First Time Knife Buyer

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanism 

Slight change..I was looking at Cutlery and More and they have a much larger selection.  I noticed the MAC Superior set had a lot in it for a really good price. How does that stand against Wusthof?

I'd go for the MAC personally. Then again, I LIKE MACs!
 

I like Mundial. My 10 inch chef's knife cost my 20 something US$ at a restaurant supply. In general, I would go for a decent, yet still cheap, stamped blade. Once you figure out the length and style you like, and get a hang of sharpening and steeling, then consider upgrading to a forged blade.

You don't need a full set either. I'd stick with:

Essential:

Chef's Knife/Cleaver/Santuku (depending on which style you like)

Paring Knife

Steel

Nice Optional:

Offset serrated (for bread, tomatoes, pastries, etc)

Flexible Boning (If you need to deal with whole fish or chicken)

Round tipped scalloped edge slicer (roast meats, etc)

You don't need a knife block. Get edge guards/sheathes instead.

Knife blocks are doubly useless for you because they aren't portable. Get a knife roll/bag.

Generally speaking, Forschner/Victorinox rules the bang for the buck point. You can get a good 8 or 10" chefs knife for $40-$50 bucks. It performs on a par with the Wusthof/Henkels quality lines. If you get into cooking and want something with improved edge holding, then you get into knives in the 100+ dollar category and specialty japanese, will outperform the comparably priced Wusthof Hekenkls and even the Shuns.

You go up from there but the improvements are incremental rather than exceptional. As a general rule, experienced cooks advise against sets. You need a chefs, a serrated bread knife and a paring knife. Some would add a 6-8" petty in the mix too.

A 10 inch Chefs is more efficient. It can be awkward at first but I strongly suspect you'll come to prefer the larger size if you give it a chance.

I just checked. I'm packing a Mundial 8 incher. I feel so inadequate now... I got it because it's easier to carry in my backpack. My old 10 would get dislodged from the sheath and poke holes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanism 

haha. Jeez, there are too many choices, makes it hard to choose..almost as bad as car shopping haha

 

This is somewhat of a gift to me and my girlfriend.  I know she wants the block, and we need sheers as well..that's why I'm looking at sets.

Two or three good knives are better than six or seven mediocre knives. Blocks take up valuable counter space. You are also going to need to have some way to sharpen them, and I don't mean the steel or ceramic rods that come with most sets. These rods are useful for straightening the edge of an already sharp knife that has folded to one side through use. They cannot sharpen a dull knife.

I know you feel an urgency to "get something", but I suggest that you step back and do some research. There are plenty of websites to get information from. One of the best is Chad Ward's "Edge in the Kitchen" blog - http://www.chadwrites.com/ He has written a very good book of the same name, available at Amazon, and I highly recommend it.Get the book, read it, and you should now have enough information to make good decisions about the knives you need. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061188484/

Best of luck,

Rick

I'm getting a little redundant on these knife threads, but I know If I like it, someone else will. I went to my local Asian market and got a $4 Kiwi brand knife. So light, so if that's something you might be into. Good luck on this quest.