The Best Chef’s Knives of 2025. We Tested Nearly Two Dozen to Find Our Favorites

22 November, 2025 admin 0 Comments 1 category

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Honorable Mentions

Photograph: Molly Higgins

New West Knifeworks Joy Bauer 6-Inch Chef Knife for $225: Like my New West Knifeworks pick above, this luxe knife is absolutely gorgeous, with a bold red-and-white handle and an accompanying embossed leather sheath. Created in collaboration with nutritionist and TV personality Joy Bauer, this 6-inch knife is a Japanese Santoku-style knife with a downward blade and a sturdy top slope, made from American-made 440C stainless steel. I found that food stuck to the sides of this blade, and it dragged more with starchier foods, but it is absolutely gorgeous and better for smaller tasks.

Henckels Classic Precision 7-Inch Santoku Knife for $80: I’ve found this Santoku-style knife’s flat blade and straight edge are most effective for slicing and tap-chopping, with the low point and flat blade being effective for easy sliding and transport of chopped vegetables. This Spanish-made knife’s blade is made of German stainless steel with a satin finish, which also has divots to reduce food sticking to the sides. The Mannkitchen Santoku model below is a bit sturdier, but this is a more affordable, lighter Santoku option of those I’ve tested.

Henckels Classic 8-Inch Chef’s Knife for $70: This 8-inch, Spanish-made Henckels knife has a classic German-style blade made from German stainless steel. It just feels like a heavy-duty workhorse knife. The finely honed blade transitions to an ergonomic triple-rivet handle. Although only 0.28 pounds, this knife feels heavier than the comparable Zwilling, in part because of this handle, which is less comfortable with more severe, squared edges than some others I tested. The blade was super sharp and I quickly cut most produce with ease, although it wasn’t as clean a cut on denser foods like potatoes. Plus, the starchier produce seemed to stick a little more to this knife than others.

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Männkitchen 7-inch Santoku MK71S for $130: This Santoku Japanese-style knife feels a bit heavier than the majority on this list, although the triple-beveled handle is ergonomically designed and easy to hold, despite its large size. The hefty handle seamlessly blends into the stainless steel knife, and despite being heavy, I felt in control while cutting. This heavy-duty knife has a lower point, which makes it easier to dice and chop quickly without too much arm/shoulder movement or exertion. The blade is also wide and thick, making it feel a bit sturdier and easier to transfer veggies from the cutting board. This isn’t going to be my go-to for everything I cut on the reg, but I especially loved it for quicker, rougher dicing and chopping of things like herbs and garlic cloves.

Hast Selection Series Japanese Carbon Steel 8-inch Chef Knife for $79: This sleek Hast knife is made of Japanese carbon steel (see above for more about carbon materials) from renowned steel maker Koike. It overall feels lightweight and svelte, and the ergonomic handle was very easy to grip, although it got a bit slippery (and potentially dangerous) when wet. Overall it doesn’t feel as heavy-duty as others tested, and flip-flopped a bit while cutting more dense foods like potatoes. It was able to make super smooth cuts on softer foods, and I felt able to control it easily while mincing garlic. This is a remarkably affordable option for a Japanese carbon steel chef’s knife that excels in making more precise cuts.

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Material the 8-Inch Knife for $105: This hefty, beautiful knife from Material has quickly become my go-to large knife for bigger cutting tasks. I noticed vegetables don’t stick to the side as much as other models, and it was surprisingly able to make ultra-thin cuts with control despite its large size. It’s a little longer, at 13.5 inches total, making it bigger and sturdier to use than the smaller styles I tend to go for. Each knife is hand-polished, heat-treated at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and cryogenically tempered at -250 degrees to make the steel harder and more durable. The blade is made of sturdy Japanese high-carbon and stainless steel, with an oval-shaped, grippy, and matte composite handle, and the blade extends into the handle so weight is distributed more evenly. Plus, you can personalize this knife for a fun upgrade.

