The Best Chef’s Knife

I’ve covered knives for Wirecutter since 2015, racking up more than 120 hours of research and testing. And over the many years of my culinary career, I’ve cooked in fine-dining restaurants, brewpubs, small cafés, private homes, and test kitchens, where tens of thousands of pounds of vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish have crossed my cutting board.

I’ve also enlisted seasoned cooking pros and curious home cooks to chop, slice, dice, julienne, chiffonade, and mince with many of these knives and weigh in. In addition to Wirecutter staffers, those panelists included Sam Sifton, an assistant managing editor at The New York Times and founding editor of New York Times Cooking, as well as a group of chefs and line cooks at New York City’s Le Coucou (recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s 2017 award for Best New Restaurant).

Whether you cook seven nights a week or hardly at all, every kitchen should have a chef’s knife. Of all of the pieces in a cutlery set, the chef’s knife is the most versatile and gets the most use.

You should get a new chef’s knife if you’re using an old knife set or a hodgepodge of hand-me-downs that aren’t, well, cutting it anymore. Dull kitchen knives are a bummer, and they’re dangerous, too. A sharp knife offers more control, reducing the chance of the blade slipping off of the food and into your finger.

If you’re outfitting your first kitchen on a budget, getting one good-quality chef’s knife is a wise economic choice because you can sidestep the sticker shock of buying an entire knife set. An 8-inch chef’s knife is versatile enough to hold you over until you generate more funds to build out your cutlery collection.

Most chef’s knives come in two styles: German and a double-beveled Japanese take on German knives (called a gyuto). What works for you comes down to a combination of personal preference, cutting style, and comfort.

German

• This is the most widely recognized style of chef’s knife in the West—popularized by German knife makers Wüsthof and J.A. Henckels. The belly of the blade has a pronounced curve that tapers to a sharp tip, which is best if you prefer to cut using a rocking motion.
• German knives generally weigh more and have thicker blades than their Japanese counterparts; this makes them fit for tough jobs like breaking lobsters and splitting bone-in chicken breasts.

Japanese (gyuto)

• Gyutos generally have thinner blades with flatter belly curves than German knives, and they taper to a very sharp tip. The flat belly provides the most control if you cut using a push-pull motion (meaning the blade leaves the board after each cut, and you push the knife forward and down, or pull it back and down, to slice through food).
• Because gyutos are thinner and made of hard carbon steel, their edge takes a much more acute bevel angle, and they tend to stay sharper longer than German knives. This design makes gyutos great for paper-thin slices and precise cuts.

Since 2013, we’ve racked up over 200 hours researching and comparing more than 100 knives. For each update, we look at new releases, up-and-coming brands, and more knives from the producers of our picks.

Determining the ideal knife for any one person is both objective and subjective. Factors such as sharpness, edge retention, durability, versatility, and easy maintenance are key to the performance of any good chef’s knife. But things like comfort, weight, balance, and price are mostly a personal preference. As New York Times assistant managing editor Sam Sifton told us during testing, “[A good knife] is the balance of utility and the thing that moves your heart.”

What to look for in a chef’s knife

Sharpness: A brand-new knife comes with what’s called a “factory edge,” which is usually very sharp. The edge should be keen enough to slice through paper straight out of the box. Your knife should remain sharp through moderate use for six to 12 months, as long as you hone it regularly, wash and dry it by hand after each use, and store it so the edge doesn’t get dinged up.

Edge retention, steel hardness, and durability: A crazy-sharp factory edge isn’t worth much if it dulls quickly. Good edge retention relies on a combination of steel composition and hardness, blade thickness, and bevel angle. When a blade is thin and made from a hard steel, the edge can take and hold a tight angle.

Length: An 8-inch knife is the perfect length for most people because it’s long enough to halve large vegetables but still manageable for most home cooks.

Bolster: Bolsters are metal cuffs that sit between the blade and the handle. A full bolster extends to the heel of the blade, while a half bolster doesn’t. For this guide, we chose to test half-bolstered knives because they’re easier to sharpen. Full bolsters are a pain; they require a professional sharpening service to grind away the extra steel at the heel of the blade to maintain an even and flat edge.

Balance: Knife balance means different things to different people, and it boils down to personal preference. A half-bolster or bolsterless knife is more blade-heavy, whereas a full bolster throws more weight to the handle. If you’re unsure about your preference on balance, go to a kitchen store and handle as many knives as possible to see what feels right.

