Years ago I realized how tired I was of the effort it took to hack through my vegetables with the very dull, old and most certainly cheap chef knife I owned. Actually, it was part of a cheap 8 piece no-name set with a wood block. I thought it was good enough until one day I was over at a friend’s house and tried their Global knives. The ease with which they cut through the vegetables said to me that it was definitely time for me to say goodbye to my old set.

The next question was which brand of knives to choose. I started doing some research, reading about forged versus stamped knives, and Japanese versus German knives. I read tons of reviews about knives that claimed to have the perfect balance or just the right weight. And then there was the question of how large of a knife set to buy? I read information on the internet, Consumer Reports magazine and Cook’s Illustrated. I also went to my local Williams and Sonoma store and test drove a few different brands. The technical details were endless  and that, in turn, spawned this website about the best kitchen knives.

Ultimately I decided to purchase the Wusthof Classic 8 piece knife set with a block. What sold me was the blade construction of high-carbon steel and a stain-resistant alloy which claimed to retain its’ edge longer as well as making it easier to sharpen. Having used these knives for many years, I have to agree with that statement since I’m not the most diligent of knife sharpeners and I find these knives have stayed very sharp.

I also like the weight of the Wusthof 8” chef knife It isn’t super heavy but not as light as say a Global knife. It works for me since I’m probably cooking no more than an hour a day. And the 8 piece set was also a good choice – none of the knives in the block are getting dusty. Perhaps one more addition would make it perfect – a second 8” chef knife. But maybe not a Wusthof. I’m actually looking at the Victorinox 8″ chef knife.