Best bread knives

The best bread knives saw through the crustiest baguette without squashing it, leaving you with crisp, untorn slices that you can cut as thin as you like.

In February 2022, we put 10 bread knives ranging from just £3 to £100-plus from brands such as Global, John Lewis & Partners, ProCook and more to the test.

Considering a bread knife's job is simply cutting neatly through crust, we were surprised how costly some of them can be. But we were pleased to find that even though our tests proved you have to pay a bit more for the best, you can find very good ones if you want to spend less than £50, or even less than £20. 

Find out which bread knives had the best build quality, were the easiest to use and had the most comfortable handles.

Pricing and availability last checked: 8 August 2022.

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The best bread knives

Only logged-in Which? members can view the bread knife test results. If you're not a member, or not yet logged in, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the bread knives we tested.  

Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations below.

Dunelm Soft Grip Bread Knife

Only available at Dunelm: £4.

Blade length: 20cm

Handle length: 12.5cm

Weight: 120g

This Dunelm bread knife was the cheapest we tested and it would have been great to be able to say that it did the best job. But it didn't. We did, however, find a bread knife for less than £20 that we would heartily recommend. 

To see our recommendations, log in or join Which?.

Forest & Forge Bread Knife with Spalted Beechwood Handle

Cheapest price: £124.99 available at Lakeland, also available at Dexam. 

Blade length: 21cm

Handle length: 12.5cm

Weight: 160g

We had no idea what spalted beechwood was. It turns out that it's the name for the dark swoosh you can see in the wood of this knife's handle. Apparently, it's as a result of fungal decay, but it means that each of these Forest & Forge bread knives is unique. 

Price at more than £120, we'd be hoping for superb slicing ability and comfortable cutting as well as a hip handle.

To find out how this elegantly designed knife compared with the others we tested, log in or join Which? to reveal our recommendations.

Global G-9 Stainless Steel Bread Knife

Cheapest price: £100 available at Ocado, also available at Global, Lakeland.

Blade length: 22.5cm

Handle length: 12cm

Weight: 160g

The sleek, full-steel design of Global knives might appeal if you don't mind spending £100. But it's worth knowing that the widest point of the blade (3.5cm) makes this Global bread knife too big to fit in some traditional knife blocks

If neither price nor size has put you off, to find out how this bread knife compared, log in or join Which? for instant access to our full review and Best Buy recommendations.

Complete your set of Global knives. See how the brand fared in our reviews of the best kitchen utility knives and best chef's knives

John Lewis & Partners Classic Bread Knife

Only available at John Lewis: £28 (in-store only).

Blade length: 22.5cm

Handle length: 12.5cm

Weight: 150g

John Lewis & Partners says its classic bread knife is made from high-carbon stainless steel, and has a strong and durable riveted handle.

We tested for build quality, ease of use and comfort, so how did this John Lewis bread knife measure up? 

To find out, log into your account or join Which? today for instant access to all our full reviews and Best Buy recommendations. 

Kitchen Devils Control Bread Knife

Only available at Amazon: £12.74.

Blade length: 21cm

Handle length: 13cm

Weight: 150g

The Kitchen Devils bread knife was one of the cheapest we tested and there was lots to love about it. However, we did find better. 

Read our full review by logging into your account or join Which? today to get instant access to all our reviews. 

Kuhn Rikon Colori Non-Stick Bread and Baguette Knife

Cheapest price: £19.95 available at Kuhn Rikon, also available at Amazon.

Blade length: 26cm

Handle length: 14cm

Weight: 114g (172g with sheath)

This Kuhn Rikon bread knife was the only one we tested with non-stick claims.  

We put those claims to the test by seeing how it cut through baguette, farmhouse loaf and sourdough bread.

Log in or join Which? for instant access to all our reviews and to find out if this rather striking looking bread knife cut smooth slices with ease or not.

Lakeland Hammered Steel Bread Knife

Only available at Lakeland: £39.99.

Blade length: 20.5cm

Handle length: 14cm

Weight: 202g

Lakeland claims its hammered steel knife will give you a perfect slice every time, whether cutting through crusty bread or soft loaves.

That's not what we found, though, although it did have its plus points. 

