What kitchen knives do you use?

[DanG]

I picked up a set of 3 henkel knives at home outfitters on boxing day. It was 50 bucks for the set. Best knives I've ever used.

[albert_dao]

Which knives did you get?

[deepRED]

I prefer wustof trident for solid german style knives and global for japanese blades.
I've used everything in between for the past 10 years in professional kitchens and these two are the ones that stayed in my box.
I've had many henkels before, and had a couple snap on me, which is why I stay away from them now. If you talk to a knife retailer they'll tell you they receive way more returns of henkels compared to wustof trident. The blade breaking occurs when there is a build up of carbon during the forging process creating weak spots in the blade. Tweak it a certain way and "snap!"

There are many other higher end brands and the japanese knives can get into the thousands easily. I was looking at a sashimi knive in Japan and almost had a heart attack when I found out it was $3000! I really don't think anyone can justify buying such an expensive knife as it will get dull like any other knife if it's not taken care of properly. The only blades that don't need sharpening are the ceramic ones, but they require special care as if it's dropped, it's done for good. I worked with a cocky bastard who came to work one day bragging about his expensive "no sharpen" cermanic knives. Near the end of the day he accidently bumped it and it landed on the ground, shattering to pieces. It was pretty funny actually.

Now for home use, almost anything will do as it will never really get abused the way it does in a professional kitchen.
Bang for your buck, I'd go with victorinox. Softer steel that is easier to sharpen, and decent quality for the money, which is why many cooking schools around the country use these as starter sets for up and coming cooks.

I have a funny story about cutco. I had the opportunity to sit through one of the presentations and one of the things they do is cut through a piece of rope to show how they are superior. The poor kid proceeds to get me to cut through with his cutco,(it's brand new and it's serrated, so obviously it's going to cut right through it) and then asks me to get one of my own knives to try the same thing. I grab a global and slice through it like butter; he looked at me, slightly embarassed, and all he could say was "wow, that's a sharp knive!" haha

[LostMind]

I have shun kershaw knives at home. Probably over priced, but my wife saw me drooling over the japanese knives when we were in Japan and she saw a set locally around xmas and didn't know what else to buy me...

I also own a kyocera ceramic knife that we found on sale at a home outfitter for $20... thought we'd try it out. Very sharp, very light and a little odd feeling. So far no problems with it.

[Borderjumper]

I bought a set of these a few months ago, mines red tho.. I can't say I have ever actually used them.. but it sure looks cool sitting on my counter.

[albert_dao]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! OMFGWTF???? Where did you get that?

[Johnny Reefer]

My favorite kitchen (and then some) knife is one I bought at Safeway about 22 years ago. Probably paid all of $10 for it. I prefer it to the $120 Wusthof, which just sits in the drawer most of the time. The "Imperial", as it's called, holds an edge very well.

Cheers,

[Borderjumper]

They are made in Italy. My hubby bought it for me about a year ago.