The 12 Best Chef's Knives
If you invest in one cooking tool, this should be it.
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Ask any professional chef if they were stranded on a desert island and could only bring one kitchen tool, and they'd probably pick a chef's knife. While other kitchen knives, like serrated knives and paring knives, have more individualized uses, a good chef's knife can do it all, from slicing and dicing to more complicated tasks, like carving a chicken and cutting a pineapple. We rounded up the top-tested knives that we think are universally appealing for everyone's needs—here are the ones that made the cut!
This Wüsthof 8-inch chef's knife is razor sharp and super versatile. It was one of the only knives in our test that could cleanly slice tomatoes, chop onions, cut up carrots, bone a chicken, and create thin ribbons of basil. The German classic is fully forged and has a full tang, which helps it feel perfectly balanced and ergonomic in your hand. It's dishwasher safe (a rarity for cutlery), but we recommend hand-washing to extend its lifespan.
This excellent J.A. Henckels Classic Chef's Knife has the heft, shape, and performance of a splurge-worthy chef's knife but comes at a much nicer price point. It's a quintessential, all-purpose tool that does an ace job of blitzing parsley into dust, dicing onions, or deboning a chicken.
The Victorinox Fibrox Pro Knife doesn't just look beautiful. In our testing, it made quick work of chopping parsley, slicing tomatoes, dicing onions, and even boning a chicken. The knife's gorgeous curved handle gives you a comfy, ergonomic grip.
This Mercer Culinary chef's knife felt good in our hand from the moment we picked it up. It felt sturdy and not too heavy. With its high-carbon, no-stain German steel blade, it effortlessly sliced through tomatoes and cut carrots — we barely had to use any pressure because the blade was so sharp! It sliced through onions very easily, too.
We almost feel like we're cheating by including this knife in our "Best Chef's Knives" story. This 7-inch Craftsman is a chef's knife, boning knife and carving knife in one. That means it can perform all your chef knife tasks, like chopping and slicing, as well as boning and filleting with the tip and clean slicing with its "hollow-edge design."
This knife was a top-performer in almost every test. It was extra sharp and cut through chicken best. It even cut through bone without even trying. We also especially enjoyed slicing tomatoes and cutting carrots with this knife—it was almost too easy!
Because this best-selling chef's knife has amassed rave reviews, you can add it to your cart with confidence. You can cut with confidence, too, thanks to the German-made knife's 2.33-millimeter-thick blade, which, according to reviews, is super sharp and well-balanced.
In fact, some shoppers say that this knife performs just as well as pricier, name-brand knives. And thanks to the blade's stainless-steel-carbon-chrome construction, the knife promises to last as long as the competition, too, without rusting or corroding.
This chef's knife is budget-friendly, so it's a great starter knife for home cooks. Don't let its low price point mislead you, though: This knife slices, dices, chops, and minces with ease, due in part to its high-carbon German steel blade. Meanwhile, the full-tang handle offers just the right amount of ergonomics and grip.
Dalstrong's Shogun Series Elite steel blades are made of 67 layers of high-carbon stainless steel, earning them a 62+ Rockwell rating for hardness. Once sharpened, it's cooled with nitrogen and polished using their Honbazuke, three-step method. It also has a triple-riveted, military-grade handle. In other words, take care of it, and this knife will last a lifetime.
This chef's knife enlists high-tech molybdenum/vanadium stainless steel and a long-tapered, steeply ground edge to create its razor-sharp cutting edge. This results in a blade that's thin, lightweight, and remains sharper than blades with a beveled edge. The handle is made from the same metal and features a dimpled texture for added grip.
Fun fact: The late Anthony Bourdain dubbed this his go-to knife in his book Kitchen Confidential.
When there's a product everyone's talking about on the internet, we know we have to get our hands on it. The Made In 8-inch Chef Knife did not disappoint. In addition to being very pretty to look at, it performed every cutting task well. We loved how easily it diced onions and how smoothly it sliced celery.
It comes in cute packaging that is not only safe and easy to open, but also instructs you how to hold the knife and how to use the entire blade like a pro.
Pampered Chef's unique bolster makes it very easy and comfortable to hold. It practically guides you to hold the knife exactly how you should (by pinching the bottom of the blade.) The handle sits in the center of your palm, making this knife a true extension of your hand.
This fully forged, high-carbon German steel knife cut through almost every task very easily. It also comes with a protective plastic covering, making it extra safe to store.
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