QUOTE(Highlander65 @ May 25 2007, 05:35 AM) I have a set of J. A. Henckels that we got as a wedding present. They work very well for household use. Remember that knives are shaped differently for different purposes. Chopping, filleting, paring all use different knives. While a good chef's knife can become a replacement for your hand itself in the kitchen, the other knives have a purpose as well. Find your self a decent set of knives with a block to keep them in. If you are not a professional chef, you don't need a $300 set of knives, but better quality knives will be made of better steel and will hold an edge longer. I am surprised raum didn't mention all this since he has experience in this area. Help me out here dude. Did I miss anything?
My set is a little older than this, but I can't find the right pic. Sill an 8pc set gives me all I need.
Henckels is pro-quality and most often you pay for it, so congrats for getting a great gift... and I do have a solid butcher's block in my kitchen, and occasionally I use different knifes for different tasks.
But Ty requested a suggestion for a knife for bread and tomatoes, and the only knife for both bread and fleshy fruit is a good chef's knife, or a santoku bocho, which is a japanese chef's knife, basically. To me, the drop point is much safer, and he has a little kid, so it will be sharp on the edge, but not particularly "pointy." Besides the santoku bocho has a granton edge which plain and simple is undeniably an improvement on the chef's knife for cutting fresh or frozen meat, veggies, or fruit. The way those indentions let the food fall away from the blade that would normally stick lets you get chopping, dicing, mincing, fillet, and cleaving (anything but shank) done with a quickness! And it cleans so quickly you don't have to worry about cross contamination.
Also, I got watermelon on the brain, becuase we had our first taste yesterday in the cafeteria, and I will tell you when you got a ArkLaMiss Summer ahead of you, you got some watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, lemons for sippin, and other rhined fruit one their way to your house in a couple of months. Those are hell on knives because of the citrus. And you need to multitask. And no knife does this multi-tasking for ribs, chicken, fruit, stalked vegetables, and corn on the cob better than a santoku.
(Disclaimer: I am not using watermelon as a stereotype because Ayhja is black, but I AM using watermelon as an example of a southern food eaten in large amounts during the hot times of year, and at picnics. I am from Lousiana. Some shit shouldn't need to be said...)
For knife sets, I have a preference for a good Sabatier set, because it was what was in my mom's kitchen. My rosewood block set is too much for this subject, which seemed about finding a good all puprose knife.
Ayhja, if you are going to wal-mart, and you want a santoku for less than fifteen bucks, get this:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=4003133
Chicago cutlery ain't never done me wrong, and it's full tang. I also looked at Target, but they ain't got shit in that price range but knock-off designs that are inferior to an anthentic granton edge.