Knife recommendations for non-aficionados

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There's a reason the word "set" was in quotation marks in the original post. And the original post also specified "chef's knife, bread knife, paring knife, and petty" which qualifies as "the most useful 2-3-4 knives" to the average user.
 
SeattleBen said:
Nothing carbon for the casual user, that just seems to be a recipe for disaster. I've come around to not trying to make people super happy with a "fancy" damascus knife and just really tend to offer the Mac and Misono as durable knives that can take some abuse. If the price point is too much for those then it's right to Victorinox.

Also at least at one point the Mac knives were the house knives at Keller's restaurants, which lends a certain cachet to them for someone who thinks they aren't pretty enough.
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Back when I was at Bouchon the Mac guy would stop by every few months. Picked some up for friends and fam for a nice price before I left. Shoulda got more.
 
rickbern said:
I always tell people to buy Mac Professionals if they don't know much about maintenance.

Everyone seems to like that 8" granton edge chef's knife of theirs. I also think their Nakiri is a great little knife for a "normal" knife user.

https://www.cutleryandmore.com/mac/...MIhNjHkqLL7AIVLwiICR0SSQPBEAQYASABEgI82PD_BwE
I think they're better than Shuns, but I'm not a real expert at that part of the market.
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My husband uses the Mac santoku with the granton edge and LOVES it. He does sharpen it though.
 
spaceconvoy said:
How are they planning to sharpen them? Because that changes everything
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This.

I once brought a 1000 stone with me when I visited a cousin and sharpened all her knives which had not been sharpened since purchase (at least 5+ years). She was completely confused, admitted that the knives seemed sharp again, but didn't really care and had no interest in what a whetstone might be. And this is someone who cooks quite well and regularly. Imagine many here have similar stories!
 
Most of my friends if I recommended a knife at $350 would think I was crazy. I recommend the Henckels 4star and Wusthof Classic knives and they have a hard time believing you need to spend that much for a kitchen knife. I have one friend which has some Henckels 4star knives and a couple of Japanese knives. He bought a Shun and a MAC knife. He still uses his Henckels when I am over there for dinner.

PS
I would not know how to recommend an expensive knife. It is out of my league.
 
coxhaus said:
Most of my friends if I recommended a knife at $350 would think I was crazy. I recommend the Henckels 4star and Wusthof Classic knives and they have a hard time believing you need to spend that much for a kitchen knife. I have one friend which has some Henckels 4star knives and a couple of Japanese knives. He bought a Shun and a MAC knife. He still uses his Henckels when I am over there for dinner.

PS
I would not know how to recommend an expensive knife. It is out of my league.
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I can appreciate that, but don’t you have like 30 knives that you struggle to keep maintained without the use of a chunky Kenny Onions Worksharp machine and assorted accessories? Fairly sure many would find that a bit crackers too, both in knife nerd circles and beyond,

But yep, many of have knives that seem ridiculously expensive to others. Ah well
 
I don't have a problem with expensive knives but the thread is for non-aficionados. You have lost sight if you think $350 is an OK price for a knife to someone that does not know anything about knives.
 
coxhaus said:
I don't have a problem with expensive knives but the thread is for non-aficionados. You have lost sight if you think $350 is an OK price for a knife to someone that does not know anything about knives.
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I agree. it is useless to recommend expensive knives to people that don't care about knives and are not interested in learning to sharpen or find someone to sharpen for them. It truly is a waste of money and a recipe for disappointment. The knife will be great for a little bit then it will get damaged or dulled and will be put away. The person will go back to using their old knives. I've seen it many, many times now and it makes total sense. This is why knives like gesshin stainless, or kaeru stainless, gombey aus-10 series and the like is as high as I will go. Even these might be too much for some people, so globals or something similar is best.
 
This thread isn't asking for a $350 knife to recommend to people who know nothing about knives. It's asking what 4 knives people would recommend to someone who wants a "set" of four stainless knives (chef's, bread, paring, and petty/utility) and has a max budget of $350. That's a perfectly reasonable request. A Henckles 4-Star bread knife is $110. The 10" Chef's knife is $160. You're up to $270 with those two knives alone. The same is true of Wusthofs or whatever.
 
A Wusthof Classic set rings in at $349.95 (8" chef, 8" bread, 6" slicer, 3.5" paring, scissors, steel, block).
Might be a good fit, especially because for home users that aren't knife nuts a knife block probably matters.
https://www.cutleryandmore.com/wust...MIjuyNksKv8wIV4W1vBB1Now9CEAQYCiABEgIcz_D_BwE
Otherwise, a piecemeal Mac set, but with a Tojiro bread knife instead of a Mac, rings in at ~$360.
Mac Pro ($150)
Mac Pro utility ($80)
Tojiro bread knife ($60)
Mac Pro utility ($70)

I have no experience with this one, but this Opinel set seems like a decent way to spend $200 and has a nice aesthetic...
https://www.crateandbarrel.com/opin...MIzvaR1cWv8wIVC6h3Ch1yhQgEEAQYBCABEgLrzvD_BwE
 
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btbyrd said:
This thread isn't asking for a $350 knife to recommend to people who know nothing about knives. It's asking what 4 knives people would recommend to someone who wants a "set" of four stainless knives (chef's, bread, paring, and petty/utility) and has a max budget of $350. That's a perfectly reasonable request. A Henckles 4-Star bread knife is $110. The 10" Chef's knife is $160. You're up to $270 with those two knives alone. The same is true of Wusthofs or whatever.
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It is a perfectly reasonable request. All the more so, because the set-buyers might just buy something on their own, and spend way too much for what they get, the common fate of set-buyers.
 
Barmoley said:
I agree. it is useless to recommend expensive knives to people that don't care about knives and are not interested in learning to sharpen or find someone to sharpen for them. It truly is a waste of money and a recipe for disappointment. The knife will be great for a little bit then it will get damaged or dulled and will be put away. The person will go back to using their old knives. I've seen it many, many times now and it makes total sense. This is why knives like gesshin stainless, or kaeru stainless, gombey aus-10 series and the like is as high as I will go. Even these might be too much for some people, so globals or something similar is best.
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+1
 
Personally when it comes to bread knives I always recommend the 26 cm Victorinox pastry knife. That thing slays even the crustiest breads with ease, and is still within a price range that is deemed acceptable by both normal people. For paring knives over here I'm leaning to Robert Herder; they're also dirt cheap and cut way better than the Wüsthof stuff.

I agree that when it comes to chef's knives and petties it becomes a bit more problematic and personal. Would recommend very different knives and very different price levels to different people. Had a friend who's good with this tools and knows how to sharpen and after I lined out the options within his budget and requirements he ended up with a Kaeru that's he's very happy with... but if my brother asked me for recommendations I'd never go beyond a Victorinox and an electric sharpener because I know he abuses his stuff.

Personally I'd always steer towards prioritizing cutting performance over bling. When you're on the lower end of the budget scale that usually means there's a limited amount of time that goes into a product and materials. Would rather that what time and resources are spent are devoted on cutting performance than on fancy damascus cladding and polish.

The gateway knives thread I started a while ago has a bunch of good different recommendations.
 
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