If you are enjoying the culinary arts in your home kitchen you may be ready to upgrade your knives to something a little more professional then your cheap knife set you got in college. Your choices in knives can very from a set purchased in a big box store to a single knife found in a high end culinary store. Things are further complicated when every company claims their knives are the sharpest.
I would recommend starting off with just a decent knife set. A midpriced set is a great way to upgrade all of your knives and you don’t have to spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars. Chicago Cutlery puts out some very nice sets that fit this bill for example. This easy to find brand has a nice quality to them. After you get a basic set so you have steak knives, paring knives, and utility knives, you can think about what extra knives you wish to have. When you purchase individual knives, you will be paying more for them, but they are well worth it. There is nothing like preparing food with a high quality knife. You should consider what you want your knife to be made of. First, high carbon stainless steel keeps an edge well and doesn’t stain. Second, titanium, which is light and flexible but, keeps a nice edge. When you think of this knife think filet knife. Last and a bit less common is a ceramic. Ceramic knives are sharp and don’t need sharpening at all over their lifetime. The downfall to these knives are that they are very fragile. Personally the first individual knife I would purchase is a chiefs knife. I would consider one that had a full tang. The metal extention that goes from the blade into the handle is called the tang. A full tang adds weight to the handle side of the blade and helps to balance the knife. A forged knife is by far the most expensive but it is also the best. You may also see stamped knives but they are not as high of a quality. Forged knives are heavier knives and can be sharped for much longer then stamped knives. Wood handles take a lot of extra care to keep them conditioned. I prefer stainless steel or composition handles. So what can you do to keep your new super sharp knives sharp? Never put your knives in a dishwasher. This can cause knicks to the blade and will ultimately dull the blade much faster. Second, cut on a natural cutting board such as wood when you are cutting vegetables and synthetic for meats. Never cut on glass or marble cutting boards these will destroy your knife.