Choosing a New Chef’s Knife Is Easier When You Know a Chef

Chef’s knives come in various styles, materials, and price points. Makers have increasingly patented and trademarked the materials knives are made of and the techniques used to create them. This obfuscation makes it difficult for an average consumer to compare options. To get to the bottom of it all, we reached out to chef Evan Hennessey, a James Beard nominee and the owner of Stages at One Washington and The Living Room in Dover, New Hampshire, for the nitty gritty real-deal truth on what we really need to know before we part with our cash (or our fingertips).

According to Hennessey, a chef’s knife is a fundamental tool in even the most stripped-down kitchens — more so than the common paring knife. Why? If you only have one knife, it’s the most utilitarian of them all. Hennessy has favorites: the Misono 8-inch Chef’s Knife and the Global 8-inch Chef’s Knife. “These remain my preferred knife brands, and their chef’s knives are an excellent choice for home cooks,” he says.

Misono 8-inch Chef’s Knife

Global 8-inch Chef’s Knife

Once upon a time, Hennessey was just as confused about knives as the rest of us. As a kid, his parents had a drawer of loose knives, like many home kitchens. “You know, the not-sure-when-you-got-it or the dangerously-dull-never-sharpened kinda knives?” he jokes. 

And culinary school wasn’t much better. He found the standard issue knife kit was cheap and full of flimsy knives with blades that would bend under pressure. His first experience with a professional knife was under the tutelage of a chef who appreciated what many call “western” knives, or knives that hail from Europe. They were engineered, hefty, and expensive, requiring daily blade maintenance. “I did as I was taught,” he says. “I bought the knives and did the same ritual of sharpening and honing every day. Years later, I realized he did that not because it was a mental ritual or anything of the sort; it was because the knife didn’t hold its edge very well.”

His introduction to “eastern” style knives from Global and Misono taught him otherwise. Today, he owns a variety of knives, as any chef does, but notes that all any kitchen really needs are three essential knives: a solid chef’s knife, a bread knife, and a utility knife, or as he put it, “something around 6-inches you can use to tournée vegetables or butcher a pig.”

Misono and Global brands are his top picks due to how light and well-made they are. “These knives feel right in your hand, balanced.” And as home cooks who don’t spend nearly as many hours a week with a knife in our hands as a pro, the lighter our knives are, the less likely our hands are to become fatigued mid-chop. ”Plus, Global knives are a single-piece blade, so there aren’t any rivets to loosen with use and time,” he says. “If you’re looking for something less intimidating, try a slightly shorter 7-inch santoku-style knife from Misono or Global, with a more downturned tip.”

Global knives can be purchased individually or in sets that include multiple styles; the brand even sells a fleet of sleek steak knives. Misono tends to sell its knives in single units or pairs.

At time of publishing, the Misono 8-inch Chef’s Knife price was $75 and the Global 8-inch Chef’s Knife price was $100.