One thing’s for certain: A chef’s knife is one of the most indispensable kitchen tools for beginners and professional chefs alike, right up there with a trusty skillet and a durable cutting board. But which chef’s knife is the best chef’s knife? That’s not so clear-cut.
The truth is, and this is not a cop-out, the quest for the best chef’s knife has a lot to do with you—your skill level, your commitment to knife care, even how big your hands are. There are a million things to consider, like shape, size, and blade or handle material. You have to think about whether you prefer a Japanese- or Western-style knife and the price point at which you’re willing to shop: Can you drop hundreds on the right model, or are you after a budget blade even if you’ll need to replace it after a few years? No matter what, this is a tool you’ll use practically every time you cook, whether you’re mincing garlic and dicing veggies for your weekly meal prep or carving a chicken at your next dinner party.
The best chef’s knife overall: Mac Professional Hollow Edge 8″ Chef’s Knife
Another great chef’s knife: Shun Classic 8″ Chef’s Knife
The best budget chef’s knife: Mercer Culinary Renaissance Chef’s Knife
Best Japanese chef’s knife: Kazan Arare by Shibata Gyutou 210mm
An affordable, personal favorite: Hedley & Bennett Chef’s Knife
An upgrade pick for experienced home cooks: Misono UX10 Chef’s Knife
A supremely comfortable and durable splurge: Benchmade Chef Knife
If this all sounds overwhelming, don’t worry—I’m here to help you make sense of the vast world of chef’s knives. I’ve spent the past several years testing 42 models both in my home kitchen and in the BA Test Kitchen. Over time, I’ve developed a real sense of what makes a great knife, and more importantly, because I’ve handled so many different types of chef’s knives, a sense of what makes different models good for different kinds of people.
If you’re looking to start your knife shopping journey here, I’ve got recommendations for excellent kitchen knives at a range of price points that include some of the big brands you’ve heard of and terrific smaller ones you may not have.
New in this update: We added a few of our favorite picks from our best Japanese knives review, including the Kazan Arare by Shibata and Akira-Saku Funayuki knives. We also updated our review of the Made In Chef’s Knife, which received a new edge style in early 2025, and added a review of Made In’s Japanese gyuto as well. Lastly, we removed Misen’s original chef’s knife because it’s been discontinued, but we are currently testing the new model.
What we love: This great knife from Japanese brand Mac checked all of the boxes in head-to-head knife tests: It’s sharp enough to glide through food and produce paper-thin slices, lightweight enough to allow for nimble movements, and comfortable enough for you to make your way through a mountain of onions without your hand cramping up. It’s also extremely well-priced considering its high quality—take good care of a Mac knife, and it’ll last you for years to come. After years of testing this knife against other models, it’s continually come out on top.
Though it comes from Japan, this is a hybrid-style knife, which means it combines the best qualities of both Western and Japanese chef’s knives: Its blade shape sits somewhere between the rounded edge of a Western-style model and the more straight-sided blade of a Japanese one, and its molybdenum high-carbon steel strikes a balance between the softer, more durable type of steel typical of a Western-style knife and the sharper, more brittle steel used in Japanese knives. The result? A knife that’s highly versatile and supersharp. With a 50/50 double bevel (meaning both sides are sharpened to the same angle), this knife is also relatively easy to maintain.
Pat Alfiero of Philadelphia-based butcher counter, sandwich shop, and BA Best New Restaurant, Heavy Metal Sausage Co., uses a custom-made knife nowadays, but he’s owned Mac knives in the past and is a fellow fan of the brand. While he tends to opt for styles with a smooth surface blade, you’ll notice that the one we’re recommending here based on our testing has dimples running along each side. These are what make it a Granton edge (or hollow) knife, and they’re there to help prevent whatever you’re slicing from sticking to the blade.
