Top 8 Best Kitchen Knives for 2022

A sharp, balanced and versatile kitchen knife is a must-have for any home chef. The best knives have more than one cutting function and make quick work of the food they are designed to slice or dice. Kitchen knives come in a dizzying array of styles and construction and are definitely not a one-size-fits-all purchase decision. To make cutting food enjoyable and easy, it’s important to choose a quality kitchen knife that fits individual cooking preferences.

With the goal of helping you select the right kitchen knife for your particular needs, we invested 32+ hours into researching and comparing over 100 kitchen knives to create this list, buying guide and comparison chart.

Even the most avid home chef can be terribly uninformed about shopping for knives. Super sharp knives are intimidating, but dull knives are frustrating and can make food prep a chore. To make things even more complicated, kitchen knives come in a wide range of styles, makes and prices. There are a number of terms to sort through, from stainless steel to high carbon, from stamped and forged blades, and of course, the ageless battle between Japanese and German knives.

General Information About Kitchen Knives

Kitchen knives have a pointed tip at the very end of the knife and this function is so it can pierce and separate while cutting. The edge of the knife is the bottom part of the blade and is the sharpest portion of the knife. The heel of the knife is the area near the handle and is the thickest part. This part of the knife helps push the blade through tougher ingredients. Another term is the tang of the knife. This part stretches from the blade into the handle to give the knife more stability. Full-tang knives are often recommended for consistent and heavy use as the handle is more likely to last. Many knives are marked full-tang, but it is also easy to see if the metal part of the knife extends fully through the top part of the handle.

The handle of a knife is the part gripped by the user. It can be made from just about any material, such as wood, plastic, composite or metal. Wooden handles are commonly accepted as the type with a superior grip, especially in wet situations. However, they can be harder to keep clean. Stainless steel is easier to keep clean, but the grip can become compromised with moisture. High-end knives typically do not have plastic handles, but either wood or metal.

The bolster of a knife is sometimes also called a finger guard. This is a raised point in between the knife blade and the handle. The function of this part is to provide stability, balance the knife and offer some protection in the event of slippage. Some knives feature more prominent bolsters than others.

What Type of Knife Makes the Best Kitchen Knife?

The eight inch chef’s knife is generally considered to be one of the most versatile knives available and a quality version of this knife can go a long way towards most cutting tasks. One way to look at it is that a person could buy a number of specialized knives in a mid-price range, but a high-end, eight inch chef knife could do the same jobs and last a lot longer. Consider the following features when shopping for a kitchen knife:

• Construction method
• Steel ingredients
• Cutting angle
• Handle material and design
• Bolster or lack of bolster
• Lightweight vs hefty
• German vs Japanese vs general use of the knife

All of these features depend largely on individual preference and the usual cutting tasks a person might put the knives through on a regular basis. Remember that all quality kitchen knives should be hand-washed and stored in a sheath or knife-block to keep them sharp and durable.

Knife Material Type

Different knife blade materials affect several factors, including sharpness, edge maintenance, feeling and strength.

Carbon steel combines carbon and iron to make a very hard, but relatively brittle knife blade. The top selling point of this material is that it can hold a sharp edge for a prolonged period. Its drawbacks include easy staining, rusting and general discoloring after enough use. When using a carbon knife, it’s important to immediately clean the blade after use and remove all moisture. Another way to maintain it is to coat it with mineral oil before storing it. Even though the knife does need extra care, many users find the long-lasting sharpness worth the work.

Stainless steel lives up to its name in that it resists staining and rust. It’s also less prone to breakage as it is softer than carbon steel. However, as a softer metal, the edge will also wear down and lose sharpness a lot quicker than carbon. Stainless steel knives are often considered good starter knives as they typically cost less. Essentially it’s a trade between sharpening more often and taking meticulous care of the blade after each use. The trade-off isn’t completely cut and dry either, but rather a flexible scale of what every consumer prefers between price, maintenance and cutting performance.

Ceramic knives do not rust or stain, plus they are durable and maintain a sharp edge for a long time. Even though they don’t require regular sharpening, the edge will eventually get dull and the sharpening process is rather specialized. Ceramic is also very hard and brittle and thus the knives are prone to breaking if dropped on a hard surface. They are also bad choices for cutting through very hard foods such as bones or frozen meat. The best use for ceramic knives is for slicing or chopping vegetables and on very acidic foods such as citrus. They also have the unique ability to resist trapping flavors from food and thus can be switched between something like fruits and vegetables without affecting the flavor of either.

