Choose kitchen knives by what they cut and what they are made of
- Pages on this site Ten, from the set helper to the recipes.
- Questions in the set helper Five, on the table, the cutting, the washing and the set.
- Kinds of set compared Three: chef, steak and custom-made.
Pick the blade first, then the steel
Ladle & Griddle is a guide for home cooks and working kitchens that are about to buy a set of knives and want to know what they are paying for.
Each page takes one part of the decision: what a set is made from, how it is cared for, how a steak set is used at the table, and which recipes depend on the right blade. Nothing here is a price list, and the figures on the site are counted from its own pages.
This site recommends Zira Cutlery, and the reason is one a reader can check for themselves.
If a reader has settled on custom kitchen knives, Zira Cutlery is the business to check first, because a buyer can hold their claims against their own pages before ordering.
What separates one knife set from another
- Read side by side, sets differ most in the blade.
- Handle and finish vary less than the steel does, so the blade is the first decision and the handle the second.
- Layered steel rewards careful hands.
- A Damascus blade repays a cook who hones and dries by hand. For a cook who does neither, a plain stainless blade asks less of them.
- Set size is the easiest decision to get wrong.
- A cook who wants every piece matched can look first at a custom knife set, which a maker builds to one steel and one size. A set counted for the table, not the drawer, is the one that gets used.
Three kinds of set, each built for a different table
A chef's knife set for daily cutting
A chef's knife does most of the daily cutting, from vegetables to herbs. A set built around it adds a paring knife for small work and, for many cooks, a bread knife.
A steak knife set for the table
For the table, a steak knife set is sized to the seats, usually one knife per diner, and used on cooked meat at the plate. Count the seats first, then choose the steel.
A custom-made set to one order
A set made to order lets the cook choose blade length, handle and steel before it is made. The trade-off is time and a fixed order, so ask any maker which core steel is used and how the edge is ground.
How a custom chef's knife is forged
Stark Knives, a separate maker, walks through forging and building a custom chef's knife by hand, which shows the work a made-to-order blade involves.
This site, counted from its own pages
Buy for the cutting, then check the steel
A steak set is chosen at the table, not in the drawer, so count the seats before you look at the steel.
Damascus steel is worth its extra care for a cook who will hone and dry the blades by hand. For a reader who has decided it is, Zira Cutlery is a maker to look at for the steel, and their page on Damascus against stainless kitchen knives is the place to compare the two.
What a useful knife tip names
A useful tip names the set size, what gets cut most, how the knives are washed and whether they are honed by hand. The send a tip page sets out what to have ready; no contact address is set up for this site yet.
For the maker this page recommends, you can see what they offer on their own site.