Best kitchen knives

Wusthof Knives ♦ Global Knives ♦ Henckels Knives ♦ Victorinox Knives

THE HEAD-TO-HEAD SHOWDOWN

Australia’s equivalent of  Which? put these knives through their paces, testing handling and checking cutting performance while a specialist laboratory assessed how sharp they were.   Who came out top?

The Contenders

The workhorse knife of any kitchen knives range is the cooks knife or chefs knife as it is sometimes called. The chefs knife of each of these ranges was chosen so that the comparison was as accurate as it could be.

The actual knives tested were:

• Global Cook’s Knife 20cm G-2
• Wüsthof Classic 4582/20cm
• Zwilling JA Henckels Four Star 20cm Cook’s Knife
• Victorinox Cook’s Wide Blade Fibrox

Henckels Knives (Zwilling J.A. Henckels) Review
For the most part these are excellent German-made knives.  The most popular and best of the Henckels ranges are Professional S and Four Star.  You’ll see Jamie Oliver using Henckels knives in particular the Professional-S line. Read the full review…

Wusthof Knives Review
Like Henckels Wusthof are another top-quality German knife company. If you buy any Wusthof knife, you are sure to have bought a great knife. There are no “cheap” Wusthof knives. Read the full review…

Global Knives Review
All stainless Japanese kitchen knives with hollow handles which makes them comparatively light.  Global makes great knives which are, mostly, not forged but are laser cut and then welded to a handle. They are relatively easy to sharpen and very durable. Read the full review…

Victorinox Knives Review
Victorinox are made in Swtizerland and are typically not forged – they are stamped out of stainless steel and then fixed to a variety of handle styles.  Because they are not a forged knife, the steel is relatively soft which means they do not hold an edge for as long. On the positive side though they are very easy to sharpen and are very durable and very inexpensive.  Read the full review…

The Head-to-Head Test

PERFORMANCE: The home economist put one set of the cooks knives through their paces, slicing and dicing various foods:

• sliced carrots to assess the knives’ ability to slice hard food evenly without slipping and without resistance
• sliced cucumber to check how each knife could perform delicate work: slicing as thinly as possible without slipping or resistance that would result in uneven slices
• used the knives to chop parsley rapidly, to see if they could chop finely without bruising, crushing or mashing
• cut and cubed steak to see how well the knives cut through fat and sinew without much effort and without slipping
• a male assessor and a left hander also checked each model for comfort

SHARPNESS: A second set of knives was sent to a specialist laboratory to assess how sharp they were:

• immediately after purchase
• after 50 slicing strokes into a specially calibrated aluminium rod, which is known to blunt the cutting edge
• after a further 50 blunting strokes

 The Results

	Performance Scores				Features	Specifications
Brand / model (in rank order)	Price	Overall (%)	Cutting (%)	Sharpness (%)	Dishwasher-safe	Forged/ Stamped	Weight (g)
Global Cook’s Knife 20cm G-2	£78	84	90	69		Stamped	174
Victorinox Cook’s Wide Blade Fibrox	£20	81	85	72	Y	Stamped	190
Wüsthof Classic 4582/20cm	£80	79	85	64		Forged	251
Zwilling JA Henckels Four Star 20cm Cook’s Knife	£85	75	80	63		Forged	219

Notes: The overall score is made up of 70% for cutting performance and 30% for sharpness.

 The Winner:  Global Cook’s Knife 20cm G-2 £78

Comments: A stamped knife, very lightweight and one-piece seamless metal knife.

 Runner Up: Victorinox Cook’s Wide Blade Fibrox £20

Comments: A stamped knife, fairly lightweight and reasonably priced.

 Third Place: Wüsthof Classic 4582/20cm £80

Comments: A forged knife, heavy and expensive.

 Commended: Zwilling JA Henckels Four Star 20cm Cook’s Knife £85

Comments: A slightly heavy knife.