
5 dishwashers that clean and dry brilliantly
29th June 2022
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A chef's knife (also known as a cook's knife) is recognised as the most important blade in the kitchen by many and can be used for almost every cutting task. It's a must-have item in every knife set, block or drawer.
In March 2021, we tested chef knives from well-known brands, such as Global, Lakeland, ProCook and Robert Welch.
Chef's knives are the most commonly purchased kitchen knife, which was why we chose them for our first-ever knife test.
We originally tested 10 chef's knives but since then three of them have been discontinued. We'll have more new knife reviews soon.
Pricing and availability last checked: 6 June 2022.
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Only logged-in Which? members can view the chef's knives test results below. If you're not yet a member, or not yet logged in, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the kitchen knives we've tested.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations below.
Only available at Selfridges & Co: £96.
Blade size we tested: 13cm blade – also available in 20cm
Weight: 110g
Comes with a sheath: No
Dishwasher safe: No
This Global cook's knife is a back-heavy 13cm blade.
This kitchen knife is hand forged from CROMOVA 18, a high-carbon hand-forged stainless steel that Global says is exclusive to its brand.
It's one piece of metal from cutting edge to handle.
What did our tests reveal about this cook's knife? To find out, log in or join Which? to see our full results.
Cheapest price: £10.99 available at Robert Dyas, also available at Amazon.
Blade size we tested: 20cm blade – no other sizes available
Weight: 106g
Comes with a sheath: No
Dishwasher safe: Yes
This 20cm cook's knife is front heavy.
The steel blade is one of the most flexible and lightest for its size of those we tested.
We found the soft rubber handle is well shaped to offer a comfortable grip.
It's one of the cheapest blades we've tested.
How does it compare to pricier chef's knives? To find out, log in or join Which? to see our full results.
Only available at Lakeland: £34.99.
Blade size we tested: 20cm blade – no other sizes available
Weight: 220g
Comes with a sheath: Yes
Dishwasher safe: No
This is a front-heavy 20cm kitchen knife that comes with a sheath for safe storage.
The chef's knife is made from Japanese stainless steel.
The handle of the knife is wrapped in soft-grip rubber.
Log in now or join Which? to see our full results.
Only available at Lakeland: £16.99.
Blade size we tested: 15cm blade – also available in 20cm
Weight: 165g
Comes with a sheath: Yes, with a built-in sharpener
Dishwasher safe: Yes
The Masterclass chef's knife is a 15cm back-heavy blade.
This kitchen knife is forged from a single piece of stainless steel.
The whole kitchen knife is covered in an armour coating which makes it dishwasher safe.
But how did this rigid blade compare with the others on test?
To see our full results, log in or join Which?.
Only available at ProCook: £9.99.
Blade size we tested: 20cm blade – no other sizes available
Weight: 176g
Comes with a sheath: No
Dishwasher safe: No
The Nihon X50 chef's knife is a perfectly balanced 20cm blade.
Its flexible blade is forged from X50 stainless steel, containing 0.5% carbon and 15% chrome.
This kitchen knife's rounded handle is made from European beech wood.
How sharp was the edge of this chef's knife? To find out, log in or join Which? to see our full results.
Only available at ProCook: £5.
Blade size we tested: 15cm blade – no other sizes available
Weight: 98g
Comes with a sheath: Yes
Dishwasher safe: No
The cheapest knife we've tested is a 15cm front-heavy blade.
The kitchen knife has a carbon steel blade and an integrated soft-grip handle.
This chef's knife comes in sky or duck egg blue with a matching sheath for safe storage.
Log in or join Which? to see find out how it compared in our reviews.
Cheapest price: £40 (out of stock until September due to Covid Taiwan impacting supply) available at Amazon, also available at John Lewis, Lakeland, Robert Welch.
Blade size we tested: 12cm blade - also available in 14cm, 16cm, 18cm, 20cm and 25cm
Weight: 112g
Comes with a sheath: No
Dishwasher safe: Yes, but recommended to hand wash
This stylish back-heavy 12cm blade is the smallest of the chef knive we've tested.
The blade of the kitchen knife is forged from German steel.
We found the slightly curved handle comfortable to hold.
Log in or join Which? to see if we discovered anything else to admire when we tested it.
A chef's knife is a large, general-purpose kitchen knife usually 12cm to 20cm long with a blade that curves upwards along its length and ends in a narrow point.
As pictured above, your thumb and index finger should be on opposite sides of the blade, closest to the bolster, while your remaining three fingers should be loosely curled around the handle.
This grip, mainly through the thumb and index finger, gives you extra control over the blade.
Your other hand (not holding the knife) is called your guiding hand. It has the job of holding food in place to keep it from sliding around on the chopping board.
Keep your fingers safe by tucking them into a claw grip: fingers curled inwards, gripping the food with your fingernails. The side of the knife blade should rest against the first knuckle of your guiding hand.
You'll see us refer in our reviews to chef knives as back-heavy, front-heavy or balanced. Here's what that means:
One is not better than the other. It's a matter of personal preference.
When choosing a knife, you may see it described as having full tang or hidden tang. Here's a quick explanation of what that means:
Japanese knives:
European (also known as German) knives:
To find out which of our selected chef's knives was the best, we put the whole selection through a series of tests:
Before any other tests were conducted, we examined each knife fresh out the box for its sharpness.
We did this by shining a light directly across the cutting edge of the blade. Reflections on the cutting edge indicated areas of dullness.
The fewer areas of reflection, the higher the knife was rated.
Next, we sliced each knife through each of these:
Most of the knives we tested handled paper, cucumbers and chicken breasts well. If a knife didn't, we highlighted this in our verdicts.
Knives that cut through every piece of produce were rated more highly.
Each knife was rated on completing three basic kitchen knife skills:
Dicing Each knife was used to dice half a red onion.
Mincing Each knife was used to mince one garlic clove.
Julienning Each knife was used to julienne one 5cm piece of carrot.
After the cutting tests, the sharpness of each knife was rated by shining a light directly across the cutting edge of the blade. Reflections on the cutting edge indicate areas of dullness.
Then each knife was used to attempt to slice a piece of paper in half for the second time in our testing.
After testing, all knives were disposed of in a responsible manner by donating them to local soup kitchens.
We investigated the most popular and bestselling chef's knives from national retailers that were in stock for home delivery at the time of testing.
We purchased all the products we tested.