Top Chef Knives

I was Christmas shopping on Amazon.com and just saw that there is a set of knives labeled "Top Chef chef Knives"

Anyone have any experience with them? Know anything about them?

Gary

I just have a number of loved ones asking what I want for Christmas; and one thing I want is a really good chef's knife; if not those, suggestions?

I had hoped to get in on the group buy; but was too late.

did you ever get any feedback on these knives?

While the group buy is closed, you can still get a great knife from Jon.

So are they branded with the TV show? I'm sure they are decent knives. It really depends on what you are doing with them. There are a lot of knife snobs on here who would tell you otherwise, but if you are looking at knives you can get at the store (Bed Bath and Beyond, cooking stores, Williams Sonoma etc) I'd go with Henckels, wusthof, or even shun. If you are looking for a great Chefs knife, I'd definitely talk to Jon, or one of the other knife guys. Money was tight during the buy, but I plan on owning one from him in the near future.

If you want good knives, I'd stay away from the sets. You end up getting a lot of useless stuff in those anyways. Mostly what you will need is a good chefs style knife, a pairing knife, a bread knife ( quality is debatable here - see related thread), a carving/slicing knife and a boning/utility knife.

For a cheap everyday knife, I really like the Kuhn knives. They won't really do any heavy lifting, but they are good for when you just want to cut up an apple, slice a lemon etc. They are really cheap, so if they go dull, no biggie. I don't think these are a good replacement for good knives, but they are nice to have around.

Buy anything from here and you'll be happy.

http://japanesechefsknife.com/products.html

I'd look at:

Forschner/Victorinox $
Tojiro $$
Konosuke $$$

You say you want a "really good" chef's knife. While I'm sure the set there is perfectly functional I highly doubt it's "really good." It's likely made out of relatively soft chinese steel that won't take or hold anything more than a decent edge. For the price of the 9 piece set on amazon (most of which you will never use) you could get yourself a very good quality Japanese chef's knife that will be worlds better.

If you're looking for "really good," then you need to decide if you want European or Japanese. A good explanation of the difference from Dave, the guy sharpening all of the knives for the group buy, is here.

I personally have a nice Henkel's chef's knife that I do most of my work with. Sooner or later I'm going to get some Japanese knives too. I got my mom a nice japanese chef's knife a couple years ago and when I use it at her place it feels so nimble and effortless, plus it has maintained one hell of an edge for years without any real sharpening. I don't recall the brand, but I got it from Korin for around $75 I think. She knows nothing about knives but loves that one.

stobes21 said:

I personally have a nice Henkel's chef's knife that I do most of my work with. Sooner or later I'm going to get some Japanese knives too.

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Make sure you have an empty drawer where you can put away that Henckel's.

Tha Baron said:

I'd look at:

Forschner/Victorinox $
Tojiro $$
Konosuke $$$

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I concur on both Forschner and Tojiro. An 8" Forschner chef's knife and a Tojiro nakiri will serve you very, very well for the price of a pro Henckels. In fact the entire Forschner line is inexpensive and good to use.

cernel_joson said:

I concur on both Forschner and Tojiro. An 8" Forschner chef's knife and a Tojiro nakiri will serve you very, very well for the price of a pro Henckels. In fact the entire Forschner line is inexpensive and good to use.

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Yep... My offset bread, 6" chef, boning and slicing knives are all Forschner.

Blow the wad on a sweet gyuto!

Another cheap but decent restaurant classic is the ubiquitous white handled Dexter.

I too would suggest going Japanese for knives, we are slowing replacing our German knives with hand-forged blades.

You can get a fine Japanese gyuto for not a lot of money from Tojiro, Fujiwara, Togiharu and many other makers. I have a Tanaka 240mm that I really like, although these blades are so light you could go to a 270mm with no trouble.

I'm also partial to some of the French Sabatier chef knives. I have a carbon steel Sabatier "Elephant" -- an elephant logo is stamped into the blade -- which has a blade shape very much like a gyuto and seems far more nimble to me than my German blades.

DrumDawg said:

I was Christmas shopping on Amazon.com and just saw that there is a set of knives labeled "Top Chef chef Knives"

Anyone have any experience with them? Know anything about them?

Gary

I just have a number of loved ones asking what I want for Christmas; and one thing I want is a really good chef's knife; if not those, suggestions?

I had hoped to get in on the group buy; but was too late.

Click to expand...

How much do you want to spend? What style do you like? Discover those before you go out and buy knives. If you just want new knives, might be great for ya. Just don't use anything better (there is always a better knife, razor, woman out there ) Otherwise I am a huge fan of using MAC as an inexpensive, easy to care for intro in Japanese knives.

Michael

Guys thank you for your advice.

I like Japanese knives; I had intended to save up and buy a Tojiro DP; but the prices soured and I didnt; and then i had intended to buy from the group buy; but as I said; too late.

I like the gyuoto style; like I said; based on Ouch's previous recommendation; was considering the DP;

so that being said; what would you guys recommend around 100 bucks (plus or minus 25 bucks). that is lower maintenance and I cant screw up easily.

I have a great petty; and a great bread knife; and two AWFUL chef's knifes (chicago cutlery and some generic one my mom left me).

thanks

gary

For $100, you can get a standard sized, "8 sun" (240mm) Tojiro DP from www.chefknivestogo.com or a Molybdenum Misonso from www.korin.com or even one of Korin's house brand Togiharu gyutos for $20 less. Any of those would be terrific entry level knives that will serve you well, and they're cheap enough that you don't have to worry about destroying them. Lots of other choices, too. Whatever you do, you will have to learn to sharpen, but that's half the fun.

Ouch

I learned to sharpen a pocket knife in scouts; is it pretty much the same idea just with a different type of stone?

what type of sharpener do you recommend?

thanks for the input

You just need a couple of stones. If you never let your knives get too bad, all you really need is a medium stone, circa 1K grit, and something a bit finer to polish up the edge.

You won't need this many, but you may wind up with them (or more).

Tha Baron said:

I'd look at:

Forschner/Victorinox $
Tojiro $$
Konosuke $$$

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Cooks Magazine really likes Forschner/Victorinox - interestingly they like the less expensive stamped rather than forged blades. Based on their suggestions we bought the 8" chefs knife and a round tiped slicer, my wife thinks they are the best knives we have and we have used many of the big names.

Ouch has some great suggestions there. If you want to stay with brand name European knives this is the Henckels I have for $80. It is solid, came with a good edge and has maintained it well, and is very well balanced. I know I will eventually get a nice Japanese gyoto, but I'm sure the henckels will continue to get regular use, especially for heavier chopping duties that can cause problems for the thinner and harder Japanese blades.