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1355410924&sr=8-7&keywords=guy+fieri+knife
Also be sure to get a sharpening steel.
HTH
fixed that for you 
Yes, it’s very important to steel your knife every time you use it. I havn’t had my knives sharpened in close to a eyar now and some of them (the ones I use most) do need it but it is amazing how much better they cut when you hone the blade before using.
By the way I have a mixed bag, mostly henckle but i have an odd man out paring knife from some off brand made in the USA company that is quite nice.
My small (6 inch) french chef get’s the most use, then the 8 inch santuko. I have a 6 inch santuko as well and like it but it is third string for sure.
On the bread knife though I would say save some money and get a cheap stamped blade. They are a pain to sharpen anyway and with the serations you dont’ really need to for a very long time. I have a $15 henckly stamped blade bread knife that works just fine
Did you look at that sammich knife? That’s more than just a bread knife.
It reminds me of the knife the old guy used to make sammiches at the Berghoff stand-up bar back when they were open. Awesome lunch line they had there, and the sandwhich guy really knew how to use his knife. He was like an artist carving the meat, slicing the bread, slapping it all together using only the knife. And, of course, you could get some Berghoff beer fresh from the tap.
that’s a pretty knife. If I ate meat and wanted to use it for more than bread and cutting sandwhiches in half I might see the point but for my needs? meh.
I do like the offset handles. That is the one major complaint I have about all my knives. Mainly because my grip style has changes lately. I used to choke way up and hold the back of the blade with my fingers mostly while the handle just sat against my palm for steadyness. But lately I have been holding the handle more. Not sure why, I’ve been trying to switch back. I think is started when I was taking lots of tomatoes apart while canning sauce and my hand got slick so my ‘normal’ grip got a little dangerous.