Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades blade set for the kitchen

I seem to recall reading in the past about knife sets for the kitchen and best values. The search function hasnt helped me in finding so I thought to repost. Im looking to pick up a decent to very good knife set for my house and would like to keep the cost under $200. Dont really care too much about steak knives or scissors. Im thinking an assortment of knives from paring up to a 8 inch knife. I have some relatives that seem happy with their "chicago cutlery" set, and I have heard good things about the forschner sets. I have seen some reasonably priced Hinkels as well. Please feel free to chime in, or if you recall the original post, point me in the right direction. Just tired of using inexpensive knives and hoping to buy "right" this time.

Three knives will do the lions share of your work.

French style chef's knife or gyuto (japanese style) 210-270mm

Utility 150-180mm

Parer 90-120mm

* optional* Bread knife.

Everything else is redundant.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

If you are serious and want to be be amazed what good tools can do in the kitchen... think thin, hard steel for the knives.
And just as importantly, a decent set of Japanese water stones and LEARN how to sharpen.

GO HERE:
http://kitchenknifeforums.com/

For $200 you can get there with manufacturers such as Tojiro, Hattori, and to a lesser degree, Forschner.

If all you have ever known is Chicago Cutlery and the thick, soft steel of Henckels, Wusthoff, etc... well,

Enlightenment is at hand

certainly add gives good advice. no where in the kitchen is more important for good knives than when it comes to cutting up vegetables & fruits. inferior cutters [in the majority] are an invitation to a bad cut when using blunt & dull edges on slippery food articles. forshner will give decent results but really quality blades make cutting a sensual effort. the short 7 in. or even 8 in. chinese type chef knife along with a small parer & a 4 or 5 in. utility will handle 98% of your efforts. bread knives are not necessary since most bread is bought already sliced. i have 3 knives murray carter chinese type chef, a phillip dobson utility & a menefee 2.5 in. parer. these knives will probably outlast me & go to relatives. customs are somewhat expensive but if you could pay more for a car that lasted your entire life would'nt that be a great decision? cranky72

I'd suggest visiting the web site for K Sabatier.
http://ksabatieroutlet.com/

Buy the Carbon steel knives. You can get their 10 inch Chef, the 6 inch Chef, and a 3 inch paring knife for well under $200.

These are superb blades, hold an edge well, sharpen easily.

Mannlicher-

Would those 3 styles of knives you referenced be your choice of 3 for initial knife purchases for kitchen?

My wife has a couple of knife blocks (one cheap, one spendy, not great quality either way), and its time for me to outfit my own that she isn't allowed to touch.

Carter?
Yes, outstanding stuff (have a few)... looks like I am preaching to a fellow choir member here... but you must mean Japanese style chef knife.

A large, well made, serrated bread knife, although not a priority, works wonders on specialty bakery breads, homemades, and french style baguette loaves. They are also nice for carving on roasts/hams that have a hard seasoning crust on them...

those three will do about 90% of everything you will ever need to in a home kitchen. Other than just wanting more variety, you won't actually NEED any other knives.
The French knives are shaped a bit different than the more popular German ones. Less belly, thinner, sharper. They excel when working with the tip, yet can 'rock' with the best of 'em.

Didn't even know they had an outlet store. Thanks!

A multi-purpose utility (serrated) knife is pretty handy to have around as well.

add is astute to notice my mention of carter knives, especially since he mastered at a japanese 17Th generation forge.[i think]the serrations on my forcher bread knife lasted thru many years since i do'nt do a lot of gourmet food consumption. thanks for nudging my memory.--cranky72