Buying guide
Best Chef's Knives: A Buying Guide Built on Specs
Most chef's knife guides describe how a knife feels. This one starts with the four numbers that decide how it feels, then tells you which knives are worth the money at each price.
Kitchen knife guides built on specs, not adjectives
Buying guides built on the numbers a knife is actually made of — steel type, Rockwell hardness, blade length, weight and balance — so you can tell a $60 knife that punches up from a $200 one that coasts on a name.
Start here
- Chef's KnivesThe workhorse of any kitchen. Sizing, steel, balance, and which one to buy at every budget.
- Japanese KnivesGyuto, santoku, nakiri and the steel that makes Japanese knives different.
- Knife SetsBlock sets, starter sets and gift sets — and when buying individually beats buying a set.
- Specialty KnivesBread, paring, boning, cleaver, fillet and steak knives.
- Care & MaintenanceSharpening, honing, storage and rust prevention. The part that decides how long a knife lasts.
- BrandsDeep dives into the makers: Wüsthof, Zwilling, Shun, Miyabi, Victorinox, Global.
- Gifts & OccasionsWeddings, housewarmings, first apartments — knives as gifts that get used for decades.
The main guides
Latest
Explainer
Single Bevel vs Double Bevel Knives Explained
Single-bevel knives are specialist tools that are handed, steer sideways in the cut, and take real skill to sharpen. Here is how to tell whether you have one.
Explainer
Knife Steel Explained: VG-10, X50CrMoV15 and HRC
Steel names look like part numbers because they are. Once you can read one, the marketing on a knife box stops working on you.
How-to
How to Sharpen a Knife
Sharpening is not a craft skill you need years to acquire. It is three ideas — angle, burr, and deburring — and about fifteen minutes with a stone.
How-to
How to Use a Whetstone
The stone is the easy part. Most whetstone frustration comes from the wrong grit, a dished surface, or soaking a stone that was never meant to be soaked.
Explainer
What Angle Should You Sharpen Kitchen Knives To
Between 15 and 20 degrees per side covers almost every kitchen knife. Holding whatever angle you pick matters far more than picking the perfect one.
Explainer
How Often Should You Sharpen Your Knives
Every guide gives a number. The number is wrong, because how fast an edge goes depends on the steel, the board, and what you cut — not on the calendar.
How-to
How to Store Kitchen Knives Properly
A knife spends far more time in storage than in your hand. Where it sits between meals decides how often you have to sharpen it.
How-to
How to Care for Carbon Steel Knives (Prevent Rust)
Carbon steel takes a finer edge than any stainless and rusts if you look at it wrong. The routine that prevents that takes about fifteen seconds a day.
How-to
How to Remove Rust From a Knife
Rust comes off easily if you catch it early and gently. The damage people do is almost always from the abrasive they reached for, not the rust itself.