Comfort: The best knives have handles that fit the hand comfortably, and this can vary depending on the size of your hand and the way you grip the knife. Again, the best way to find a knife that’s a good fit for you is to try as many knives as you can. If it’s possible, cut some vegetables to check for knuckle clearance—nothing is quite as annoying as banging your knuckles on the board while chopping.

Your chopping style: When looking for the best knife for you, figure out the way you naturally chop food. You’ll likely fall into one of two camps: a rocker or a push-pull slicer.

German knife blades are curved and designed for a rocking chopping motion. In this motion (shown above), the tip of the knife mostly keeps contact with the cutting board, and you raise and lower the heel while your guiding hand pushes food underneath the blade.

Because Japanese knives have straighter edges, it’s better to use a push-pull motion with them, lifting the whole knife off the board for each cut (demonstrated above). If you decide to make the jump from German to Japanese knives, this motion will take some getting used to.

When we first unbox a knife to test it, we check the blade for dings, chips, and bends. We then test the sharpness of the factory edge by slicing through a sheet of printer paper. While holding each knife, we get a feel for its balance and handle comfort. All of this happens before we halve a single onion.

Over the years, we’ve invited friends and colleagues of all culinary stripes to our test kitchen to participate in a chopping panel. We sliced, diced, julienned, peeled, and chiffonaded a pile of butternut squash, onions, carrots, apples, oranges, sweet potatoes, and fresh herbs to gauge the knives’ versatility with foods of varying textures. We looked for sharpness, precision, maneuverability, and comfort.

In 2017 we sent the top-performing knives from our chopping panel to the kitchen at New York City’s Le Coucou, where the cooks used them for prep and during service for a week. Since chefs and cooks are very passionate about their knives, we wanted their unbridled opinions of our favorites.

The Mac MTH-80 is our favorite knife because it’s crazy sharp and will stay that way longer than most other knives. It’s comfortable to hold, and it is a standout favorite among testers across a wide range of skill levels, regardless of their cutting style.

When asked, the MTH-80 is the knife I recommend to most people without hesitation. It feels more agile than the German models we’ve tested and more durable than the thin Japanese gyutos. Its blade shape strikes the perfect middle ground between the two styles—curved just enough for rocking but still straight enough for push-pull choppers.

It makes chopping a breeze. In our tests, the MTH-80 always made clean cuts through fibrous carrots. The cut edges of basil stayed mostly green, with very little oxidation, which means the knife’s razor-sharp edge broke very few of the herb’s cells. To be honest, all of the Japanese knives did a superb job on our basil test. That’s because they’re sharper and thinner, whereas the six budget knives we tested ($20 to $40 models) turned the basil black within five minutes.

Even the pros think this is a great knife. The daytime kitchen crew at Le Coucou used the MTH-80 for prep and during lunch service for a week, and they praised its outstanding performance on vegetables, herbs, and fish. Scott Markowitz, sous chef at Le Coucou, said, “[The MTH-80] was the favorite of all the cooks. We used it on shallots, herbs, and even slicing fluke for crudo. It was the best overall for basic mise en place.”

It stays sharp longer than most knives we tested. Because the MTH-80’s stamped blade is made of very hard steel, it stays sharp longer than softer blades, such as those of the Victorinox Swiss Classic Chef’s Knife 8-Inch and the Wüsthof Classic Ikon 8″ Chef’s Knife. One Le Coucou chef who prepped shallots and onions in the mornings told us the MTH-80 held the best edge.

But Mac’s proprietary steel also isn’t as brittle as the super-hard Japanese steel that manufacturers use for most gyuto knives, so it’s less likely to chip (which the Tojiro F-808 did after we used it to cut hard butternut squash).

All of our testers agreed this knife was comfortable to hold and use. Most testers, including Sam Sifton, named the MTH-80 as their top choice among all of the contenders.

Even most testers with larger hands found that the handle allowed for plenty of knuckle clearance. However, the MTH-80’s handle and knuckle clearance were too small for one 6-foot-6 tester (whom we paid for their feedback). They much preferred the larger handle on the Wüsthof Classic Ikon 8″ Chef’s Knife.

Dimples on the blade reduce the chances of food sticking to the knife—kind of. This feature isn’t the MTH-80’s biggest selling point. In our tests, the dimples were merely mildly effective—and only when cutting butternut squash. Squash slices stuck to the blades of every knife we tested, but it was easier to remove the squash from our pick’s blade.

It’s not cheap, but it’s a good value. Even though the MTH-80 tends to be on the pricier end of the knives we tested, its combination of performance and superior build will give you many years of happy use—much more than a budget knife. With proper maintenance, the MTH-80 could last a lifetime. In that respect, $145 or so is a bargain.

