Kitchen Knife experts, need a quick Christmas gift

[dullard]

My brother can't think of a thing to get him. He has recently been getting into cooking. I know he likes quality items. So I thought I'd get him one decent knife. However, my budget is limited (hopefully under $50), so I can't get him anything spectacular. I just want something better than the $5 for a whole set of knives he probably already has.

I need it tonight (yes I procrastinated), so it must be a B&M store. I have Bed Bath and Beyond, Walmart, Shopco, and Target available. Maybe a couple other stores too that a smallish city would have.

Are any of these worth the money? And if you were to have one good knife, what shape/size would you like?

 

[Lola]

wusthof is best.

edit to say that i was just telling the husband how I would like a new set of GOOD kitchen knives... good gift idea. 🙂

like this one

 

[LikeLinus]

Personally I like Wusthof better than Henckels.

The classic line is what I have and love them.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=101515&RN=392

I got a set for christmas 2 years ago.

The 4 1/2 Utility Knife might be a good start or the 5" Serrated Utility Knife.

What does he cook a lot of?

 

[Vegitto]

I got my dad a weighted chef's knife for ~?30. Is that any good? It's wrapped up, so I can't post pics.

 

[vi edit]

Can't really go wrong with a quality 8" chef's knife. Wusthaf or Henckels(4 star) are excellent knives. The Santoku style knives seem to be the current rave...but I think the classic chef knife offers better utility.

On a budget the Forged ones from Chicago Cutlery are nice too.

 

[dullard]

Thanks for the info.

I personally perfer a 6" chef's knife that I have over any of my other knives, although it was part of a $5 set. I'll probably go along those lines for my brother.

He tends to cook chicken and deserts more than anything else. But I think he has been branching out lately (I'm not certain what).

The Henckels 6" chef's is in my price range. For 8", I'd have to drop to a lower brand.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

We have the Calphalon Katana series from BB&B. We like them very much. If you have a 20% off coupon, they can be a good deal.

 

[fs5]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
wusthof is best.

didn't what a difference a good knife set could make until I got some wusthofs

 

[Kwaipie]

I'd love to get a 6" ceramic chef's knife. http://www.chefsresource.com/kyocera-revolution-ceramic-chef-knife-black.html

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
We have the Calphalon Katana series from BB&B. We like them very much. If you have a 20% off coupon, they can be a good deal.

I'm kicking myself over that coupon. I had 3 of them a week ago. I tossed two, thinking that 1 would be plenty. But I used it yesterday. Now I have no coupon.

 

[LS20]

WUsthof is not the best. dont say that.

for less than 100$, get the person a paring knife, or a different kitchen item. Chef's knives are ~100 and above

 

[Rock Hydra]

My mom had a set of Cutco knives for about 50 years now. Every 5 years or so they go a little dull and they sharpen them for free for her and those bitches are SHARP.

 

[kalrith]

My wife has the orange-handled 7" knife and loves it:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=106811

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
We have the Calphalon Katana series from BB&B. We like them very much. If you have a 20% off coupon, they can be a good deal.

I'm kicking myself over that coupon. I had 3 of them a week ago. I tossed two, thinking that 1 would be plenty. But I used it yesterday. Now I have no coupon.

Last time I was at BB&B the young girl working the sales counter just went ahead and scanned in the 20% off coupon that they had sitting under the cash register. It was quite nice of her 🙂

Might be worth a shot just to ask if they still have any in store. Seems like I get them mailed to me every other week X.

 

[codeyf]

The Shun knives are absolutely beautiful. The wood handles are amazing, as is the wood grain look on the blades themselves. Big time $$ tho.

Couple years ago I got my wife the Henkels Signature 7" Santoku with the Granton Edge. Pretty sweet blade, she loves it.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Personally I like Wusthof better than Henckels.

The classic line is what I have and love them.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=101515&RN=392

I got a set for christmas 2 years ago.

The 4 1/2 Utility Knife might be a good start or the 5" Serrated Utility Knife.

What does he cook a lot of?

There's only one Henckels that's any good, and that's the Twin Cermax M66 line. It uses Japanese multicarbide powder steel in 66 to 68 Rockwell hardness. It's also well balanced and built well.

Frankly, German steel kinda sucks.

 

[Crono]

Henckels. I have like 15 henckels knives (all from their outlet store... i get them when they have sales) and all are very good.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: Vegitto
I got my dad a weighted chef's knife for ~?30. Is that any good? It's wrapped up, so I can't post pics.

What is that symbol? Looks Like a two headed sperm carrying a bat'leth.

 

[Kelemvor]

We have a bunch of WUstof knives we got from Williams Sonoma but my wife recently found out about Pampered Chef knives which she really loves and they are cheaper. But you have to order them...

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Personally I like Wusthof better than Henckels.

The classic line is what I have and love them.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=101515&RN=392

I got a set for christmas 2 years ago.

The 4 1/2 Utility Knife might be a good start or the 5" Serrated Utility Knife.

What does he cook a lot of?

There's only one Henckels that's any good, and that's the Twin Cermax M66 line. It uses Japanese multicarbide powder steel in 66 to 68 Rockwell hardness. It's also well balanced and built well.

Frankly, German steel kinda sucks.

I wasn't going to trash on Henckels 🙂 I just don't like their knives. Wusthof have a great lifetime warranty and their blades stay sharp for a very long time.

My mother recommended them and I did quite a bit of research before suggesting it as a gift. I'm just glad my wife listen to me 😀

Looking at the website, the Le Cordon Blue set is niiiiiice.

I love the first line in Wusthof's Warranty:

"Since you find yourself with the need to review these policies and procedures, we?d like to apologize in advance for any inconvenience our product(s) may have caused you."

They mean business and produce some of the better cooking knives.

 

[akubi]

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: Vegitto
I got my dad a weighted chef's knife for ~?30. Is that any good? It's wrapped up, so I can't post pics.

What is that symbol? Looks Like a two headed sperm carrying a bat'leth.

it's funny you know how to spell bat'leth, yet you don't know the symbol for euro.

 

[theslickvik]

Go with wusthof and not Henckles since Wusthof has better quality control. Many of the Henkles have a tendency to rust after a very short time. If you really want to go over the top get the person a set of knives from a company called Global Knives