Where To Buy Henckel Knives

The data for this list comes from informally testing the factory edges of brand-new knives, as well as professionally-sharpened edges of used knives, on 1) ripe greenhouse tomatoes, 2) news print, and 3) other veggies and fruits (including melons, onions, carrots, etc.). Plus, 4) using the knives in various everyday kitchen-knife tasks, 5) understanding their construction and the make-up of their steel, and 6) gathering opinions through the kitchen-knife grapevine. (Below: Best Chef Knives onion-cutting tests)

I do not own Global knives but my friend has a whole big knife block full of them. And he has them for years. When we cook at his house there was never anybody complaining about the Global knives. I have big hands so they are not for me, but I do enjoy working with them at my friends place.

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I do not own an Arcos knife, so my opinion must rely on research (as with a number of knives I discuss on KKG). But after spending quite a bit more time exploring the world of Arcos online, my revised opinion is that their manufacturing quality is probably similar to the German brands.

Arcos manufactures an army of product that varies in style and quality. (So do Henckels and Wusthof for that matter.) Thus, you must be specific about what models/lines your talking about before coming to any conclusions. In general, Arcos seems comparable to the major German knife makers. See my full response on Arcos knives above. . .

RE Best Chef Knives list and the professional kitchen

Every one of the knifemakers in the above list produces knives that could work well in a pro kitchen. And if you read the comments, you will find plenty of professional chefs swearing by their favorite(s). But two things to take note of:

1) You probably would not want to buy him a shorter, santoku-style knife for pro use. In the case of both Wusthof and Global, you would want to buy their longer chef-style knives which I mention in the article.

2) The Japanese-made knives, because they are made of Japanese steel which is brittler and because they are thinner, will be not be as rugged as the three German-made knives. This especially holds true for the Shun and the Global.

RE Victorinox

Victorinox makes terrific knives that perform like blades that cost four or five times as much. They come from the factory sharp, they retain their edges incredibly well, and can be sharpened and honed to bring back the sharpness.

This said, you must realize that Victorinox are, by design, stripped down and extremely utilitarian. They are light, the blade is rather bendable, and the handle looks and feels like plastic. They feel more like a toys than other, more expensive and finely wrought, knives.

But the knives I would recommend to anyone looking to spend less than $100 for a workhorse line of knives that perform far above their price point is the Tojiro DP series made from VG10 steel. I absolutely love these knives and have seen them sharpened enough as to be able to split a human hair with no downward force applied. Obvious this involves aftermarket sharpening by an expert, but the factory edge is quite outstanding for the price.

Hi James,

RE Victorinox Fibrox

Check out my response to Judith in the comment thread above (on May 27th, 2015) where I offer my two-cents worth on knives for professionals and the Victorinox.

Best, KKG

F. Dick is, no doubt, one of the premier German knife makers. The original company was founded in 1778 and, like Wusthof, it is still family owned and operated. F. Dick knives are known and used by professionals, but in the U.S. their marketing is limited and most American home cooks are not aware of them.

There is no need to apologize for anything. Here, where I come from (Eastern Europe), F. Dick is much more available than any other brand of quality knife (if any other is available at all) and this is the main reason I asked for your opinion. Your site is probably the most informative among dozens of others I have found and I really appreciate your opinion.

I will follow your advice on using the honing steel as well. We have a metal one that came with the Henckels set over 25 years ago. We did not think it made much difference in keeping the knives sharp, but will try a ceramic one like yours instead. Thanks again for your prompt response!

Anyway, years ago when my wife and I got married, one of our guests worked at a kitchen store and apparently got a hell of a discount on a set of five Shun classics, topped off with a Shun Ken Onion. I would have never bought knives that nice. I love those knives. They almost sound like plastic when they whack against something.

After reading this post, you seem like the right guy to ask. I am looking into moving towards the professional chef world and want to buy myself some top quality knives. I started out using the Robert Welch range and they did well for the first 4 years but now their maintenance/sharpitude and grip is starting to get a little annoying. I take pride in caring for and honing my knives and after reading this wondered if you had any advice on what to go for?

