The 10 Chef’s Knives That Turn Kitchen Prep Into Kitchen Pleasure

For nine out of 10 home cooks, having a literal arsenal of kitchen knives seems like a lot of wasted effort. Much better, in the words of best-selling chef & author Alton Brown, to avoid the notorious “unitasker” — those cooking utensils that are utterly useless beyond one specific niche.

A well-made chef’s knife is the opposite of just such a thing: adept at slicing, chopping, mincing, and carving all of the ingredients you’ll prepare in a typical household. 

Unsurprisingly, there are literally hundreds of chef’s knives available online — so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to curate a handful of only the very best. Read about (and shop) the lot below.

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• Best Overall Chef’s Knife: Wüsthof Classic Chef’s Knife, 20cm
• Best Affordable Chef’s Knife: Victorinox Swiss Classic Carving Knife, 20cm
• Best Everyday Chef’s Knife: Global G-2 Classic Cook’s Knife, 20cm
• Best Chef’s Knife For Vegetables: CCK Carbon Chinese Cleaver

Master Shin XL Chef Knife

Somewhere between your typical cleaver and a gyuto (i.e. all-purpose Japanese chef’s knife) this large, medium-weighted blade makes short work of most tasks in the average kitchen. As with most Shin knives, the core metal favoured here is railroad-grade steel.

Ideal for dicing, chopping, and precision cutting of a wide array of meats, it has been made, start-to-finish, by one pair of hands: those of Master Shin In-Young, who the Korean government named an “Intangible Cultural Treasure” for his work in blacksmithing, back in 2016.

Kyocera Ceramic Chef’s Knife

Notable for being the only inclusion on our list to be constructed using a fully ceramic blade, this chef’s knife from Japanese outfit Kyocera is capable of doing so much more than simply slicing salad ingredients. 

Loosely modelled after the santoku — AKA Japan’s favourite household kitchen knife — Kyocera’s design incorporates a double-bevelled edge and rounded bolster. In tandem with the lightness of the ceramic, which Kyocera promises will hold an edge ten times longer than steel, we recommend this inclusion to infrequent home cooks who place a premium on comfort and low maintenance.

Sakai Takayuki Kurokage Bunka

Manufactured in a part of Japan that has been synonymous with the craft of samurai swords for 600 years, this Sakai Takayuki chef’s knife is the gold — or is that carbon? — standard of domestic cooking utensils. 

Like our recommendation from Master Shin, this particular blade possesses a hybrid design. As part of the bunka family of kitchen knives, its blade is wide enough to dice and transfer vegetables whilst retaining the requisite fineness to thinly slice supermarket-grade proteins. 

The beautiful decorative elements on the handle need little explanation, but we also like how Sakai’s knifemakers have chosen to work with VG10 steel. Containing carbon and chromium, it offers a range of useful properties for the seasoned home cook: including corrosion resistance, enhanced hardness, and superior edge retention. 

Wüsthof Classic Chef’s Knife

Wusthof is one of the preeminent makers of German cooking steel. If you’re partial to metaphors, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call it the Rimowa of kitchen knives. 

The Solingen brand’s best-selling Cook’s Knife has a wide range of amateur and professional applications. Admittedly, it doesn’t possess a particularly stylish design: something you’re unlikely to be too concerned with, after a year of intensive use and zero noticeable drop-off in quality. 

Tempered to the optimum hardness of 58° Rockwell, this Wusthof chef’s knife holds a sharp edge even after months of peeling, slicing, and chopping. The held end also incorporates Wusthof’s signature “double bolster” engineering, meaning that — relatively speaking — it’s a much more balanced (and therefore ergonomic) option when tackling a large volume of ingredients. 

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George Gao Premium Custom Chef Knife

A premium option for those willing to invest in Australian-made craft, this chef’s knife is the work of Zhenming ‘George’ Gao, who has been crafting high-quality blades in Adelaide for the last 15 years. 

A full-fledged member of the Australian Knifemakers Guild, Gao has made a small handful of custom gear for local retailer, Chef & a Knife. This 14cm design is our favourite example: made with a forged structure (i.e. out of a single bar of steel) and full tang. Even the ebony bolster — the bit that joins the blade and the handle — is manually shaped. 

Not unlike our Sakai recommendation, this knife is produced using a proprietary recipe of carbon steel. Originally developed by the Swedish engineering firm Sandvik, 12C27 features a high percentage of chromium: resulting in a blade that is sharp, strong, corrosion-resistant, and as such, well-suited to most day-to-day cookery. 

MAC Professional Hollow Edge Chef’s Knife MTH-80

Throughout our extensive research, the best-selling MAC Professional Hollow Edge Chef’s Knife (20cm) is a high-carbon stainless steel blade that’s consistently in the conversation. On par with the beloved Wusthof Classic.

Universally lauded by industry experts and home cooks alike for its lightweight construction, “surprising” sharpness, durability, and of course, versatility, the prevailing consensus is that this can function as both a professional chef’s workhorse knife or a principal addition to an aspiring cook’s arsenal. And it obviously gets major style points for the gorgeous finish.

Shaped, assembled, polished, and sharpened by professional Japanese craftsmen in Japan (all 64 steps to guarantee each one is a “flawless precision tool”).

Global G-2 Classic Cook’s Knife

Notably hailed as the one knife every man should own by Anthony Bourdain himself, the award-winning Global G-2 Cook’s Knife is revered for a reason.

Specially developed by GLOBAL, it holds a razor-sharp edge and is resistant to rust, stains, as well as corrosion. Each knife is also carefully weighted by filling the handles with sand to achieve both the optimum weight and perfect balance.

The acute 15-degree angle cutting edge provides “unsurpassed performance” and “superior edge retention”; while the smooth contours and seamless construction, which efficiently eliminates food and dirt traps, make it a safety & hygiene darling.

Misono 440 Gyuto Chef’s Knife

Part of the popular family of gyuto (“cow sword”) Japanese kitchen knives, the Misono 440 is a favourite amongst savvy home cooks who aren’t afraid to pay for quality. Regardless of the specific size you’re working with — we’ve chosen to include the 24cm blade — each 440 gyuto is constructed using a hardwood handle and molybdenum steel.

Manufactured in yet another of Japan’s historic centres for metal forging, it satisfies all of the particulars you’d expect from an excellent all-rounder. Light in hand and constructed with an extra-sharp bevel, this 24cm knife is ideally suited to carvery and slicing raw fish.

Victorinox Cook’s Carving Knife

It’s our view that almost every kitchen in Australia would be better off if it had one of Victorinox’s Swiss Classic carving knives in it.

A robust, reliable, and versatile kitchen knife that doesn’t cost a fortune, this carving knife is ideal for meat and vegetables alike. An ergonomic non-slip handle and dishwasher-proof blade complete the package. Overall, not a fancy blade: but one that excels at everything it’s supposed to.

CCK Carbon Chinese Cleaver

In case it wasn’t already plainly obvious, this carbon steel cleaver (from Hong Kong-based Chan Chi Kee) is ideally suited to the preparation of various modes of regional Chinese cuisine. 

The wide rectangular blade shape is a common sight in North Asian kitchens: providing a multi-purpose tool that is adept at slicing, grounding, breaking down large vegetables, and as a makeshift bench scraper. In the tradition of the Western-style cleaver, it can also be used to perform some basic butchery. 

One interesting point to note is that despite this carbon cleaver’s sizable footprint, its blade scores 137 on the Brubacher sharpness scale — giving it the same finely ground edge as a utility razor.

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