Kitchen Knives Buyers Guide
There are lots of types of kitchen knives and knife sets on the market – so what is the difference?
Some of the sets range from £50-£100 and some are as much as £50 per knife! Knowing what makes a decent knife will help you decide what to buy and whether your budget is being wasted.
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One of the ways to tell if a knife is of good quality is generally by its weight. The slight problems with this that at the top end of the market, materials such as titanium are used which makes some of the more expensive knives really light weight.
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Some of the main considerations to check for are that you have the standard range of knives, these normally consist of:
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Paring knife
A small knife for the preparation of veg or fruit. The blade is generally 7-10cm long and is firm with a sharply pointed end for picking.
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Utility knife
A general purpose knife with a serrated edge and blade about 13cm long. Generally used for anything which is a bit tougher to cut
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Bread knife
Bread knives have rigid serrated or scalloped edges, or a combination of the two. This type of blade allows the knife to cut through a hard crust on a loaf without tearing or squashing the softer centre – this also makes it the best knife for slicing fruit
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Carving knife
A carving knife has a 20-26cm flexible blade with a sharply pointed tip to help free meat from the bone. The blade can be pain or serrated.
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Boning knife
Designed for removing bones from raw meat and poultry, this knife has a narrow, rigid blade which curves upwards, making it easy to work the blade around the bones.
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Cleaver
A cleaver has a strong, thick heavy blade with a slightly curved edge and is used to chop meat and sever and prepare joints.
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Carving fork
Carving forks are designed to stop meat from moving about on the dish while being carved and come with a guard to protect your hand in case the knife slips. They can be sold separately or as part or a set consisting of a carving knife, fork and sharpening steel.
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Cook’s knife
Cook’s knives are good all-purpose knives which help you tackle larger scale chopping jobs. They come in several sizes.
You need to soend at least £100 for a set of knives, any less and they will be poor.
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The main thing in checking what aspects of a knife make it quality is a combination of how nicely constructed the handle is. For example, if it is a one piece unit all made of metal this is less of an area to check but if the handle is a separate material then check how robust the join between metal and handle looks.
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If you opt for wooden handles, just be aware that they will not last too long if you always wash them in the dishwasher and they will need to be handwashed – keeping the handle out of the water as much as possible.
The next thing to check into is what material has been used for the cutting blade. The more expensive knives will have more than one type of metal that makes up the cutting edge and the sharpness will last for a long time in between re-sharpening.
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The other aspect is tempering – this is a crucial part to the knife making process. If plan to spend over £200 on kitchen knives, check the manufacturers website to see if they provide any promises on the longevity of the sharp edge – the higher quality the of tempering process the longer the sharp edge will last in between re-sharpening.
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Click here for a range of great kitchen knives at good prices
We like this set of knives as it offers good value for money and they are a nice looking set:
Circulon Elite 7 Piece Knife Block Set
Circulon Elite 7 Piece Knife Block Set
NEW!! The Circulon Elite 7 Piece Knife Set…
Was: £149.99
REDUCED: £79.99
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