Examining the Steel Used in Kitchen Knives

On the surface, it would seem easy to decide on either a stainless steel or carbon steel knife. However, these two types are not as simple as they look. There are actually hundreds of different steel types used in the construction of kitchen knives. Some are amazingly high-tech and provide top performance, but there are many others that are barely worth their inevitably low price.

To give an example, a knife might be labeled as high-carbon stainless steel and usually contains an amount of chromium between 13 and 18 percent and some other trace metals. Manufacturers will often try to set their knives apart by adding in various terms that might sound impressive to shoppers. It’s important to remember that iron is the beginning of all steel and by itself is not a particularly great material for a hard, sharp knife blade. However, the amount of carbon added makes the knife harder and sharper. All steel contains some amount of carbon.

Manufacturers thus strive to tout their steel as a high-carbon, but this can simply mean steel with greater than half a percent of carbon. In truth, an actual high carbon knife should have at least .8 percent of carbon. The higher the carbon, the harder the blade and the longer it will keep its edge. On the flip side, more carbon makes the blade less able to resist stains and more brittle.

Other Added Metals

Looking at knife descriptions will often yield terms like chromium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, silicon and tungsten. But what do each of these metals do?

Chromium is commonly used to resist corrosion, i.e. rust. Any steel description touting at least 12 percent of this material is considered stainless.

Cobalt helps increase the hardness and strength of regular steel. If this ingredient is listed in a knife description, it is likely that it is a top quality product.

Manganese is found in most knives and it adds hardness, durability and structure.

Nickel isn’t commonly used in high-end knives so its presence in a description usually indictes a low-quality product.

Silicon is another material that helps add strength and hardness.

Tungsten adds toughness to steel and gives it a great ability for a hard edge. A material that adds similar features is vanadium. Either one is a good indicator that the steel is high quality.

Most high-quality knives provide detailed information about their materials and construction, while low-quality knives may say very little abut this process.

Knife Blade Construction De-Constructed

It’s not just the material of a knife blade that’s important, but also how it’s made. Very simply, the two main methods are stamping or forging. Stamped blades are cut out of a steel roll and then attached to handles. They do not have bolsters and are usually somewhat thinner than forged blades. These knives also tend to be light and not as pricey as forged blades.

Forged blades are products of craftsmanship and need more skill in their construction. This is why they are more expensive, but also more quality. In forging, a piece of steel is heated and then shaped with a hammer by hand. These knives also have bolsters that balance the blade and the handle as well as protect fingers. Such knives tend to be heavier, which can yield more performance, but also fatigue from long use. Forged knives usually also have full tangs. This makes them more durable and more comfortable in the hand.

Modern Production vs Traditional

Traditionally made forged knives are often described as the ideal knife produced with superior craftsmanship while machined knives are described as cheap, light and largely worthless. However, in the present day, there are better methods of mass-producing knives that don’t render them quite as worthless. One new method cuts knives out of high-alloy steel and then they are precisely ground. Essentially they begin their lives as stamped knives, but are hand-finished to create a product very equal to a forged knife. These knives are lighter than the traditional forged knife, which reduces the fatigue from heavy use.

German vs Japanese

Any foray into the knife world will show that German and Japanese knives are often held up as the best quality knives in the world and every chef may have their preference on which is better. It’s important to first recognize the difference between traditional style Japanese knives and the modern styles that fuse Japanese design with Western. Traditional Japanese knives look very much like swords with a long, slender appearance and one sharpened edge. Modern style knives have double beveled edges that allow them to be used either right or left-handed. Because of this, Japanese and German knives currently have more similarities than differences and in most cases, consumers will find features to appreciate in both.

However, there are some definite differences between the two knife styles, including the cutting angle, shape, material and weight.

German knives typically have a cutting angle of about 20 degrees. This usually works well with the rocking method of chopping and the knives are also heavier to aid in this method. German knives have a heftier feel and are usually made with softer steel, which gives users a very durable blade that can easily deal with harder foods.

Japanese knives are known to be lighter and the cutting angle is often between 12 and 16 degrees. The straight edge makes slicing and chopping easy. These knives typically do not have bolsters and are constructed much thinner, which contributes to the lighter feel. Japanese knives are generally more expensive than German knives.

So which knife is better? It depends on the user and individual use. German knives can handle tough cuts of meat and bones, but can quickly cause fatigue when used on more delicate tasks such as thinly slicing vegetables or delicate fish.