Whether you want to whip a fast meal or cook for a big dinner party, quality knives do save a lot of time. But, picking some of the best knives in the world can not only be daunting but also time-consuming.
To pick the right knife, you need to look into various factors like:
- Sharpness
- Comfort
- The way it cuts
- How good is it to hold?
- How perfectly it slices?
- Can it cut the toughest ingredient smoothly?
So, there are lots to look for. To help you out, we have shortlisted the world’s brilliant knives. But before that, know a few basic things about knives.
Also Read: How To Sharpen Your Knife?
Types Of Knives We Use The Most
The one you will frequently need and use is the vegetable knife (or paring knife). It is designed exclusively to do precision jobs from peeling vegetables to slicing everything like mushrooms and eye-watering onions.
Similarly, a cook’s or chef’s knife is equally necessary. It is designed to tackle even the hardest vegetable like meat and squash. It can chop herbs and vegetables finely.
You will need a utility knife too. When compared to a vegetable knife, this has a long blade and can handle with daily cutting chores like different veggie and fruit sizes.
Finally, a santoku knife is truly worth investing but only if you are ready to spend so much for it. It is a well-known Japanese blade, which is exclusively designed for perfect slicing, dicing, and chopping anything into extremely thin slices. It is particularly great with sticky foods and is very effective to use.
Apart from the above, the other types of knives that you usually require are:
- Filleting knife
- Bread knife
- Boning knife
However, it also depends on what and how many tasks you do in the kitchen.
Considering the common kitchen activities, we have concentrated in listing only the major types of knives you really need. So, let’s get started.
10 Best Knives In The World
Kitchen knives can be anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds and thousands. But, keeping the budget of most people in mind, we have listed the ones that are reasonably priced and at the same time, offer the best quality.
1. Zelite Infinity’s 8-Inch Chef Knife
Price: $$$$+
Ever seen a knife with a five-star rating? This is the one. With superior quality and excellent craftsmanship, Zelite is one of the finest and best knives in the world. This knife is not only stunning to look at but also impresses you whenever you cut something with it.
Zelite Infinity Chef Knife is designed to fulfill the requirements of a home or a restaurant chef. It is constructed with 67 stainless steel high-carbon layers, making it 100% durable, solid, and rust-resistant. With its incredible 12-degree blade angle, anything can be smoothly cut. Whether it is chopping the hardest vegetables or stiff meat, it can effortlessly handle it.
The knife’s solid bolster is crafted to let you pinch it securely while you fluently tackle the chore of mincing gentle herbs. The blade is stylishly curved, letting you use it back & forth with ease even while performing intricate slicing.
The Zelite Infinity knife is all about perfect chopping with excellent balance and control. The blade is a complete tang, meaning that the blade’s metal continues up to the handle, and reaches to the knife’s bottom part. This is exactly what that creates an ideal balance and something that every knife perfectionist looks for.
2. Wusthof Classic Knife (8-Inch)
Price: $$$$
If you are someone, who prefers knives in their classic style and feel comfortable to use, then this is it. Wusthof’s Classic is one of the best versatile knives and is capable to do a lot more than just dicing and slicing. This German-made knife is not only durable but also does whatever you give to it. The handle’s efficiency is impeccable. Therefore, no matter how expert you are, this professional knife will guarantee you to serve at its best.
This knife comes in 7 different sizes, with a blade length of 6 inches, 4.5 inches, 8 inches, 7 inches, 10 inches, 12 inches, and 9 inches. This is because not all hand sizes are the same. People have hands of different size. While some have tiny, dainty hands, others can have long or stubby fingers. Different finger lengths, finger circumferences, and palm sizes affect the way a person controls a knife.
Also, depending on the task you are carrying out, you might find it simpler to control a knife’s particular size than another size. Say, for instance, some find it easy to cut small onions using a small knife and capsicum with a bigger knife. That’s why Wusthof lets you pick from several sizes.
Talking about the quality, it is brilliant. Its complete-tang blade offers strength and stability to the knife. The balance is easier and correct to control. The design is made in a way that it can be held properly with ease and stays strong even after years of use.
