I've a hankering for a new set of kitchen knives. The set i currently have is called Chef Mate, bought it from Target when I was in College. Not bad, gets fairly sharp, holds an edge well enough for what I use it for. The Chefs knife had a heavy black handle riveted onto a full tang, one of the handle slabs broke while I was mashing garlic with the side of the blade. Now I have an excuse to get new ones!

I've a hankering for the Cold Steel Kitchen Classics, reasonable price, a bit over $100 from Midsouth Shooters Supply for a set in a wooden block. Steel is 420 sub zero quench.

Any others I should be aware of? Opinions on the Cold Steel?

I have a set of good Henkels for almost 20 years. They take and edge well and hold it! My mother in law ran one of my paring knifes (with wooden handle) through the dishwasher...bad idea. Take care of the Henkels and you will be very happy.

I also use Henkels 4 star and they are great kitchen knives
I know that they cost more then the cold steel but you will use the every day and not only when yoou go hunting like you would with a hunting knife so paying the extra should be a good investment.

Cheers,

Andr�

Another 5 star rating for 4 star Henkels. I love mine.

-Steve

Wow, not to jump on the bandwagon here but we also have a bunch on Henkels that we like, they are a nice knife. Also, since they last a long time and you use them every day it is nice to have quality things. That said, why don't you buy the cold steel knives and let us know how they work!

I have always been curious how ceramic kitchen knives would work, I think they would be great for vegetables but until my kids get older I am afraid they would only last a matter of days at this point in time!

I rely on kitchen knife from local knifemaker. I know it is only local business but his knives are superb, all handmade from BONPERTUIS steel, 57HRC. And are very reasonably priced, also you could tell him what exact knives (for set)you would like to have etc. You can pay for the "same quality" from F. Dick or so five times more. Handles are made from plum wood I belive.

Here is a link with pictures http://www.knife.cz/anbc/noziri/pok_josef.asp

And his son make hunting knives . . .

http://www.pok-knives.com/

Jiri

Hi,
I have enjoyed Henckels knives also, but have just read in another forum that some are now made in Spain!? I guess yet another knifemaker outsourcing to trade off their reputation to make a quick dollar.
FWIW, I am using a Global (Japanese) knife at present, and love it. Chefs I have worked with either love or hate them, based on the handle ergonomics. But they all agree the steel is fantastic. Also, they are a very hygienic knife to look after.
I would tend to agree with Jiri though: if you want something special, and want to know what you are getting: go custom.
Cheers, Tom

I'm late, sorry. I've had this set of 4 stars for 12 years or so.
Get the 4 star, or 5 star if you prefer the different style of grip. NOT THE EVERSHARP. These are cheap and not eversharp!

While I've had Henckels for years I've been trying Shun knives and find them excellent ,very well made and fancy too.Various companies sell these japanese knives ,mine are from www.agrussell.com , the ones with the white handles.They are not to be just thrown into a drawer, or washing machine or used to chop bone !!! They are significantly harder than european knives .I find them very well made and I plan to get more .

I've had a set of Henckels for about 8 years, and love them.

The only knock I have against the set I have, is that the back of the handle, right where it joins the blade, is flat. A couple of times, I've put a knife down, and it's "bounced" up and landed flat on the back of the handle with the blade pointing straight up!!! One time I even got a small cut when it happened. It's especially bad with the paring knife.

I don't know if they've changed the handle design since I got mine, but it's something to check.

Look at Cutco knifes they have a
forever guarantee!!!
performance,sharpness and replacement
Forever Guarantee
I know I have worked there for
5+ years a lot of work to
get the blade polished
Lightning93
WWW.cutco.com

Viking (the kitchen appliance brand) has come out with a set of Professional kitchen knives that seem to be as good or better than the old Henckels. In the past 3 or 4 years we've found the Henckel quality lacking, definitely not what it was 8 or 10 years ago. Messermeister knives also seem to very good.

Those Rapalla fillet knives seem to work great. The ones with a blond wood handle and come with leather sheath.

I have a set of Case XX kitchen knives and don't like them.. They're almost impossible to sharpen as the metal seems to be incredibly hard.

I prefer a kitchen knife to be very thin and easy to sharpen.

I have a set that a buddy failed to sell at a garage sale and gave me about 15 years ago that take an edge easily and stay sharp reasonably well.