How the Mac MTH-80 has held up

We’ve had a Mac MTH-80 in regular rotation in our test kitchen since 2015, and it’s still our favorite knife. The logo on the blade has worn off slightly, but otherwise the knife remains in great condition.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Some Amazon reviewers complain about the blade staining. A Mac customer service representative explained that due to the knife’s high carbon content, you might occasionally see a rust spot—especially when you don’t rinse and dry the knife after cutting acidic foods like citrus or tomatoes. But with proper care, you can keep your Mac knife clean and spot-free. If you want a more stain-resistant knife, you might want to get one from Wüsthof.

Mac’s 25-year warranty is voided if you purchase the knife through unauthorized vendors. When buying a Mac knife through Amazon or another third party, check Mac’s website to make sure it’s an authorized seller before purchasing.

If you want to add a Japanese gyuto to your collection, the Tojiro F-808 is an exceptional knife for the price. In our tests, the thin, razor-sharp edge cut through vegetables with the precision of a scalpel. One colleague fell in love with the Tojiro F-808 and bought it immediately after the test. But it didn’t quite surpass our top pick, the Mac MTH-80.

It’s shaped like a classic gyuto, with a straighter edge, no bolster, and a pointed tip. The lack of a curve in the belly of the blade makes cutting with a rocking motion awkward, so if that’s what you’re used to, we suggest learning the push-pull cutting style.

It’s sharp and precise. Testers liked chopping vegetables with the F-808 because of its sharpness, control, and easy handling. It’s ideal for slicing leeks, green onions, and herbs into fine julienne, but it’s also excellent for handling most fruit and vegetable prep and slicing boneless meat filets.

The hard steel blade stays sharp, but it isn’t suitable for some foods. The Tojiro knife’s steel core is harder than the surface material; that hardness helps the blade hold a better edge, but it appears to be more brittle than Mac’s homogeneous construction. We found a tiny, almost microscopic nick in the Tojiro knife’s blade after cutting butternut squash.

As it turns out, the company recommends that you don’t use the knife for hard ingredients (or frozen foods), because they can chip the blade. But since the F-808’s core has the hardest steel of all our picks, its edge retention is exceptional for the price. We still believe this model is one of the best values in kitchen cutlery.

The handle might be too small for some folks. Testers with smaller hands found the F-808’s handle comfortable, and they didn’t have any issues with their knuckles hitting the cutting board. But knuckle clearance was scant for testers with larger hands.

This is a quality knife that stands the test of time. The F-808 has been a popular knife in our test kitchen since 2015. We especially like its smooth slicing action and blade-heavy balance. Several Wirecutter staff members also have the F-808 and love it. Senior staff writer Michael Sullivan has been using the F-808 at home since 2017. “It continues to hold its razor-sharp edge with minimal sharpening,” he said in 2023. “It’s my go-to knife for chopping vegetables and delicate herbs with precision. It’s well balanced and easy to maneuver.”

Tojiro doesn’t offer a warranty on its knives sold outside of Japan. Instead, it’s up to individual authorized retailers to offer a warranty on Tojiro tools. We’ve confirmed that Cutlery and More honors a lifetime warranty on Tojiro knives.

If you like the heft and the more substantial feel of a forged German knife, we recommend the Wüsthof Classic Ikon 8″ Chef’s Knife. Its factory edge is sharp, and it’s a solid choice for folks who chop using a rocking motion.

The blade is sharp, but it’s slightly less graceful than our top pick’s blade. In our tests, the Classic Ikon cut smoothly through butternut squash and onions. The carrots did split slightly, however. That’s because this knife’s blade is thicker than the one on our top pick, the Mac MTH-80. Like the other German knives we tested, this one caused moderate bruising with cut basil.

It’s comfortable to hold. Many testers liked the Classic Ikon’s smooth, rounded handle, which fit nicely into the palm. The handle is larger than that of our top pick, and testers with large hands liked the generous knuckle clearance.

This knife’s stainless steel blade is more durable than the Mac MTH-80’s blade. If you drop a Wüsthof knife into the sink or wait to clean it after cutting acidic foods, it shouldn’t chip, stain, or corrode. On the other hand, the soft stainless steel also means the edge of this knife dulls faster and requires more-regular sharpening.

But that doesn’t mean you should abuse the Classic Ikon knife—or any knife, really. That kind of treatment destroys the blade’s edge, so don’t do it.

The Classic Ikon knife comes with a lifetime limited warranty (PDF) that covers manufacturing defects and damage occurring under “normal use and conditions.” Damage from accidents, misuse, and abuse are not covered.

