The Best Chef’s Knives of 2025. We Tested Nearly Two Dozen to Find Our Favorites

I tested the only methods I knew: knives of the week, a cutting board (I used both wooden and plastic boards), and prodding, chopping, slicing, and dicing in the kitchen with a variety of foods. I used each of these knives for a week while preparing all my meals, using them for larger tasks like slicing thick root vegetables, slicing cucumbers into thin slices, coarsely chopping herbs, mincing garlic, and even opening plastic packaging. It’s also important to know how to perform some essential knife skills in the kitchen to get the best use of your knives.

I’m a vegetarian, so some of my non-vegetarian friends and coworkers used these knives to shred beef and slice whole chickens, making sure the blades can withstand all types of textures. As stated before, the best knives are sharp, and each of these comes out of the package deadly sharp. I cut myself more than once in this process, so it’s more useful to know which chef’s knife you have in your kitchen. (But a lesson was learned: stay Excessive Be careful when using a new, extremely sharp chef’s knife for the first time.)

Let’s get this out of the way: The best knife is one that is sharp. After hours of scrubbing it in the kitchen, I found that what really makes the knife great is its sharp edge. A blunt knife is dangerous—you’ll need to apply more pressure when cutting, which means you’ll cut yourself more deeply when your knife slips. Also, a blunt knife is not as precise or fast in cutting.

Especially with expensive knives, you’ll want to make that investment last as long as possible. This means sharpening it regularly to keep it in tip-top slicing shape. Unfortunately, there is no one sharpener to rule them all. Different blade materials and shapes require different sharpening techniques. For example, many stainless steel blades are so hard that they cannot be effectively sharpened with traditional water stones. Former chef and current WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson recommends water stones for carbon steel and likes these sharpened stones.

Most chef’s knives can be sharpened (relatively) easily when needed, which is usually done with a whetstone at about a 15 to 20 degree angle, followed by using a rod or leather to smooth the knife’s edge. I’ve always used the popular (and easy-to-use) pull-through sharpeners, which are more precise than steel and sharpen faster than whetstones. But they are generally not recommended, especially for Serious Chefs™, as they shed significant amounts of metal in the process, weakening the durability over time.

Most home cooks will only need to sharpen their knives twice a year and use a honing steel to keep the blade in shape at other times. However, a few years old, we keep going back to this article from Epicurious on how to sharpen knives the right way to keep our knives in the best shape for as long as possible.

In a word: no. Despite what the door-to-door salesman or your MLM-loving cousin says, knife sets are generally not a good investment. All you need are some good knives. An 8-inch chef’s knife will work best for most tasks in the kitchen. I have small hands, so in addition to a chef’s knife, I also like to have a small paring knife for certain tasks and a serrated knife for bread. Knife sets often cost double or triple what it would cost to buy a good chef’s knife. Needless to say, wooden storage blocks also take up useful counter space, especially if you live in a small New York apartment like me. We suggest you save your money by skipping a set and investing in a solid chef’s knife. (Plus, another one or two if you want a little variety.)

As said earlier, it is a multipurpose tool that is used for cutting meat, slicing vegetables, chopping nuts or crushing garlic. A chef’s knife, generally, is made of several layers of forged steel and has a sharp end point and a leading edge with a sloping curve, which helps in the rapid rocking motion that allows the chef to cut food quickly.

A chef’s knife is one of the most versatile knives in the kitchen and can be used for anything from chopping to chopping. Common uses of a chef’s knife include slicing meat, slicing vegetables, chopping herbs, and chopping nuts. The flat side of the knife can also be used to crush garlic. The versatility of this multipurpose knife makes it a must-have in any kitchen. It is important to avoid any hard surfaces that will dull the blade. Additionally, learning how to hold a knife is an important first step in ensuring the best results when using it.

Chef’s knives generally fall into two camps, Japanese Santoku and German. Both have their own merits and you may need both in your kitchen, depending on what you usually cook. Japanese blades are extra thin and best for precision, while German chef’s knives are thicker and more versatile.

German Knife: A curved blade means you’ll rock back and forth to cut faster. German chef’s knives can be used for everything from chopping fresh herbs to deboning a whole chicken.

Japanese Santoku knife: With a straight edge used for precision, you’ll make straight cuts using the entire blade at once. These are generally used for precise and specific purposes. They are usually made of harder steel, which can make them more brittle.

You also need to consider what material the blade is made of – nowadays, most blades are made from carbon or stainless steel.

Stainless Steel: This material is resistant to moisture, can maintain a sharp edge for longer periods of time, and is more flexible than carbon, making it more effective at absorbing impact. However, stainless steel takes longer to re-sharpen, making it more difficult to maintain without a professional sharpening system.

Carbon Steel: This material has a high carbon content, making it a very hard steel, and surpasses stainless when it comes to general sharpness. Often, they hold the edge longer and are easier to resharpen. Carbon steel is more sensitive to elements like moisture or water, so they require more timely and thorough cleaning and maintenance.

All knives on our list are measured in the Rockwell rating, also known as HRC, of ​​steel. HRC measures how much of a mark the diamond point can make in metal with that amount of weight; Therefore, the smaller the mark, the harder the steel, and vice versa.