Buying Kitchen Knives

The Mrs. and I are thinking about buying some new kitchen knives.  We're still using knives from college and hand-me-downs from parents/siblings, so we're looking for a major upgrade here.  The rest of the kitchen is pretty well-stocked from the wedding registry.

Some of y'all seem to be badasses in the kitchen, so I was wondering if you had any preferences in this area.

Some of the makers we're looking at are Global, Wusthof, Henckels, Kyocera, Chroma, Shun. Any experiences with these?  Any thoughts between European vs. Japanese?

What would you look at, assuming slightly unreasonable (but not absurd) budget?

Hmm, we've already got a lot of Calphalon pots and pans.  I don't know if I want to be labeled a "Calphalon guy".  Kind of like how I have several different brands in my golf bag to be different from my "Taylor Made" buddy and "Callaway" dude (clubs, bag, hat).

Will check it out, though.

LOL, fair enough,  you can go with something else-  never seen/tried  a chroma... everything else listed is good stuff {in general} ....  i'd say henckles is the most overpriced for the value....   

but do yourself a favor... at least grab the Nakiri  to complement your set   ---  you'll find the ability to cut anything w/ forward motion  to be mind-boggling.  it also has incredible balance. --  you won't find another knife in the 7" range that so literally feels 'invisible'  and an extension of your hand

heh, we've got some old Ginsu knives in our current collection. 

We have Henckel 4-Stars, because I wanted the Pro S or Five-Star, but the handles are smaller on the Four and my wife has much smaller hands.

What's important: the weight of the knife, its balance in your hand, how sharp an edge it can take, and its ability to keep that sharp edge.  Personally, I've never minded sharpening a knife, so it's always come down to how the knife feels in use.  If it feels unbalanced or too light/heavy, it doesn't matter how sharp the damn thing is, you won't wield it effectively.

(warning, minor thread jack...)


How do you sharpen your knives?  Send it to a pro, use a steel, or do you have some gadget?   I'm considering sending out a knife or two, but they're nothing special knives, so I'm wondering about the effectiveness of  DYI sharpening.

A steel isn't really designed to sharpen anything, and most gadget's don't work.

So, your left with either a professional or investing in a 3 sided sharpening stone and a few minutes of your time every once in a while.


Professional sharpening really DOES make a difference. I had my stepmother's done as a Christmas gift a few years ago, and it made a huge difference...