What Knives Should You Buy?

Every kitchen should have at least three knives. The chef’s knife, usually 8-10 inches long, is the knife I use every day and the workhorse in anyone’s kitchen. It is used for chopping, slicing and dicing, basically it’s the all-purpose knife. A serrated knife, 8-10 inches long to use on bread, and hard to cut items like squashes, vegetable stalks, and for slicing roasts. Lastly, a paring knife, usually 3-4 inches long, for peeling, coring, and slicing small items like cherry tomatoes! Learn more about how to buy and care for knives in this related post.

Wüsthof

Around $40-80 each
Great, strong knives that I used in culinary school and during my time working in restaurants. They last forever and are definitely worth the extra investment. I suggest the 8-inch Cook’s Knife, depending on the size of your hands, as well as the 9-inch Gourmet Bread Knife, and the 4.5-inch Paring Knife
 
 

Ceramic Santoku Knife

Pink-handled, Susan G. Komen, Around $60
The blade is made from ceramic materials with an ultra sharp blade. Besides having a soft spot for the pink handle, this knife glides through the most delicate herbs, veggies, and boneless meats. The size is perfect for small hands like mine and makes prep work a breeze! Just be careful with the blade, no banging or dropping little pinky, or using her on meat bones - her blade can chip but if you take care you will get many, many years of use from her. Buy it!

L’Econome Paring Knife

Around $7
I like to have a bunch of paring knives and these inexpensive dandies have a thin, sharp blade.