I keep them RAZOR sharp and they're a real pleasure to use, especially when doing the final processing of wild game on the kitchen counter.

$bob$

AG Russell in Arkansas sells some very nice kitchen knife sets with blocks for stotage. I haven't used any of his kitchen knives, but some of the knifemakers have bought and use his sets, rather than make them. He sells quality knives, as I have bought some from him.
Don

Cutco for me and still don't need sharpining after 14 years.

I have a full set of Henkels also, but I didn't like how difficult it was to sharpen them.

I bought a cheap set of 4 Japanese kitchen knives for about $120 (US), made by Kai.

These are absolutely the sharpest and best kitchen knives I have ever used.

I say "cheap", because the Japanese knives I really wanted are about $900 each.

The steel is very mild, and sharpens easily.
I sharpen mine about once a month.
A friend of mine (from Japan) who owns a Sushi restaurant tells me that in Japan, a housewife will commonly sharpen her working knives daily (a whetstone is always kept in the kitchen).

These things are scary sharp.

Right after I got them, my mother-in-law took one to use the back of the blade (the dull part) to crush some garlic. My wife and I told her she couldn't use these knives like that. She sort of laughed off our warning.

I sewed up her finger with 4 sutures in my office about 30 minutes later.

Garrett

Had a local kid that grew up come and give us a demonstration of cutco knives. I have had some great knives in my time but these take the cake. I simply couldn't believe them. I bought a bunch of them and will buy more.

If you want some of the best at a semi-reasonable price get Forschner Victorinox NSF knives, the NSF meansthey have a blood and grease safety type handle. They also have a more attractive wooden handle which might be fine for normal home use and is probably more expensive. I have a boning knife that was given to me by a friend who is a professional butcher. It is a superb knife for deboning deer, hogs, etc. He uses nothing else. That might tell you something.

I am not recommending this site for prices, I haven't compared them, but here is some information on these superior knives. http://www.askthemeatman.com/knives.htm

PS: Here is a site that has very reasonable prices on Forschner knives as well as many other lines. I am not familiar enough with other lines pricing to say how competitive they are.

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/prodlist.asp?BrandID=6&LineID=37

Another vote for the Forschner Victrinox line if you're on a budget. The $4 paring knife is awesome--I bought a half dozen and we use them as steak knives unless we have company!

I have a few Sabatier knives I picked up in England 20 years back when the Dollar was much better against the Pound. They are easy to sharpen and have served me well.

The Mundial forged series is a good value as well. Do a google search on them and you'll find some good deals.

I've cut meat for 23 years and have used Forschner the whole time. They can be easily sharpened and hold an edge.The same knives that I use at work are in my kitchen.I like the plastic handle over the Rosewood. As far as a chef knife I just dont like the way it feels in my hand.

I'm surprised the number of people who like henkel. Russel makes a good nife, ladvar or victorinox, the cheap henkel, sani safe, sanelli are all knives I use on a daily basis. The ones I mentioned have softer steel, thinner blades and are lighter. Why would you want softer metal? It's easier and faster to sharpen, and I can get a good "toothy" edge that will slice beautifully. I can drop a tomato on the edge of my 10" chefs knife and it will fall in two pieces. I can pass it on the stone or steel a few times and be back in business. I can drop them and they won't shatter. The thin blades are easy to force through tough vegetables such as um...rutabagas or turnips. Henkels can and do break when dropped, have bolsters which makes it hard to sharpen right up to the spot where your fingers rest. The blades are too thick. The blade on the larger chefs knives don't have enough of a rounded belly and fail to rock back and forth when cutting. The steel is so damned hard that I can spend literally a couple hours on my water stone without really getting them sharp. The thick blades require a lot of material to be removed when sharpening also leading to longer sharpening times.
Also the henkels are too blade heavy, I want something that will balance where I choke up on it (just in front of the handel)that way I can move faster with much less effort.

the chef

Victorinox, Dick, Swibo and Trident are excellent. The latter is far harder and more expensive than the former however.

For $100, I'd just get a really good 10" chefs knife, a handful of victronox paring knives, and a bread knife, oh, and take your fillet knife out of the tackle box. I do a fair bit of cooking, and find that set up to cover all my needs. I probably do 90% of my cutting with the paring knives. The victronox is much thinner then the paring knives that come in the sets, nice and flexible and cut like crazy.