Reddit reviews Victorinox Swiss Army Cutlery Rosewood Chef's Knife, 8-Inch

I second the kitchen knife. It's a game changer and makes meal prep fun, which kind of pays for itself. Victorinox makes a great 8 inch chef's knife in that price range; I personally opted for the Frosts by Mora of Sweden which was around $50 as well.

Edit:

Highly rated Victorinox 8" chef's knife for less than $40

Same knife with nicer Rosewood handle for $42

Swedish made Frosts by Mora that I opted for based on previous experience with Mora and am very happy with

Edit 2: Here is a pretty good article with some basic care instructions for your quality knives.

>I'm a big fan of Victorinox. They're boning knife has trimmed dozens of briskets between sharpenings and their chef's knife has done a ton of chopping, mincing and slicing as well. They're both ridiculously sharp from the start and sharpen very easily.
>
>For slicing brisket, buns, ribs, etc, this meat slicing knife has served me very well. I got all three for under $80 IIRC.

Note that this is available with nicer handles than the plastic one for about the same price: https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Inch-Rosewood-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0019WZEUE/

This. It's cheap, reliable, and durable. It's a great size and can be used for nearly everything around the kitchen. Honestly, you could spend 200 to 300 on something japanese or spend a quarter of that and buy some really great ingredients for your new kitchen workhorse.

Funny, I would almost go the opposite way and say we need a /r/boutique for many of the high end premium things I see.

I see Good Value as a total cost of ownership thing. For example knives. You can buy a generic serrated 8" chef's knife for $4-8. This may be a good value if you rarely use one and only go through 5 in your life time or need one for a temporary use. Beyond that you could spend ~40 an a Victorinox 8-Inch Chef's Knife and have a good blade that will last you a lifetime if you take care of it. Perhaps a Good Value and also BIFL (or frugal if you find it for cheap dull at a yard sale and sharpen it yourself). For ~$300 you can buy a Shun 8"Chef's Knife Also BIFL, but it would be hard to call such a "Premium" item a good value.

Personally, when items get to the upper echelon price range they come close to the boutique range of things. As such they are elite and fashionable items that I would not consider BIFL because the person buying the best technology or the fashion of the time will want to "upgrade" as fashion and technology changes.

To me it seems that BIFL items often are priced at a bell curve where at one end you are buying crap, in the middle you get quality items, and at the other end you can sometimes get a higher quality item (with quickly diminishing returns on improvement to price ratio) with extra embellishments that may have little to do with function.

Well you can't go wrong with The Food Lab cookbook. It doesn't get too complicated and explains things very well.

A Victorinox Chef's Knife is about 40 dollars and will last him a long time and it can be cool to have one for him.

Remember, our parents (probably) have been using crappy gear to cook for many years. You can get along just fine using lower quality kitchen gear.

Chefs knife

This is a quality chefs knife that I use and have gifted. Once you use it for a few weeks, you can't go back to crappy knives anymore without yearning for this thing. It just handles so well. Don't forget to get a knife sharpener - all knives need sharpening. I can talk to you more about that if you want me to.

I recommend getting a big wooden cutting board from ikea those are cheap and large ($10-15 iirc). I don't like plastic because food tends to get stuck in there and I worry about cleaning it well. Especially with meat! If you go there, you can get other kitchen stuff too like stirring spoons, oven mitts, bowls for marinading or making salad in.

Cooks illustrated did this review of carbon steel skillets. I just purchased their #1 recommendation. I suggest the 11 inch one it's large and heavy but it's a buy it for life kind of thing. Please note that it's a pain in the ass to prepare, or season (make non-stick), this thing for the first time if you've never done it before. I had to go through a few different methods till I found what worked.

So regarding a saucepan, i have used many kinda and I do not see big differences between them. I would just get two sizes: a small-medium (2 quart, for sauces and pastas etc) and a large (5 quart for soups, puddings).

If you're buying stuff off amazon, please remember to check for fake reviews.

Don't buy a set, it'll be a waste of money at that price point.

