We Tested the Best Chef's Knife for Every Type of Task

Conclusion

Overall, the Mac Professional Mighty Hollow Edge Knife allows you to prep food as quickly and efficiently as a professional line cook in your very own home. Our testers love how sharp the blade is and how consistently it can cut through all different types of food. If you're looking to invest in a high-quality chef's knife that can handle meat, vegetables, and fish, this is a fantastic choice.

More Chef's Knives Our Editors Love

Takamura Santoku 170mm

One of the most popular gift knives sold by Coutelier, a knife shop in New Orleans, this high-performance santoku offers tremendous value for its high-end craftsmanship. “These are incredibly well made by the Takamura brothers out of Echizen in Northwestern Japan,” said Jacqueline Blanchard, owner of Coutelier. “They’re third generation and known for their amazing quality stainless steel production.” Our testers noted that due to this santoku’s slightly shorter blade, it has the added bonus of being comfortable for cooks with any size hands–whether you’re gifting or receiving. (couteliernola.com, $170)

Masamoto VG Santoku Knife

The affordability of this knife makes it a great gateway into the world of santokus. Plus, the Western-style handle offers a balanced feel that will be familiar to cooks who are accustomed to Western chef’s knives. The clean, no-frills design and hyper-sharp edge make this knife a workhorse–use it for everything from pushing through thick cuts of meat to carefully slicing vegetables. (chefknivestogo.com, $180)

Factors to Consider

Blade Style

When shopping for a chef's knife, there are traditionally two styles to choose between. Heavy-duty, German-style models are usually made with a curved belly that allows for a rocking, chopping motion, in which the tip of the knife doesn't leave the cutting board. German knives typically have a heartier blade that lends itself to tough tasks like breaking down a whole chicken or slicing through dense squash. As a result, the knives are typically heavier and more durable.

Alternatively, Japanese knives are lightweight with a sharp, straight blade, which makes repetitive motions like rocking and chopping difficult. However, this style of blade is ideal for making precise slices and cuts on a number of different types of foods. Some Japanese knives—like a Santoku knife—also feature dimples on the blade, which aim to prevent food from sticking.

In addition to the shape of the cutting edge, it's important to consider whether or not the blade has a bolster. Bolsters sit between the blade and the handle and act as a guard that protects your fingers from touching the sharp edge. They're common in German-style models and are particularly helpful for cooks who like to choke up on the knife. Though bolsters provide protection, they add weight and can sometimes cause the knife to feel heavy or unbalanced.

Types of Steel

The type of metal your knife is made from can have major implications on blade sharpness and how easy it is to clean. The much-simplified big picture is that if you are looking for an all-purpose 8-inch chef's knife—one that's in a reasonable price range and carried by most retailers—you have a choice between heavy-duty, German-style models that are usually made with slightly softer steel alloys (like high-carbon stainless steel), or lighter Japanese-style models, that are usually made with harder steel alloys (like Damascus steel). Neither is necessarily better than the other. They are just different, especially in terms of the way they feel and move in your hand.

Harder steel holds a sharper edge for a longer period of time but can be more difficult to sharpen once it does get dull. And a very hard, very sharp edge can also be more delicate and brittle than a softer one, making cutting up a heavy squash, say, a little risky to the blade. A softer steel alloy, like those used in the German tradition, might be less sharp to begin with and get dull a little faster. However, it can be easier to re-sharpen, and therefore better for heavy-duty jobs—like splitting bone-in chicken breasts—without worry that you're going to damage the blade. In general, harder steel is sharper and more delicate, while softer steel is tougher. If you're shopping for a knife, ask where it falls on the Rockwell Hardness Scale. Low to mid-50s is on the softer end, mid-50s to low 60s is harder.

Balance

One of the most important aspects of a chef's knife is a balance between blade and handle. A knife with a heavy handle can put a strain on your wrist, making long-term use painful and inefficient. Repetitive motions like chopping and slicing can be tiresome, so having a knife that is easy to control and maneuver is essential. The handle should not feel significantly heavier than the blade, and the knife itself should feel balanced from heel to tip. If you plan to use your knife frequently for prep work like slicing vegetables, chopping herbs, or mincing garlic, balance is a key factor to consider.

The Tests

Throughout our tests, we assessed everything from how sharp the blades were to how balanced they felt from tip to heel. We also took note of the weight and grip of each handle and assessed whether they felt heavy or light and slippery or sturdy. We noted how easy each blade was to clean and if the blades stained easily. In order to do so, we performed a series of different tests.

Paper Test

To test sharpness out of the box, we conducted a paper cutting test. Holding the paper tightly with one hand, we dragged the blade of each knife through the paper along the entire length of the blade. We assessed whether or not we could achieve a clean slice, and evaluated how easily each blade could move through the paper, taking note of any snagging or tearing. This test helped us establish a baseline by determining how sharp each knife was directly out of the box, without any prior use.

Vegetable Tests

After completing the paper test, we ran each knife through a series of vegetable tests to see how they performed using different textures of food. To test basic prep functionality, we diced an onion both coarsely and finely, which helped us assess the sharpness of the blade as well as how easy they were to use. We made sure to use both the tip of the blade and the belly of the blade to determine if the edge was consistent.

Next, we evaluated each knife by cutting through a tomato, whose skins are taut and slippery. Tomatoes are notoriously hard to cut through without mashing them, and chefs often use a serrated knife to help manage the uncooperative skins. Therefore, they serve as an appropriate test of blade sharpness and handle grip. We took note of which knives were able to achieve thin, even slices and which knives caused the skins to wrinkle and tear.