3. Shun Classic Knife
Price: $$$
Japanese knife manufacturer Shun is indeed one of the finest knife makers in this industry. The sheer sophistication that radiates from this classic knife is amazing. The fine metallic glow united with a beautiful signature at the annular ridges make it appealing at a mere glance.
But this knife can do more than just looking spectacular. The razor sharp blade can do slicing with ease. Available in inches: 6, 8, and 10, the Shun’s Classic knife is great for users who favor a broader curve.
Its slight curve is curved enough at the tip to chop with ease in side-to-side motion. It is made of 32 layers stainless steel (high-carbon) and this is something that helps this knife stay sharp even after rough use. Its wide bolster lets you hold and work on finest tasks like julienning and mincing without any trouble. The blade is stainless steel and this feature has made it dishwasher safe.
4. Victorinox Fibrox Professional Knife
Price: $$$
Victorinox is a Swiss knife company and this particular knife from them is exceptional for beginners. Well, the quality is not up to the mark with other pricey knives listed here, but it is capable to do even the difficult cuts with ease.
It offers sufficient quality to for a reasonable price. It is created with precision and sharpness in mind. When it comes to sharpness, the 15-degree blade is sure not to disappoint. The knife’s effortless cut is because of its high-carbon stainless steel. The sweeping curve is designed to be used efficiently for different cutting tasks.
Unlike other plastic handles used in knives, this one is more comfortable and textured for an enhanced grip. If you want to get a quality knife for a budget, this is a great choice. Value is all about balancing quality and affordability together. The Victorinox Fibrox knife gives the accurate function to help a learner keep up the pace of chopping and slicing. However, to polish your skills, you might have the need to upgrade the knife after some months.
5. Global G2 8-Inch Knife
Price: $$$
Next on the list of best kitchen knives in the world is none other than the Global G2 series. This is one of the popular chef knives. Whether it is for professionals or amateurs, knives consist of 2 parts: blade & handle.
This structure is pretty solid, but in spite of the blade’s versatility and sharpness, a knife can be of no use if the parts come off. It doesn’t matter what type of material is used in making a handle, the reality is that eventually, the “joints” of a knife will have problems. This also depends on how much and what the knife is being used for.
However, the case with the Global G2 knife is different. Though the construction might not be very popular, it comes with a handle that is made of stainless steel. Unlike other knives, both the blade and handle of Global G2 knife are of stainless steel, making it completely different in characteristics.
This “single part construction” is truly a great innovation. The handle is not only comfortable to use and hold but also has better durability. The quality standards leave no space for mistakes. Besides all these, the handle is aptly dimpled, making the grip comfortable as well as safe. So, there is no chance of “slip” even if you employ it with drenched hands.
6. Dalstrong Gladiator Knife Series
Price: $$$
Dalstrong knives are well admired for high performance and quality chopping. The manufacturers have devoted themselves to surpass all the customer expectations with their handcrafted and innovative product line. Their knives are created with the purest and highest quality zirconium oxide powder. The knives from Dalstrong brand are made from the finest materials, and with a mission to bring efficiency and joy into kitchens worldwide.
Talking about the Gladiator 8-Inch Knife in specific, this offers a nice tsuchime finish. It has a stunning elegance with supreme function. To define this, in short, the knife is ultra essential and ultra sharp. With incredible versatility and top-notch performance, the blade offers perfect slicing, chopping, mincing, and dicing.
Made with high-carbon stainless steel, this is certainly one of the most durable knives. It is fully forged (this is the best and strongest method to construct a knife). Well, the forging metal is something that makes it tough.
Like Global G2, even this knife is made of one-piece construction; meaning that both the handle and blade are made of metal. So, it is almost impossible for the knife to break even when performing rigorous kitchen tasks. While other knife blades have a risk of coming off from the handles and injuring the user, the case with Gladiator Knife is different. The joints cannot come apart and stay together.
