There are literally dozens of types of kitchen knives available. Some general in use like the Chef’s knife or Santoku. Others are specialized for a very specific job such as the bread knife, Sashimi or Mezzaluna. Below you’ll find a list of my favorite must have cutlery for the kitchen.
On the right you’ll find links to all of the different varieties of kitchen cutlery types and an explanation of what each does. Each of those pages includes listings of all the different types available at this time.
Must Have Knives for the Kitchen
Paring Knife - For paring, trimming, coring, peeling, dicing fruits and vegetables. The paring knife’s short blade makes it easy for close control.
Utility Knife - For those larger paring tasks when coring, peeling, dicing and trimming.
Boning Knife - This tapered, pointed blade is a necessity for working closely around joints when deboning ham, chicken, trimming fat and sinew.
Tomato Knife - This utility style knife has a serrated blade for use on fruits and vegetables with skins like tomatoes. It’s also great on bagels.
Chefs Knife - The real workhorse of the kitchen, this knife is the most important you’ll have for general chopping, slicing, dicing and mincing.
Santoku Knife - That Asian Chefs Knife, this design is finding widespread acceptance in the west as it’s proven it’s value in reducing drag and effortless chopping, dicing and mincing of vegetables and boneless meats.
Are there other knives I would want? You bet! The list above isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of what you could have but rather as a list of what you must have at a minimum. Everyone won’t agree with me but that’s what’s wonderful about opinions, right? Have fun searching for the best knives for your needs!