For more help on this process of finding the best knife for you, you also should check out How to Buy a Great Chef Knife. And if you poke around the KKG site more, you will find other articles that will increase your knowledge and help you with keeping your knives sharp.

So, deciding between German or Japanese has basically to do with two questions:

1) How fricking sharp do you need, or want, your knives to be?

2) How careful do you want to have to be with them?

Cutco knives are the best knives in the world, hands down. They last forever and if they need to be fixed or replaced its free. I have had my set for 50+ yrs. Best investment I have ever made. Just got 4 new knives for free from them when I sent them in to get sharpened!

2) Go to Wusthof Knives. . ., at the end of the article where I discuss knife sets. I begin with 2-piece sets and one of the best for her might be the Wusthof Classic 2-Piece Asian Santoku and Paring Knife Set. She might prefer a smaller, nimbler santoku knife over a standard 8-inch chef knife.

5) If you wanted to go up a notch and maybe only get him one, gorgeous Japanese knife, please check out my recent post Quality Kitchen Knives on Sale. Either the Kramer Meiji or the Miyabi Birchwood would knock his socks off. Buuuut, either one of these knives, he would probably want to keep at home :)

With that said, which of these two knives would you prefer. Also, have been reading your blogs and see your comments on sharpening and honing. I grew up using a whetstone to sharpen my pocket knives, so know enough to get myself in trouble with one. What would be your thought on the care of each of the mentioned sets? Again, your blog has been a wonderful read for information !!!

I will not let my new knives bang around in a drawer

I am not a professional chef, however knives, to me, are works of art that are meant to be used, each for a dedicated task. My overall comment/opinion is that the best knife is the one that you will use again and again!

More specifics:

Zwilling Four Star 40th Anniversary 6-inch Santoku (and Rocking Santoku)

The Anniversary is not fishy, just a great deal. The Zwilling Four Star line are forged knives with acceptable quality. Too short though.

Yes, there are many quality kitchen knives out there and in my article above I could only single out a handful. But the Arcos brand has a rich history in this comment thread. And if you ever have time to do some more perusing, you will find a number of entries about Arcos. I think my most thorough and up-to-date comment on them occurs in a reply to Pere Cellers on 2016/04/26.

1. The professional sharpening services you are using might not be that good. (See Finding a Professional Sharpening Service.) Perhaps they are creating edge bevels that are not very acute. Or perhaps the knife edges need some thinning in order to achieve fine edges again and they are not up to doing this. The knives themselves might be rather thick to begin with and this, along with having been worn down a bit from use, might make blade thinning even more of a must. The worst case scenario might be that some time in the past, some poor-quality knife sharpening service might have ruined the steel by getting the edges too darn hot.

I have used and abused these knives. I broke the tip off the paring knife and also one of the trimming knives. I melted part of the handle on the chef knife. But all-in-all these things have really held up over the past 19 years. In my mind, I keep thinking that buying a 100 dollar set at Ross every few years would probably be just as good, but I cannot complain about the quality of Cutco knives. Knowing myself, I would never have bought these on my own and I would not go around recommending them to everyone because they are really expensive.

Thank you for taking the time to put this beautiful website together. I have learned so much about knives and knife care that I did not know before. In particular this article assisted me in making a decision on what knife to buy.

We recently changed our diet and no longer eat meat. So cutting up bones, or near bones, is not a concern. This actually impacted on my decision quite a bit. If we were still meateaters, I might have selected one of the German-made knives. But since my wife cuts up all plant-based material, no need to worry about chipping the blade on bones.

Making a decision on what knife was hard for us. We were concerned about buying something online and having to send something back we might not like. In the end we went to Bed Bath & Beyond and held a couple of the knives before buying the Shun chef knife. I recommend getting your hands on the knife you are considering before you buy.

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