My opinion is that if you're just starting out, keep it simple and get a decent chef's knife and a paring knife. There's no need to go out buying santokus and bread knives and everything else at this point. So:

https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-Cutlery-Rosewood-8-Inch/dp/B0019WZEUE/

https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Rosewood-Paring-Straight-Handle/dp/B0019WZJQ8/

This is my favorite. Ever.
https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-Cutlery-Rosewood-8-Inch/dp/B0019WZEUE

Victorinox makes a rosewood handled version. Mercer also makes some decent looking forged knives in your price range.

https://smile.amazon.com/Victorinox-Inch-Rosewood-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0019WZEUE/

https://smile.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Genesis-8-Inch-Bolster/dp/B00DT1XFSQ/

Nicer knife than the other 2, but you'd have to throw in $8 on top of your giftcard.
https://www.amazon.com/Tojiro-DP-Gyutou-8-2-21cm/dp/B000UAPQGS

$100 - Wusthof 8" Chefs Knife



$40 - J.A. Henckels 8" Chefs Knife


$35 - Victorinox Fibrox (If you want the Victorinox but don't like the handle, get the rosewood version for a couple bucks more)

Then get their corresponding utility/paring knives for smaller/finer work. Personally, I went with the Henckels I listed mainly for aesthetics and value and got a Tojiro DP Petty Knife, mainly because I'm used to heavy western chef knives but I also wanted to try out a Japanese style kitchen knife. Learn to handle a knife properly, get a good cutting board (end-grain wood boards ideally), and they should last you for life.

I bought the Victorinox 8" Chef with the rosewood handle, and it's wonderful! perfectly balanced, and the handle feels great. $50 though.

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-8-Inch-Chefs-Rosewood-Handle/dp/B0019WZEUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421230574&sr=8-1&keywords=victorinox+rosewood+chef

> Budget around $100 and am in the US. Looking for a 7 or 8 inch knife

Uh sorry, but for that budget I can line you up for a set of knives :-)

No joke, I could kit out your kitchen in knives for a c note!

100 bucks for a single 8" chef's knife is way overkill for the average home cook. You neither need nor really want what a knife at that price point versus a similar type of knife in a lower price bracket, unless aesthetics are a significant part of your choosing criteria.

OK so I'll suggest a few things here in a sort of scattergun approach, see if anything takes your fancy. Nothing I'm going to recommend is expensive, but some of these are dirt cheap so you could get one or more others in addition to your main pick to have some beater knives around that you don't have to care about.

First bunch are commercial style chef's knives — no frills, moulded handles.

Mundial 8" chef's knife for $15.70 on Amazon. If you want to go up a size, the !0" version for $26.88.

Dexter-Russell 10" for $19.37 on Amazon. The 8" is more than this currently for some reason.

Victorinox Fibrox three-piece bundle (3.25" parer, 8" chef knife and steel) for $52.67 on Amazon. This is great value if you're interested in the Victorinox chef's knife because at its current price it means you're getting the parer and the steel for 10 bucks.

If you don't mind white handles, Mercer cutlery 8" chef's knife for $10.32 on Grainger. And if you want to go really big, the 12" model for the "OMG cheap!" price of $15.60 also on Grainger.

Now ones with riveted handles, wood or resin/plastic scales.

8" Walnut Tranditions chef's knife from Chicago cutlery with riveted walnut handle for $17.95.

Victorinox 8" with rosewood handle, $48 on Amazon

Farberware Pro Forged 8" knife for $11.99 on Amazon.

Now a few oddballs.

Super sharp and super cheap, the Thai-made Kiwi knives. These are available in a lot of Asian grocers apparently but if you need to order online the prices are good on Wokshop. These are the greatest buy in the knife world, decent knives literally for pocket change.

And if you're at all interested in trying some knives with carbon steel blades check out the Old Hickory knives which are probably the cheapest ones going. They look a bit weird but they're pretty damn good by all accounts. There's a great five-piece set which is amazing value, on Amazon it's currently $48. Set includes a 3.25" Paring Knife, 4" Paring Knife, 7" Butcher's Knife, 6" Boning Knife and an 8" Slicing Knife.

I'll just throw in suggestions for a MAC and a Victorinox. They can take a beating and are still quite alright.

MAC

Victorinox Rosewood

I've had this one for 6 years and it looks like it did the day I bought it, feels great to use, it's holding together in the handle perfectly, and it looks pretty nice.

I use a simple ceramic sharpener and a steel on it and my other knives and so it stays very sharp. It keeps an edge fairly well, but I touch it up with the steel pretty much every time I use it.

I recently bought a Victorinox boning knife for a little over that price but they can definitely be found cheaper.

It has a rosewood handle and the edge/steel is extremely high quality for the price.

Here is a $40 chef knife that I assume would be excellent. I know it's not at your budget but it's only a bit more and meets your other criteria:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0019WZEUE?cache=65561c93bf859dab5115102e458ded3c&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&qid=1405054244&sr=8-4#ref=mp_s_a_1_4

A simple victorinox 8 inch Chef knife (https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Inch-Rosewood-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0019WZEUE) to start because I dont have tons of money. Ive heard its a good entry point and I might get something else down the line.

