Knives

Choosing the best kitchen knives 

Knives are one of the most important tools for your kitchen, as nearly any meal that is prepared starts usually with a knife. At Kitchenware.com.au we believe that a quality knife is integral to not only preparing the best meals but also to achieve the most enjoyment when cooking in your kitchen. There's nothing more tedious than working with poor quality knives and thankfully we only stock the world's best knife brands from Japan to Germany, with suitable options for the home cook or the professional chef.

When choosing a number of kitchen knives, we also recommend that you consider purchasing a knife block set as you may find a lot of value for money instead of buying each knife individually, with the bonus of a block to store and display your knives within easy reach in your kitchen. 

What are the best knife brands?

When it comes to choosing knives, it really comes down to personal taste on whether you prefer the delicate precision of a Japanese knife that commonly has a 10-11° angled edge or for a European knife which tend to have a 20° edge making them a bit more resilient and less likely to chip. Weight is an important factor, it's important that the knife feels balanced in your hand and has a full tang construction where the knife is essentially one piece of steel from the knife's tip to the end of the handle.

When it comes to choosing knives the best knife brands we recommend can be separated by Japanese and European:

Best Japanese Knives:

• Global Knives - one of Australia's most popular Japanese knife brands that offer fantastic performance and value for money.
• MAC Knives - these are highly popular among professional chefs and are a hybrid of Japanese craftsmanship with European design and shape.
• Shun Knives - professional chef knives, handcrafted in an area of Japan that has a history as the epicentre of traditional Japanese swordsmiths.
• Kasumi Knives - professional chef knives made with soft iron (Jigane) and high-carbon steel.
• Miyabi Knives - handcrafted professional chefs knives loved by sashimi chefs and enthusiasts.

Best European and Western Knives:

• Wusthof Knives - Made in Germany, these are one of the world's most used and popular knife brands with a reputation for being hardwearing.
• Victorinox Knives - the iconic Swiss knife brand, famous for their Swiss Army Knives and fantastic kitchen knives that offer one of the best value and performance for the money.
• Dexter Russell - loved by butchers and fisheries, Dexter Russell knives are one of the most popular knives in commercial environments and are made in the USA.

What are the most popular kitchen knives? 

 When it comes to choosing knives for your kitchen, we suggest the following as they are multi-purpose and will be used the most:

• Chefs Knives - the most used knife when it comes to food preparation, particularly chopping of ingredients, a quality chef knife can be used for a majority of tasks both big and small.
• Utility Knives - utility knives offer the convenience of being a bit smaller than chefs knives, great for delicate slicing
• Paring Knives - small and sharp, quality paring knives are great for slicing herbs, peeling and for delicately slicing small fruits and vegetables
• Bread Knives - from preparing sandwiches, slicing baguettes or your favourite sourdough loaf, a good serrated bread knife is a must-have in any kitchen.