What Knives Should I Buy?
Nobody can tell you what knives are the most important for you and which you should get first. That is, with one standard exception, the chef's knife. Since the chef's knife will probably your most used tool in the kitchen it should most definitely be your first purchase. But what after that?
There are two routes that people tend to take when building their knife collection, and of course, it depends greatly on your finances.
- The first route you can take is to get one, high-quality knife at a time as you feel you need them or as your money allows.
This way will often times take quite a while before you have a full set of knives but each knife you have will be perfectly suited for you.
- The second route when buying knives is to buy a large, cheap set straight out of the gates, then, over time, replace the ones you use with higher quality knives, if desired.
This way will give you the opportunity to try out a wide assortment of knives so you can learn how to use them all and also discover which knives you will actually be using. This way you won't spend $50 on a knife that you rarely or never use.
There are pros and cons to both routes and in the end it's entirely up to you what to do, different people will always have different opinions.
But, for the sake of argument, I will go over the knives that are typically the best bet for the standard at-home cook. This list will work for many people but remember that everybody's different, you must decide which knives are the most useful for you.
- Chef's knife
- Serrated knife (for bread and many vegetables such as tomatoes)
- Paring knife
- Boning knife
- Cleaver
Again, this is only an example list, changes can easily be made, for example, let's say you're a vegetarian who finds food presentation exceedingly important, you may want to forgo the boning knife for a garnishing knife.
So, don't let anybody tell you what knives you should buy as it's a personal choice. Now head on over to the section on "What to Look For in a Knife".