Can I get some help with selecting kitchen knives?

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FlynnTaggart

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Hello everyone

I want to buy a kitchen knife set for my mom for her birthday. She's likes watching cooking shows and acting like one of those home chefs on chopped. Her knife set is getting old and probably not the best quality. She's stated before that she wants a big Japanese knife but she's never held one before and I'm not sure she'd like it. I want to stick with a good kitchen set.

I'm looking for a price range around 300 us dollars. I wouldn't want anything that's too specific, requires any training or getting used to. We're located in the US. She's right handed. The knives would be used for just at home kitchen cooking. I would prefer practicality over aesthetics but if you guys know of any that have both that's an added bonus. What would be your recommendations for this?

Sorry if this question is too broad and noobish (probably the most sterotypical noob question your guys get on here) but I've never looked into knives before, the threads on here confuse me, and I don't want to just go out and buy a knife set based off amazon reviews.

Thanks for all responses
 
I usually don't reply to these threads since I haven't bought a new knife in quite a long time, and usually spend well above your budget. With that said, two things:

1. Don't buy a set. Most knives will likely not be used.
2. Shun is the perfect answer for her needs. Buy an inexpensive bread knife (Fibrox) and a bunch of inexpensive parers she can throw away when they don't get well. Leaves quite a bit to play with, like a slicer for meats and such.
 
+1 on the "don't buy a set"

Just get her one 210mm gyuto and a 150mm petty. Maybe a parer and a bread knife after but thats it.
 
Until I found this forum I was going to buy a Henckles 4 Star Professional S, 7 piece set for $199. You can find them online. It might be a better choice for an older person at home.

hope this helps !!!
 
This is really funny. We don't know anything about the OP's mother, but people advise knives they never would buy for themselves, a Shun, a 180mm gyuto, a Henckels set.
 
This is really funny. We don't know anything about the OP's mother, but people advise knives they never would buy for themselves, a Shun, a 180mm gyuto, a Henckels set.

Honestly I was about to pull the trigger on that set after allot of research on them. Then I found this site. I still think its a good basic set at a reasonable price. It all depends on the person as you know. I got bit hard and have purchased numerous knives the past few months. I lean towards the Japanese knives and now I'm learning how to sharpen my older knives because of this site. I doubt his Mother will be sharpening her knives and would be more comfortable with traditional(German) knives. I could be way off here but I highly doubt it. And as we know its all personal preference when it comes to kitchen knives just like it is with cookware.
 
What about Global? I've never used these but If I were getting it for my mom I'd probably go with that because it's something my mom would recognize and it would make her feel "fancy" without being fancy if that makes sense. Not to mention, it's what Giada uses :rolleyes2:

Right now at cutlery and more you can get a $25 gift card too for over $250 purchase on global
 
This is really funny. We don't know anything about the OP's mother, but people advise knives they never would buy for themselves, a Shun, a 180mm gyuto, a Henckels set.

Whatever floats your boat for humor. She wanted a Japanese knife, doesn't want a lot of maintenance (doesn't require any training, like sharpening--Shun has lifetime sharpening), and it's well established that a 270mm chefs might be a tad large for an at-home, older woman. It's all in the OP.

And PS, I would buy a Shun if I didn't care as much as I do about knives. Hell, I did before I joined this community in 07.
 
Flyn - welcome! You definitely came to the right place :)

If you would go through that questionnaire it would really be easier as we would know what type of knives you are thinking of. $300 should actually get you 2-3 knives that are well above the stuff one normally finds in shops. We just need little more information to be really helpful.
 
My mom is in a similar class I think. The Christmas gift idea I've always kept in back of my mind was to get her a set of Masamoto Stainless from JCK (online vendor) or in-store if I happened to be in Japan.

Masamoto is an extremely reputable and prestigious Japanese maker that delivers all the performance you should ever practically need in the home kitchen without going down the over-esoteric/artisanal route. On the other hand, they're still rarer and more domestic than a Global or Shun and wear the logo on the blade in Japanese kanji. I'm not sure if the Stainless series is offered with Ho (Japanese) style handles--you could ask JCK--but Western will probably be more comfortable. For my mom at least, the stainless would definitely be the way to go because though she takes care of her stuff, everybody eventually runs into a day where you forget or can't dry the blade and it rusts--I know she'd flip out if that happened once and stop using the knife.

That said, they aren't cheap--you might need to go a bit over your current budget if you're looking to buy more than one knife. I'd get an ST Gyuto in 210mm plus a smaller petty if possible.
 
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