How to Shop for a Kitchen Knife Set

By Moses Harun

People have employed knives for at least 2.5 million years. Naturally, because that was the Stone Age, common stones such as obsidians and flint were used as blades, although as the technology became available, wood and bone were occasionally employed. In our times, knives might be available in a variety of metal materials that extend across the gamut from the very predictable steel to cutting-edge ceramics, carbon fiber and titanium. And another advancement is that we have kitchen knife sets as opposed to only one all-purpose tool.

Now that we're in the modern world, if you are contemplating choosing your kitchen knives by relying on customer reviews for your research, always study the reviews completely, specifically while you are buying your knives online and are unable to test the knives for yourself. Thoughtfully written customer reviews, be they positive or negative in nature, should describe the knives' traits with regard to functionality, materials and construction,weight and comfort in handing and use, and ease of maintenance.

Functionality

Most kitchen knife sets you'll find come in sets of 6-8 knives that come with a holder of some sort. You could be fooled into presuming that more is better in a busy kitchen. Well, the fact is, you merely should have three knives to survive in the kitchen - the chef's knife, the paring knife and the utility knife. Any other knives - cleavers, tomato knives, cook's knives, bread knives, and santoku knives, for instance - are good accompaniments to your knife set but can be done away with.

Materials and Construction

The knives in today's knife collections will be manufactured from several types of materials like stainless steel and high-carbon steel, titanium, ceramic and plastic as well as making use of several manufacturing methods to include forging, stamping and sintering. Any manufacturer's product description ideally should include pertinent data concerning materials and construction, as your selection ought to primarily be influenced by them. For example, many users by and large recommend forged knives rather than stamped knives, in the same way that titanium knives will be chosen against plastic knives in the general sense.

Weight and Comfort in Handing and Use

Often, the weight of a knife and the amount of comfort experienced when working with the cutlery have equal importance as the materials and construction employed with the knives. Therefore, when perusing descriptions of kitchen knife sets, you need to look for terms like "user friendly", "lightweight" and "nicely scaled for the job". Obviously, seeing as every person's hand is unique, what might be suitable for someone else could not be good for you however, in any event, you should have a general idea.

Ease of Maintenance

No one prefers to spend their time in the kitchen sharpening knives if they can do the cooking, don't you think? Therefore, you ought to scan the product descriptions vis--vis care and cross-reference them to the consumers' experiences through their reviews. For example, titanium knives are more convenient to keep sharp than carbon steel blades.

Indeed, concerning a kitchen knife set, remaining safe is better than being sorry. As a matter of fact, quite a few accidents result as often from unsafe handling of knives as from the knives' defective materials and construction. Again, always read through the reviews, try to handle the knives and try them out on cutting boards, if that is possible. When all is done, you will discover that selecting the correct knives will make your life spent preparing meals more enjoyable, not to mention help you feel like a five-star chef even though you barely know the difference between croquettes and mashed potatoes. - 32406

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