Lastly, we used each knife to cube one of the densest vegetables we could find: a butternut squash. Cutting a thick, heavy vegetable allowed us to assess handle grip, balance, weight, and blade sharpness. Though lightweight knives are typically preferable, having a heavy-duty knife can make tough tasks easier and safer.

What Didn't Make the List

Shun Classic Western Chef's Knife

Overall, our testers were impressed with the quality of this knife as well as the sharpness of the blade. It easily slid through the paper test and achieved precise, thin, consistent cuts in the vegetable tests. The Western-style knife from Shun is slightly heavier than the Classic Blonde, which is one of the only reasons we didn't select it as a top choice. Otherwise, this is a fantastic knife for any home cook willing to invest in a high-end knife.

Oxford Chef Kiritsuke Chef's Knife 8-Inch

For any home cook looking to practice their professional knife skills, this Japanese-style knife is still good choice. Throughout our tests, this knife stood out for its ability to glide easily through any type of cutting surface. Our testers loved how the tip of the blade was just as sharp as the belly, which let them use it like a paring knife for tasks like mincing garlic and carving out seeds in butternut squash. We did find it is on the heavier side compared to some other knives on this list, and there are knives similarly priced that performed equally well without the extra weight.

Imarku Chef Knife

We found this lightweight knife to be comfortable to hold and attractive to look at. It easily sliced through delicate foods but struggled with heftier ingredients like butternut squash. In fact, the squash we cut had jagged edges because the knife could not cut all the way through. Though this is an affordable option, our testers recommend splurging on a higher-quality knife.

Victorinox 6-Inch Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife

Our testers found this to be an excellent choice for the price. It's sharp and strong—it easily cuts through onions and butternut squash—but our testers didn't find it to be particularly nimble when working with delicate vegetables like tomatoes. Despite its sharpness out of the box, our long-term testers noted that the blade dulls easily and needs to be sharpened more frequently than others.

Overall, this affordable knife is lightweight and durable at the same time, which are two essential characteristics in any good chef's knife.

Victorinox Grand Maitre Chef's 8-Inch Chef's Knife

This knife excelled in our tests and had no trouble slicing through paper, tomato, onions, or garlic. The maple wood handle is sturdy, slip-free, and attractive, but the knife itself is on the heavy side. We noticed that streaks and spots were left on the blade after cleaning. Overall, our testers felt that this knife was a bit too expensive and recommended opting for the considerably more affordable Victorinox Fibrox Pro instead.

Kramer Zwilling Euroline Essential Collection 8-Inch Chef's Knife

Designed by Master Bladesmith Bob Kramer, this special collection from Zwilling is designed to increase comfort. It features a rounded spine and wide blade for increased knuckle clearance. Our testers found it to be durable and heavy-duty, which is great for cutting dense vegetables. However, our team also found it to be heavy and slightly awkward for people with smaller hands. Overall, this is a sharp knife that easily passed our tests.

Misen 8-Inch Chef’s Knife

This knife is a hybrid of Western and Japanese styles, and comes in at an affordable price point. It's great for common tasks like smashing and mincing garlic, but we had trouble when tackling tougher tasks like chopping butternut squash. Our testers noted that food stuck to the blade, and the handle didn't feel sturdy enough to cut through large vegetables.

Mercer Culinary Renaissance 8-Inch Forged Chef's Knife

This knife failed our first test. When attempting to test sharpness out of the box, it was not able to slice through paper, and crumpled it instead. We found it difficult to achieve uniform cus in the tomato test, but had no trouble mincing garlic or cubing butternut squash.

Mercer Culinary Millennia Black Handle Chef's Knife

Overall, we found this knife to be uncomfortable and unbalanced. The shape of the handle made chopping difficult, and our testers noted that it put a strain on their wrists. It did not cleanly slice through paper and struggled when chopping an onion.

J.A. Henckels International Classic 8-Inch Chef's Knife

Our testers found that this knife had a particularly long handle, which made it feel awkward and uncomfortable. The blade isn't as sharp as some of the others, and it did not pass any of our tests.

Kyocera Revolution Ceramic 7-Inch Chef's Knife

This knife is super lightweight with the ability to cleanly cut through a variety of different ingredients. However, the blade has no flexibility, which we found to be a hindrance when cutting dense squash. Additionally, we noticed streaks and spots left behind on the blade after cleaning.

Made In 8-Inch Chef's Knife

Though this knife is on the heftier end, it struggled when cutting through dense squash. Our testers noted that it felt balanced from heel to tip and excelled at simple tasks like chopping onions or mincing garlic. However, we had trouble safely and effectively cutting through denser ingredients.

Our Expertise

Laura Denby is a former professional chef who has spent years cooking in professional and private kitchens throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Hamptons. A graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education with a degree in Culinary Arts, Laura now uses her experience in the kitchen to guide her expert product reviews for sites like Food & Wine and AllRecipes. Her writing can be found on FoodNetwork.com, Delish, Southern Living, Real Simple, and more. For this piece, Culinary Specialist and Food Stylist Sarah Brekke and Test Kitchen Brand Manager Juli Hale tested 17 different chef's knives to find the best one. Using their culinary and product testing expertise, they assessed different styles of knives over the course of several weeks.