It's also worth noting that, like the Global bread knife we tested, this Lakeland bread knife is wider than some others (3cm at its widest point), so might be too big to slot into some traditional knife blocks. 

To read our full review and see which are the best bread knives, log in or join Which? to unlock our recommendations.

ProCook Damascus 67 Bread Knife

Only available at ProCook: £109.

Blade length: 23cm

Handle length: 12cm

Weight: 181g

Why is this Procook bread knife called the 67? That's the number of layers of Japanese Damascus stainless steel that have gone into it, Procook says.

Sounds impressive, but did all those layers of steel make enough of a difference to pay £99? 

To find out, log in or join Which? today for instant access to all our reviews.

Robert Welch Signature Stainless Steel Bread Knife

Cheapest price: £55.99 available at Lakeland (out of stock), also available at John Lewis (in store only), Robert Welch.

Blade length: 22cm

Handle length: 13cm

Weight: 180g

We've tested a number of Robert Welch knives, plus its knife sharpener and kitchen scissors, and saw differing results. 

We've also been seeing some difficulty getting hold of Robert Welch knives recently, which might also factor into your decision about whether to buy this brand or not. 

To find out if this Robert Welch bread knife is worth holding out for and adding to your set of knives, log in or join Which? today to read our reviews.

Sabatier Triple Rivet Bread Knife

Only available at Dunelm: £13.

Blade length: 21cm

Handle length: 13cm

Weight: 192g

Sabatier knives have been around for more than 200 years, and if you're into your knives, you might be interested to know that this is one of three bread knives we tested that is evenly balanced – the others were from Global and ProCook. 

Some knife aficionados say that an evenly balanced knife makes for better ease of cutting. But others think a heavier blade is better, while some prefer more weight in the handle.

Did the heritage and balance of this Sabatier bread knife make it a winner? 

To read our full review, log in or join Which? for instant access to all our reviews and Best Buy recommendations.

Are electric knives good for cutting bread?

When we tested electric carving knives, we found they did a brilliant job when slicing bread. 

The electric carving motions of the knives makes it easy to slice smooth and even slices. 

Three things we learned testing bread knives

We found three things that can make the difference between a good and bad bread knife during our tests.

1) Shallow teeth can be better

There was a variety of teeth or serration shapes and sizes on the cutting edges of the knives we tested. 

While you may expect the larger teeth to be most proficient for slicing, we actually found that the bread knives with shallow serrations to be the most effective. 

2) Bendy blades are bad for bread

A flexible knife blade has its uses, but we found bread knives with a slightly more rigid blade were easier to control and cut more even slices. 

The more flexible blades wobbled a bit while in use, and the resistance from the bread tended to push them sideways, leaving you with a wavy slice.

3) Hold it in your hand first

We found a good handle can make all the difference. 

An uncomfortable or hard-to-grip handle can make even the sharpest knives unpleasant to use.

If you can, we recommend taking the time to feel the handle and decide for yourself if you like the grip. 

Can you sharpen bread knives?

Yes, but you need the correct tools.

Some handheld sharpeners, including a few we tested in our best knife sharpener guide, are able to sharpen serrated knives. Look for ones that state they're suitable for serrated edges.

The technique is a little different to sharpening a normal knife and can depend on the sharpener you pick.

All sharpeners should come with instructions. Make sure you read them before sharpening a serrated knife for the first time. 

How we tested bread knives

To find the best bread knives, we put our selection through the following series of tests:

Ease of use

A knife's main job is to cut slices of bread. To test this, we used each one to slice through baguette and farmhouse and sourdough loaves.

The best cut smooth and even slices with complete ease, while the worst squashed the bread, struggled to cut into it or tore the slices.

Comfort

The true test on whether a handle is comfortable or not comes from using the knife.

As we used the knives for the ease-of-use tests, we also scored how comfortable each handle was.

The best sat well in our hands and caused no discomfort, while the worst made using the knife difficult.

Build quality

We considered the design and shape of all the knives' handles and blades, as well as checking them for any manufacturing flaws or faults.

The best impressed us with the quality of craftsmanship and well thought out designs, while the worst had a couple of manufacturing faults and seemed more shoddily finished

How we chose the bread knives we tested

We tested bread knives from the most popular brands. 

We purchased all the products we tested and no food was wasted to bring you these results.