Kitchen Knife Set

[jontymo]

Evening all,

One thing we have never really spent money on over the years is a half decent knife set.

What would you recommend - 3 knives for around £500

Cheers all

[sherman]

Wusthof or Global depending on how they feel in the hand to you.
At that price I would be wanting to hold one before buying to check comfort in the hand.

[craig1912]

Kai Shun for me- had five for 14 years and still excellent.

https://cotswoldknifecompany.co.uk/products/kai-sh...

[JKRolling]

I would start by visiting a Nisbets store if possible. They have a fair few shops around the UK and you can try a wide variety of knives. It’s pretty much impossible to recommend a knife to someone.

[craigjm]

JKRolling said:

I would start by visiting a Nisbets store if possible. They have a fair few shops around the UK and you can try a wide variety of knives. It s pretty much impossible to recommend a knife to someone.

Agree with this and you dont need to spend £500 on 3 knives for them to be really good. Most important is to clean them properly and keep them sharp.

[jontymo]

Thanks all,

Part of the fun for me is also seeing what other people have and recommend as well as trying to get the something my wife will like as she is the foodi also she is left handed and I see some makers make for the left.

I may well have a run into Manchester to check some knives at some point but I want to waste my time on here and Youtube looking at reviews

Cheers all

[LordHaveMurci]

Bought my ex a Global set, she then bought Flint & Flames.

She took them all when she left & I replaced them with Wusthof Classic Ikon, much happier with them.

[The Gauge]

I know this isn't what you want as you want to spend some dosh, but Victorinox knives are ace, super sharp and some are cheap as chips so you dont mind throwing the in the dishwasher.

I've had expensive knives before, but I only buy Victorinox now. Even the cheap lightweight ones with plastic handles are brill and as they are cheap I have quite a few in different sizes so that there are always some clean ones to hand even when I haven't done the washing up yet.

I have some of their red handled Santoku knives and some of their cheap black handled knives, and their tomato and veg knife set is only £12 on Amazon

[jontymo]

LordHaveMurci said:

Bought my ex a Global set, she then bought Flint & Flames.

She took them all when she left & I replaced them with Wusthof Classic Ikon, much happier with them.

Cheers buddy, I have been looking at the Wusthof Classic Ikon, it gets more confusing when throwing in the Kai Shuns etc, may I ask why you prefer the Wusthofs?

[Big Nanas]

I've got a wide variety of knives, but always recommend the Zwilling Four stars range.

Good, solid, no nonsense knives. I still always reach for my 20 years old 4* Chef's knife.

https://www.zwilling.com/uk/zwilling/knives-scisso...

Available all over the place, and often good deals to be found.

[Madness60]

Big Nanas said:

I've got a wide variety of knives, but always recommend the Zwilling Four stars range.

Good, solid, no nonsense knives. I still always reach for my 20 years old 4* Chef's knife.

https://www.zwilling.com/uk/zwilling/knives-scisso...

Available all over the place, and often good deals to be found.

+1 for Zwilling, make sure to get a good 20cm chef knife

https://www.zwilling.com/uk/zwilling-pro-20-cm-che...

or similar

[57Ford]

I went into Pro Cook in the Trafford Centre (John Lewis end, ground floor) and the guy was tremendously helpful. I tried several for feel and grip and ended up with a set of 3 ProCook X50’s which have been excellent plus a magnetic block and a sharpener.
I don’t know much about high end kitchen knives but they feel right and stay razor sharp. They might be a little bit too far under your budget though

[zetec]

https://www.johnlewis.com/wusthof-beech-wood-fille...

A bit above budget but shop around and you can get them for about £500. I got mine early in the new year (from John Lewis) in the sale for about £500.
The knives are superb quality and for me, handle like a dream.
Everyone is different though, my advice is to visit a store in person and have a try. Take some potatos and tomatoes, JL were happy for me to do that.

[LordHaveMurci]

jontymo said:

LordHaveMurci said:

Bought my ex a Global set, she then bought Flint & Flames.

She took them all when she left & I replaced them with Wusthof Classic Ikon, much happier with them.

Cheers buddy, I have been looking at the Wusthof Classic Ikon, it gets more confusing when throwing in the Kai Shuns etc, may I ask why you prefer the Wusthofs?

The weight, balance & ‘feel’ of them just suit me.
I think they look great in an understated way too.

The Globals were too light & the Flint & Flame were never comfortable to hold/use, looked gorgeous though!

[jontymo]

Madness60 said:

Big Nanas said:

I've got a wide variety of knives, but always recommend the Zwilling Four stars range.

Good, solid, no nonsense knives. I still always reach for my 20 years old 4* Chef's knife.

https://www.zwilling.com/uk/zwilling/knives-scisso...

Available all over the place, and often good deals to be found.

+1 for Zwilling, make sure to get a good 20cm chef knife

https://www.zwilling.com/uk/zwilling-pro-20-cm-che...

or similar

When I said we haven't spent on knives I lied (not intentionally) just checked and we have 3 pro's or Pro S in the draw which is probably a major part of not looking after them as well as chucking them in the dishwasher!

Anyways just looked on the Zwilling website and seen they have a 7 piece Pro S set for £289 down from £399 which seems pretty good when a single knife is £100+ we might go for that and sharpen up the 3 knives we already have and stick them in the camper.

Suppose the next question will be what is the best way to sharpen - I have the Zwilling Steel but don't seem to get the knives sharp enough though that may be because of the lack of care!!

Cheers all

[Madness60]

Lots of better skilled 'knife-ists' (may be a made up word) will wax lyrical about stones and steels but for me I use this and its great for home

https://www.zwilling.com/uk/zwilling-twinsharp-20-...

[JKRolling]

jontymo said:

Thanks all,

Part of the fun for me is also seeing what other people have and recommend as well as trying to get the something my wife will like as she is the foodi also she is left handed and I see some makers make for the left.

I may well have a run into Manchester to check some knives at some point but I want to waste my time on here and Youtube looking at reviews

Cheers all

If you are looking to spend money and want something that’s more than functional you might like these

https://www.blok-knives.co.uk/8--black-hybrid-chef...

[Regbuser]

zetec said:

https://www.johnlewis.com/wusthof-beech-wood-fille...

A bit above budget but shop around and you can get them for about £500. I got mine early in the new year (from John Lewis) in the sale for about £500.
The knives are superb quality and for me, handle like a dream.
Everyone is different though, my advice is to visit a store in person and have a try. Take some potatos and tomatoes, JL were happy for me to do that.

Wustof classic are great, and that's a pretty good set for the money. I'd swap out the chefs knife for a santoku, which I find much more versatile nowadays.

[21TonyK]

jontymo said:

Suppose the next question will be what is the best way to sharpen - I have the Zwilling Steel but don't seem to get the knives sharp enough though that may be because of the lack of care!!

Cheers all

Zwilling do a "V-Edge" sharpener. Used correctly and carefully it will not ruin knives but like all pull throughs its dependent on the user. The ceramic rods for it arent overly cheap and you do need fine ones as well as the ones it comes with.

Try to get to a Zwilling shop, all the factory outlet shopping villages have them. You can try everything in store and they are definitely cheaper.

[LeftmostAardvark]

These are amazing. Had mine 20 years and they still feel special every time i use them:

https://japaneseknifecompany.com/collections/seki-...