7. Suisin 8.2″ High-Carbon Steel Gyutou
Price: $$$$
What Bugatti Veyron is to car enthusiasts, Suisin High-Carbon Steel Gyutou is to knife fanatics. It almost feels like a hand extension when you hold it and makes chopping smooth. Whether it is slicing half-frozen veggies or thick, hard round steak, this knife does the job without much effort.
The blade is made of carbon steel and is ideal for precision cutting. In fact, it makes the chopping experience so natural that you would actually want every slice to be 100% perfect. If you have the finest knife skills, then this is the best pick. After a few hours of using this knife, you will feel as if you want to practice your basics more perfectly.
The only problem you will have while using this knife is the “maintenance”. You will have to care and wipe it with a nice oil rag (they will provide when you buy it) after washing it properly with liquid soap & water. Well, for some reasons, it is good because carbon steel blades are usually more precise and sharper knives. Hence, they require appropriate upkeep than other steel blades.
The other knives on this list won’t have any problem even if they deal with strongest acidic foods such as tomatoes and lemons (because they are stainless). However, the case with this knife is a little different. It can corrode and even discolor if not taken care of. Though the knife is awesome, if you fail to care properly, those gleaming edges will tarnish soon.
8. J.A. Henckels International 8″ Classic Knife
Price: $$$
The J.A. Henckels International 8-inch classic Knife offers the finest cutting performance. It is a typical German design with a moderately flat edge riveted handle. The thick bolster is great for cutting very thin tomato slices, mincing parsley, and butchering chickens.
The blade stretches via the handle to provide excellent control. The knife is dishwasher safe and remains sharp for a long time. So, you will not have the need to sharpen it as frequently as you do with other knives.
This knife version comes in two sizes: 8-inch and 10-inch. The knife has been forged wonderfully from high quality carbon steel. Most users prefer high-carbon steel over stainless steel or the hybrid steel materials many because it is stronger, sharper, harder, longer, and effortless to sharpen. Also, forged knives are much better because they offer extra durability and strength to their blades.
You will also see that forged knives are becoming harder to find these days, which has only increased their value. Happily, this knife is rather inexpensive. At a mere glance, you might find this knife less appealing but as you use, you will know it’s worth. The quality of cutting is not only outstanding but also lessens the pain of sharpening it often.
9. Miyabi Artisan SG2 Knife
Price: $$$$$
The Miyabi’s SG2 version is one of the best knives in the world. It is an effort to hybridize the Japanese blade design with the western-style utility. Though there are multiple knives from the Miyabi brand, this is a masterpiece.
This knife is honed and hammered to resemble a rich katana sword. Usually, the knives from Miyabi are aimed for cooks who desire the finest edge, with an amazing precision feel.
With brass spacers, rich Damascus-style markings, and attractive rosewood handle, this Miyabi knife looks stunning. While the knife has a delicate and light feel, the overall frilly look makes it dainty. The edges are ridiculously sharp. The blade is sharp enough to split apart even the hardest chicken without any problem.
The best part about this knife is that its textured surface keeps the foods from sticking. But the only problem is the handle. Yes, it is comfortable to hold but it gets a little slippery when oily or wet. So, this fancily textured steel blade isn’t for everyone.
10. Equinox Professional 8″ Chef’s Knife
Price: $$$
Last but not the least, on the list of best knives in the world, is the Equinox Professional Knife. In spite of being stainless steel, it isn’t as durable and sharp as high-carbon steel. Therefore, this knife turns out to be an appealing option for users who are looking for a dishwasher-friendly option.
The handle of the Equinox’s Professional knife is D-shaped and offers the supreme grip than flat or round blades. The grip of this knife is not only secure but also highly comfortable to use. The blade also features no-finger grooves. Now, this can be positive or negative based on how often you use the knife.
Talking about the usage in specific, if you are someone who uses it a single fashion, then you might not be satisfied with it. But, if you use it in several techniques, you might enjoy the knife’s flexibility and the kind of grip the handle offers.
Unhappily, this knife features a major drawback – the blade is almost flat. This makes it very hard to perform a few techniques that you want to do with a chef’s knife. Before trying to choose this as your knife, make sure that you are ready to work with a straight blade.