I also dont really know what I really want in the future (maybe ill try different lengths and shape and see) unlike the pans so Im not ready for a major investement.

I'm used to working with a slicing knife instead of a Chef shaped so I'm a little bit slow with it atm but I love it, its so balanced and light and sharp.

They are indeed partial tang, with plastic handles (like cutcos), and no rivets. The funny part is that it'll still outperform the cutcos, but if those things matter to you: https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Inch-Rosewood-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0019WZEUE

Here, same knife with rosewood handles, rivets, full tang construction, and it's $3 less than the fibrox version.

Victorinox has a lifetime warranty on defects and has a great reputation for sometimes even honoring the warranty when a knife fails from user abuse. Yes I know all about the gimmicky "infinity guarantee" and it can indeed sound like an absolutely amazing warranty to the uneducated buyer. Unfortunately once you realize that you are paying ~50x what the knives are actually worth it doesn't sound so awesome anymore. And for sharpening, I pay $3 for my 2 knives over 6 inches and $2 for the 3 under once a year to have them sharpened. That's $3 more than cutco charges for the shipping cost, and if I bought the full victorinox set for $160 vs the 6 piece set from cutco for $676 it would cost $16/year to sharpen all of them or 32 years to break even.

Btw, I know it looks like I'm obsessed about the fibrox knives or something, but I wouldn't even personally buy them for myself (although I have for friends just getting into cooking). The fibrox line is a great budget level knife line, but for only $20-30 more a knife you start being able to grab a MAC, Global, or Tojiro DP knives that are as much better than the fibrox as the fibrox is to cutcos. I'm simply using it to demonstrate just how much of a ripoff Cutcos are even when compared to a budget level knife.

Where did you find that price? Not the forged one.

https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Inch-Rosewood-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0019WZEUE

49.59

I got the Rosewood handle version of the [Victorinox 8" knife](http://www.Victorinox.com/ 8 Inch Rosewood Chef's... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019WZEUE?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf) and love it. It arrived very sharp, able to easily take slices off a sheet with.

Any knife can be sharpened to basically a razor sharp edge. How long it stays that sharp depends on the metal used, so a more expensive knife will stay sharp longer. At least that's what I read on reddit.

Supposedly this chef's knife for $50 is pretty good. https://www.amazon.ca/Victorinox-8-Inch-Chefs-Rosewood-Handle/dp/B0019WZEUE

> If so no mention of steel type. I'd suspect the usual European CroMo stainless at 55/56 HC which is a bit under-performing at ~$160.

X50CrMoV15, supposed to be HRC56.

> that funny kink is off-putting

Ditto. It's enough so that I'd get https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Inch-Rosewood-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0019WZEUE instead, if I wanted a rosewood-handled Victorinox. (Is the forged one, i.e., the one in the OP, really three times the weight? If it really is 15oz, I'd get the stamped one for that reason as well as for the better handle.)

It's possible to buy a knife with a good blade and a good handle, you know. The Victorinox above is like getting a Ford Mustang GT350. It's perfectly capable, but it's not going to compare to Porsche Turbo, Ferrari, or Lambo as far as desirability. The same goes for a plastic phone. But some people want a phone that feels good in the hand and solid and more than just plastic.

So yea, that Victorinox will work. It cuts things and does a good job at it (aka serviceable). But as far as having a NICE knife that does all that, plus feels good in the hand and looks look, then you need to look elsewhere.

Here are two perfectly good knives that have equally sharp blades and are used by professional chefs out there:

• http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004RFLI/
  
• http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009ZK08
  
  At a minimum, if i were to buy the Victorinox knife over again, i would have bought the wood handle version.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-8-Inch-Chefs-Rosewood-Handle/dp/B0019WZEUE
  

Exactly, that's the point I was going with as well and people are so heavy-set on defending their purchases. Not everyone is perfect, it's best to realize when you've done something wrong or when you've made a poor purchase, it happens.

You can get some amazing knives for under $100, which is why I recommend not getting Cutco as they tend to be around that price.

E.g.
Knife 1
Knife 2

Knife 3
Knife 4

The Fibrox handles are not full tang, I believe the name is stick tang or rat tail. I would look into the rosewood handle ones, they look to be full tang

https://www.amazon.ca/Victorinox-8-Inch-Chefs-Rosewood-Handle/dp/B0019WZEUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483509483&sr=8-1&keywords=victorinox+knife+rosewood