Can anyone recommend a good set of kitchen knives?

You are right about not needing large number of knives.

The minimum set which covers 99% of home cutting is:

3-4" paring/peeling knife;

6-12" chef's knife

8-12in serrated bread slicer.

You can add boning knife if you work with bony meat, poultry. BTW, boning knives are not the same as meat cleavers, i.e. not designed to chop through the bones, but to work around them.

Now what you should avoid, i.e. most common knife myths and marketing BS.

Forged vs. stamped - As knife marketing tells us good kitchen knives have to be forged, and have full bolster and tang. NONE of that is true. E.g. Stamped Globals are much better performers than most of the forged mainstream kitchen knives. Stamped Forschners are made from the same steels as Wusthoffs and Henckels and I'll bet 1000$ to anyone they won't be able to tell the difference neither in edge holding nor in cutting performance.

I bought Forged and stamped versions of the same chef's knife from Global, and I didn't get anything but extra weight and spent more money on forged knife.

Full tang - Another BS, Katana swords and bowie knives are not full tang, yet they can cut through armor and leather, so I really doubt you need more strength than that in the kitchen.

Bolsters make sense only on narrow boning knives to protect your hand from slippage, but on other wider knives blade choil area does the job, bolster just makes sharpening a nightmare.

Avoid both, Cutco and Furi knives. Both are real junk metal knives, except one is really outrageously priced - Cutco. Both have rusting issues, can't hold the edge worth a dime and both have very misleading marketing.

Obviously, any knife that "never needs sharpening" is a shameless scam. There's quite a few of those out there too.

Another good way to spot junk knives is the use of generic terms instead of specific steel, e.g. "stainless steel", surgical stainless, hardened superior stainless etc...

Here's kitchen knife steel FAQ for you - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/articles/kk...

Globals are pretty good, I've owned more than a dozen of those,

reviews here - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/indexbymk.... , but as far as price performance goes they're way below compared to other Japanese knives. Masamoto, Hiromoto, Togiharu, Mizuno, Watanabe, Takeda, Moritake, they're all way better knives.

Also, about Global warning that they shouldn't be sharpened with steel, but on whetstones. I am not quite sure why do they say that, perhaps because western knife users often use grooved butcher steel, mistakenly thinking it sharpens a knife.

Butcher steel in general is used for steeling and the purpose is to realign deformed edge, not sharpen. Although, after realigning the edge is sharper, which probably explains why so many believe steeling sharpens the blade.

The truth is grooved steel damages the delicate edge and the only steel one should use is smooth steel. Sadly most of the manufacturers sell grooved steel, and for your knives sake stay away from it.

Leather strops serve the same purpose and if you can't get the smooth steel rod, then strop on the leather.

Regular stropping (or steeling) before using the knife will extend sharp edge lifetime at least twice.

As for the brands. If you stick to western knives probably Forschner knives will be your best choice, in terms of price performance. They're made of the same X50CrMoV15 steel. hardened to the same 54-56HRC as Wusthofs and Henckels and many other mainstream kitchen knives, but cost half the price or even less.

There's a lot more about choosing kitchen knives here - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/articles/kk...

The Knives I Use are a set of Three Sabatier French made good Quality

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RE:

Can anyone recommend a good set of kitchen knives?

I'm looking for a decent set of kitchen knives. I'm trying to get away from the cheap, flimsy ones I currently have, although I'm not looking to spend a fortune.

They will be for general purpose as I hope to improve my cookery skills over the coming months.

Although I'd like...

Go to a good knife shop and buy your knives individually, not in a set. The knife needs to "fit" your hand and be balanced and have weight that suits you personally. Wusthof is a good brand, Ryoko is great, Global is a good one, Henckels are awesome. You need a chef's knife, a utility (or sandwich) knife, a paring knife and a serrated knife to start. If you buy a set you'll end up with a lot of kitchen-useless knives that won't serve any purpose except to be there and get dull from lack of use.

To start: you get what you pay for with knives. The more you invest now, the longer the knives will last and the happier you will be.

I would recommend buying knives that you know you will actually use. Sets often contain knives you may never use. Be sure that you can hold, comfortably, the largest knife in your hand. Look at knives that can be honed with a steel and that can be sharpened, either by you with a sharpening stone or machine, or that can be taken to an expert for sharpening. Knives that cannot be sharpened are worthless.

I've had my Henckels knives forever. I love them. You may find other brands more to your liking, but again, in the end as long as you follow the guidelines I've outlined, you can choose across brands based on materials and price.

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You don't really want a set as in most sets one or two knives are good the others not so much. Go to a cookery store/department and pick up a good butchers knife (one that feels good in your hand with enough weight for you to get through meat and bone), a good paring knife and just a general all purpose knife. These should start you off right. Don't be fooled into buying tomato knives or things like that as you will hardly ever use it. A bread knife is good to have also. Unfortunately it's hard for someone to really recommend what knives are best for you brand wise. You have to test it out yourself. (Hey see if you can use a knife at a friends house and if you like it buy one like it.)

Well I'm a chef and I'd swear by using Global Knives. They are Japanese knives which are handcrafted by Japanese swordsmith Yoshikin in his factory in Niigata, Japan. The blades utilise CROMOVA 18 stainless steel and are ice tempered and hardened to Rockwell C56° - 58° which holds a razor sharp edge longer than any other steel and resists rust, stains and corrosion. They also have perfectly weighted and balanced hollow handles which make them lighter and easier to use.

**One thing to be aware of though is that Global Knives should not be sharpened with a traditional 'steel'. For best results a whetstone should be used.**

They are a little more expensive than other knives, but if you buy this brand, your unlikely to need to buy another knife again.

Here are some links:

http://www.globalknives.uk.com/

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/

http://www.kitchenknivesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Glob...

http://www.cooks-knives.co.uk/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=knives...

Good luck :)

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