Misen 8-Inch Chef’s Knife 2.0 for $94: This chef’s knife is made from Japanese high-carbon stainless steel with a high chromium content to resist rust, and features a long blade over 8 inches. The handle has an ergonomic rounded spine, which is sturdy, but wasn’t the grippiest or easiest to hold from those I’ve tested. This knife works excellently if you need longer, more precise cuts (I would imagine it’d be good for making scoring cuts or filleting a soft fish), but things tended to stick on the sides, and the sheer length of the blade made things less fast as I dealt with drag.

I tested the only way I knew how: fumbling, cutting, slicing, and dicing in the kitchen, with a knife of the week, a cutting board (I used both wooden and plastic boards), and a variety of foods. I used each of these knives for a week while I made all of my meals, using them to do big tasks like cut through thick root vegetables, thinly slice cucumbers, roughly chop herbs, mash garlic, and even open plastic packaging. It’s also important to know how to do a few essential knife skills in the kitchen to make best use of your knives.

I’m vegan, so I had some of my carnivorous friends and colleagues use these knives to also carve beef and cut up a whole chicken, to make sure the blades could withstand all types of textures. As stated earlier, the best knife is a sharp one, and each of these came out of the package deadly sharp. I cut myself more than once in the process, all for the greater good to find which chef knife belongs in your kitchen. (But a lesson was learned: Be extra careful when using a new, super sharp chef’s knife for the first time.)

Let’s get this out of the way: The best knife is one that’s sharp. After duking it out in the kitchen for hours on end, I’ve found that what makes a knife truly great is a seriously sharp edge. A dull knife is dangerous—you’ll need to apply more pressure as you’re cutting, which means that when your knife slips, you cut yourself more deeply. Plus, a dull knife isn’t as precise or quick with cuts.

Especially with a pricier knife, you’ll want to make that investment last as long as possible. That means regular sharpening to keep it in tip-top slicing shape. Unfortunately, there isn’t One Sharpener to Rule Them All. Different blade materials and shapes require different sharpening techniques. For example, many stainless steel blades are too hard to effectively be sharpened by traditional water stones. Former chef and current WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson recommends water stones for carbon steel and loves these Shapton stones.

The majority of chef’s knives can be (relatively) easily sharpened when needed, which is typically done with a whetstone at around a 15 to 20 degree angle, followed by honing rod or leather for the smoothing knife’s edge. I’ve always used popular (and easy-to-use) pull-through sharpeners, which are more precise than steel and sharpen quicker than whetstones. But they are generally not recommended, especially for Serious Chefs™, because they shed quite a bit of metal in the process, weakening the durability over time.

Most home chefs will only need to sharpen their knives around twice a year and use a honing steel to keep the blades in shape at other times. Although a few years old, we keep going back to this article from Epicurious on how to sharpen a knife the right way in order to keep your knives in the best shape for as long as you can.

Should You Buy a Knife Set?

In a word: no. Despite what the door-to-door salesman or your MLM-loving cousin says, knife sets are usually not a good investment. You just need a few good knives. An 8-inch chef’s knife will work best for most tasks in the kitchen. I have a smaller hand, so I also like a small paring knife for some tasks, and a serrated knife for bread, in addition to the chef knife. Knife sets often cost double or triple as much as buying just one good chef knife. Not to mention, the wooden storage blocks also take up useful counter space, especially if you live in a tiny New York apartment like me. We recommend you save your money by skipping a set and investing in a solid chef’s knife instead. (Plus, one or two others if you want a bit of variety.)

What Makes a Knife a Chef’s Knife?

As said earlier, it’s multipurpose tool used used to cut meat, dice vegetables, chop nuts or smash garlic. A chef’s knife, generally, is made of many layers of forged steel and has a sharp end point and a prominent edge with a sloping curve, which helps with the fast rocking motion that allows chefs to cut food quickly.

A chef’s knife is among the most versatile knives in the kitchen and can be used for anything from chopping to cutting. Common uses for a chef’s knife include cutting meat, dicing vegetables, slicing herbs, and chopping nuts. The flat side of the knife can even be used to crush garlic. The versatility of this multipurpose knife makes it a must-have in any kitchen. It’s important to avoid any hard surfaces that would render the blade dull. In addition, learning how to hold a knife is an important first step to ensure the best results when using it.