We also recommend Wüsthof’s Classic Ikon 8″ Chef’s Knife in our guide to knife sets. The six-piece Classic Ikon set is a great option if you know you like German knives, and you have the cash to drop on a whole set.

The Victorinox Swiss Classic 8-Inch Chef’s Knife is the best you can buy for around $60. It’s good for folks who don’t want to spend a lot, and it’s especially good for beginner cooks because it’s durable. We wouldn’t go so far as to call the Swiss Classic Chef’s Knife a “beater knife,” but its polished stainless steel blade and ergonomic plastic handle can withstand more abuse than those of our other picks.

Its shape is suitable for most cooks. This knife’s gentle curved edge is good for any chopping style, and its wide blade lets you easily scoop and transfer food from the cutting board. We also like that the edges of the blade’s spine are slightly rounded and don’t dig into your forefinger while you chop.

It has a good sharp edge (for the price). We diced onions, julienned carrots, and halved a butternut squash with relative ease and accuracy. The Swiss Classic Chef’s Knife isn’t as keen as our picks from Mac or Tojiro. Also, you’ll need to hone it regularly, and you may want to invest in a home knife sharpener. But if you’re replacing an old, dull knife or buying your first kitchen blade on a budget, this Victorinox knife won’t disappoint.

The contoured handle is a bit polarizing. Some testers found it difficult to pinch grip the knife because of the angle where the handle meets the blade. Other testers (I was in this camp) had no problem holding it with a comfortable pinch grip (video). Interestingly, hand size didn’t seem to be a factor here. Folks with small hands as well as those with large hands landed on both sides.

It’s comfy for cooks who don’t use a pinch grip. We understand that many home cooks don’t hold a knife using a pinch grip, as pro cooks do. We chopped some onions while gripping the knife farther back on the handle and found that the contoured handle accommodated that style of grip well. It felt comfortable and stable.

Victorinox covers the 8-inch Swiss Classic Chef’s Knife with a limited lifetime warranty that excludes normal wear and tear, misuse, or abuse.

Basic care

It’s easy to care for a knife—it just takes attention and two extra minutes. Simply hand-wash and dry it thoroughly after each use. Never put any sharp blade in the dishwasher, since it’s not good for the edge to bump up against other things, such as glassware and ceramic (materials that are harder than the steel). Don’t use anything abrasive on the blade, such as a Brillo pad or a scouring sponge, which can make little scratches in the metal.

Never throw unprotected knives into a drawer, where they will dull quickly. Wall-mounted magnetic strips—such as the Benchcrafted Mag-Blok we recommend in our guide to small-kitchen gear—are better and safer. If you don’t want a magnetic strip mounted to your wall, buy a blade guard. That way you can store your knife in a drawer and keep the edge protected.

Use your knife only on a wood, plastic, or rubber cutting board. Do not, by any means, let your edge hit glass, granite, marble, or ceramics—not even a quick slice on a dinner plate. Master Smith Murray Carter explained, “Anything that has any degree of hardness that approaches metal, especially ceramic that’s 10 times harder than metal … as soon as it makes contact with the edge, it dulls it.”

Honing and sharpening

Maintain a sharp cutting edge with a honing rod. This tool doesn’t actually sharpen the blade—its sole purpose is to realign the microscopic teeth on the knife’s edge that get knocked out of alignment during use. We like to use a ceramic rod because it’s harder than the hardest steel but has a smooth grit, so it won’t chew up the edge of your knife while it realigns the edge. Hone your knife before each use, and you’ll be golden.

As you watch a chef whipping a knife down the rod toward their hand at lightning speed, it’s easy to see yourself taking a thumb off. But the task is not as difficult as it looks. There are two ways to effectively hone a knife.

The key with both styles of honing is to make sure the edge bevel is flush to the rod. If you’re starting out, it’s safer to place the tip of the honing rod on a cutting board, with the rod perpendicular to the board. Start with your knife toward the rod’s handle, and then pull down from heel to tip. Repeat on the other side of the knife, and continue for four or five reps.

Most pros point the tip of the rod up and pull the knife down toward the handle.

Eventually your knife will need sharpening. Depending on the composition of your knife’s steel and how often you use it, that could mean every six months to a year. You’ll know it’s time when you have to work to get through the skins of tomatoes or cucumbers.

If you want to send your knives out for sharpening, it’s important that you look for a professional who knows what they’re doing. Unfortunately, that’s really hard to find. We suggest asking a local chef where they would send their personal knives (not the cheap kitchen-prep knives). Generally, chefs sharpen their own knives, but they usually know of a reputable knife person.

