Best Kitchen Knives - Japanese Kitchen Knives Versus European Kitchen Knives

Today I want to talk a little bit about kitchen knives. I know, we all have them in our kitchens but I thought I would talk about some of the things one might want to consider when looking to purchase good quality kitchen knives/cutlery. So many times people are concerned with what is the best kitchen knife and I always tell them that there is no such thing. Each maker with a quality reputation makes the best kitchen knives, it is up to you to decide which are going to be the best kitchen knives for your purposes.  There are so many brands and types of kitchen knives today that it simply boggles the mind. The similarities, the dissimilarities. To some people they all just look alike. Well, we know that this is not so and we know that not all kitchen knives are created equally. So here are some of my tips to consider when looking for kitchen knives.

[caption id="attachment_839" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Shun Japanese Santoku"][/caption]

1. Are you a professional chef or cook? Do you consider yourself a gourmet home chef? If so then precision cutting performance is something you will be looking for and in this case I would recommend getting good quality Japanese Kitchen Knives. Today more and more chefs are using Japanese Kitchen Knives. Just take a look at how many television chefs are using a Santoku Knife! There are many advantages to Japanese Kitchen Knives over Western European Kitchen Knives. First of all Japanese Kitchen Knives are exceedingly lighter than their European Kitchen Knife counterparts. This means that the weight of the knife will not bring a burden to your wrist and hands over long periods of time. How many people do you know that have said that their hands get tired when using heavy knives? I know a bunch! Many modern Japanese Kitchen Knives have extremely sharp blades forged from Molybdenum Vanadium steel, AUS series steel, Inami Super, VG-10 steels just to name a few. These steels are a forged variety of stainless steel. There is also a  variety of forged and differentially heat treated carbon steel Japanese Kitchen Knives complete with a Hamon line or Hamaguri  or water temper line to prove out the differential heat treatment. This type of Japanese Kitchen Knife is very high end. Japanese Kitchen Knives are generally ground to between 15-18 degrees and this fine edge allows this type of knife to slice evenly and ultra thin if necessary and they do not have a hard "heel" or bolster at the back of the blade like the European Knives have and this means when it comes to Japanese Kitchen Knives, "it is all blade all the time!" European Kitchen Knives are generally ground between 20-25 degrees in a 50/50 "V" grind and this type of blade angle is thicker than the Japanese Kitchen Knife angle. Hence, the blade of the European Kitchen knife will hold it's edge longer but not cut as finely as the Japanese knives. The only true downfall of the Japanese Kitchen Knife over the European one's is that at 15-18 degrees, the Japanese knife will need to be "touched" up a bit more often. That's OK! Thinner blades are easier to sharpen than thicker one's and the thinner the blade, the sharper the blade. Some brands to consider are Shun, Global,  MAC, Misono, Kikuichi, Yoshihiro and Masahiro. My personal favorite that I have in my kitchen is Mac knives of Japan.

2. If quality and longevity are key to you then make sure that the knives you purchase whether they are Japanese Kitchen Knives or European Kitchen Knives are fully forged and full tang. The only time when the knives will not have a full tang running through handle slabs is when you buy traditionally made Japanese Kitchen knives like the venerable Sashimi knife or Yanagiba knife. Whatever you do in no way in my opinion should you buy  kitchen knives that someone says is quality if it only has a three quarter tang through the handle. The only time you will consider a three quarter or partial tang is in the aforementioned Japanese knives above.

[caption id="attachment_842" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Wusthof Grand Prix European Kitchen Knife"][/caption]

This type of knife as explained above is forged and differentially heat treated and assembled in the traditional way. Never buy a European Kitchen Knife if it is three quarter or partial tang. Full tang kitchen knives are stronger than the partial tang counter parts and it is a more durable knife overall. Examples of full tang kitchen knives from Europe are: Victorinox, Wusthof, Henckels, Messermeister. In Japanese Kitchen Knives like: Mac, Masamoto and Misono just to name a few.

3. Now, I know that most kitchens in the United States generally use only 3 knives total in the kitchen and I know this from 30yrs of selling kitchen cutlery in the United States. But! For the absolute best bang for your buck and for your kitchen I always recommend purchasing a kitchen knife set. Here is the kicker for you though. Today, a kitchen knife set can be only three knives if you want it to as there are tons of manufacturers making a variety of kitchen knife blocks with any number of slots in them. The fact of the matter though is that when you buy kitchen knives one at a time, it will generally cost you the consumer upwards of 50% or more then if you purchased a set right off the bat. One very important point is the make sure that the kitchen knife set you are going to buy has the knives in it that you want to use. Do not buy the wrong set with knives that you will not use and you will not have buyer's remorse.

4. This is very important to your kitchen knife set purchase or any purchase you make in life for that matter. Make sure that the manufacturer has a Lifetime Limited Warranty. The best kitchen knives will come with this kind of warranty. This means that the maker will cover the knives for any defects in craftsmanship and materials.  Lots of budget knives will have warranties and they will usually be only 90 days. Watch out! Be informed before you purchase anything. If you want to know if the kitchen knife set you want to buy is a good one then find out what consumers are saying about them. Read reviews, get educated and then make the best purchase knowing that the set you got was the right one!