We like these Japanese stones and have used them for years. It takes practice to become proficient on a whetstone, but this is an invaluable skill to cultivate. We suggest learning on old knives that you may have buried in the back of a drawer. For online tutorials, check out these Murray Carter and Korin videos, which show you how to use whetstones. After some education and a lot of practice, you’ll be able to sharpen any old knife to a pro-style edge.

You can also use a home knife sharpener. If you’re investing in a quality, expensive knife, like our main pick, we still believe that a whetstone used properly will provide the sharpest, smoothest edge. But if you want to sharpen our budget pick, a German steel blade, or an inexpensive paring or utility knife, try one of our knife-sharpener picks. In our tests we found that well-designed models worked nicely, causing minimal wear to knives while creating a fine edge. And because these sharpeners are convenient, people tend to use them regularly, which results in safer chopping and a happier kitchen experience. But be sure to avoid the cheapest knife sharpeners, which will quickly eat away too much of the blade’s metal.

Japanese-style knives

We gave the Global 8″ Classic Japanese Chef’s Knife an honorable dismissal. It would’ve been one of our top picks, but our testers were split down the middle: People either loved this knife for its lightweight and razor-sharp edge or hated it because of its dimpled steel handle (which could get slippery in wet hands).

The Togiharu Molybdenum Gyuto 8.2″ is a classic lightweight gyuto. Another honorable dismissal, this knife is sharp and precise. Like our runner-up pick, the Tojiro F-808, it lacks knuckle clearance for large hands, but the F-808 is a better value.

The Mac TH-80 is similar to our top pick in blade design and size. It lacks the weight and the smooth transition from blade to handle, though, and we found that it simply wasn’t as comfortable to use.

The Mercer MX3 M16110 gyuto performed about as well as our runner-up pick from Tojiro. It was considerably more expensive at the time of our tests, but prices fluctuate. So if you can find this knife at a similar price to the cost of the Tojiro F-808, it’s a good option.

Even though the Mac MBK-85 is an objectively good knife, our testers were pretty lukewarm about it. The edge was sharp, and the knife itself was comfortable to hold. However, the 8.5-inch blade length was a little too much for home cooks.

Like the Mac MBK-85, the Mac HB-85 garnered lukewarm reviews from our testing panel. The HB-85 offers a good price-to-quality ratio, but our testing panel overwhelmingly chose the Tojiro F-808 as the better chef’s knife for the price.

The Tojiro Classic Damascus F-655 gyuto is a higher-end version of the Tojiro F-808. Most testers agreed that this model was a little too heavy for their liking.

German-style knives

The Five Two 8″ Chef’s Knife from Food52 has many characteristics we look for in a knife: a half bolster, a comfortable handle, and a gradual curved edge. But it’s made from a low-grade steel that doesn’t hold an edge as long as our picks.

We found that the Made In 8 Inch Chef’s Knife’s deep blade curve and angled bolster (which sets the handle too far back from the blade) made chopping and slicing awkward.

The 8-inch Misen Chef’s Knife fell flat in performance. The slicing action was rough, and the edge felt a little toothy. It couldn’t make a straight cut down the middle of a butternut squash, and it split carrots.

We tested the Mercer Genesis M21078 as a budget option. Although it was sharper out of the box than our Victorinox pick, the latter was more comfortable to hold and had better balance.

The blade of the Messermeister Meridian Elite Chef's Knife 3686-8 was sharp enough, but it was not as smooth as that of the Mac MTH-80 or the Wüsthof Classic Ikon 8″ Chef’s Knife. This knife was also heavier than the Wüsthof model, and our testers found it awkward to hold.

Another budget choice, the Messermeister Pro Series Wide-Blade Chef’s Knife 5025-8 was pretty much on a par with our budget pick. But due to the sharp edges on the spine, which kept digging into our forefingers, we found it uncomfortable to use.

The Zwilling Pro 8-inch Chef's Knife was just awkward to use. The curve of the blade was too severe and made chopping difficult. We had a hard time maintaining control.

The Shun Classic Chef’s 8″ DM0706 was mediocre. The long stick handle kept jabbing into my wrist, and the cutting edge was only adequate.

Mercer’s Millennia Chef’s Knife M22608 was not very sharp; the stamped blade split carrots and was uncomfortable to use.

We found the Rada Cutlery French Chef knife to be comically flimsy. Stamped from American stainless steel scraps, this knife couldn’t make straight cuts in butternut squash or carrots.

This article was edited by Gabriella Gershenson, Marilyn Ong, and Marguerite Preston.