What we’d leave: Not much—this knife is comfortable, performs superbly, and is well-made. The one thing to consider with MAC knives, however, is the steel itself. While the inclusion of molybdenum in its steel alloy contributes to rust resistance, the high carbon content makes this knife more prone to stains and rust than stainless-steel blades would be. Its hardness also makes it susceptible to chipping, so be careful if you use it to cut through bone.
What we love: Shun’s Classic 8 chef’s knife
What we love: Shun’s Classic 8″ chef’s knife cuts like a dream. Its razor-sharp edge glided through onions with zero resistance, and its lightweight blade sliced through tough squash with very little effort required. Like the Mac above, it’s a hybrid-style knife. It has more of a Western shape with its curving belly and a traditional Japanese wa-style handle. It’s a tall knife, too, with a blade height of nearly two inches. This makes it great for rocking chops for mincing herbs as well as comfortable to hold in a variety of grips. The pakkawood handle is comfortable, providing plenty of grip without feeling tacky on your palms.
What makes this knife stand out is its Damascus steel pattern. All 68 layers of steel are visible in a wavy pattern down the length of the blade, adding visual appeal, strength, and corrosion resistance. With a VG-Max high-carbon core, the Shun was both razor-sharp out of the box and retained its edge throughout testing. Even after over 60 chops on a cutting board, it glided through paper, cutting clean strips as if it had never been used.
Overall, the Shun is an impressive knife that’s great for any home cook who’s interested in a hybrid-style knife that has a more classic Western blade profile. It went toe-to-toe with our top pick when it comes to performance, and its patterned steel makes it as beautiful as it is sharp.
What we’d leave: Because the blade curves upward to its tip, the Shun isn’t as adept at fine point work the way other hybrid-style knives with a more pronounced downward sloping drop point are. It’s also one of the more expensive knives in our lineup, and its overall size might make it feel slightly large for smaller hands.
What we love: For its price (almost always under $60), the Mercer Culinary Renaissance chef’s knife offers a lot: high-carbon steel, full-tang construction, and high-quality handle scales. It performed very well in our cutting tests, only slightly lagging behind more expensive winners, and it held its edge through testing and sharpened well in between, easily slicing through paper after repeated chops on the cutting board. The blade is perfectly balanced at the bolster, making it comfortable and effective at slicing through even tough squash repeatedly. This is a great option for anyone who wants a well-made knife with great cutting power but isn’t ready to commit to a higher price point.
What we’d leave: The edge lacked some of the sharpness of our more expensive winners, but the Mercer definitely punches above its weight. It was also one of the bulkier knives we tested, making it slightly less suited for precision slicing. The steel quality is also lower than our other top picks, and you’ll likely have to have this knife sharpened more frequently.
What we love: Hands down, this is the sharpest knife we’ve ever tested. Aside from having an extremely fine factory edge, the Kazan Arare gyuto from Shibata has multiple bevels ground in from the spine, making its blade geometry almost impossibly thin by the time you get to the edge. Its traditional gyuto shape is perfect for pull-through slicing, and the hand-hammered spine helps with food release so the potatoes you’re slicing don’t stick to the flat of the blade. It’s extremely lightweight, it has a beautiful ebony handle, and it’s made from SG2—a high-carbon stainless steel that holds an edge really well while offering some rust and corrosion resistance. It’s a perfect knife for precision cuts and deft slicing.
What we’d leave: As a Japanese knife with harder steel than most Western chef’s knives, this isn’t an all-purpose kitchen tool that can chop through chicken bones and open cans. It’s also more susceptible to rust and corrosion than typical Western chef’s knives, meaning it requires a bit more care. Finally, it’s expensive—not everyone is in the market for a knife over $200, though in our testing, we think this knife greatly outperforms its price point and would be a wonderful addition to most homes.
What we love: This knife is well-balanced
What we love: This knife is well-balanced and very comfortable to grip and maneuver thanks to the seamless transition between its handle and blade. It was sharp out of the box and performed well in all of our tests—and after multiple years of owning one, it’s the knife I’ve found myself reaching for the most at home (which is saying something; as BA’s resident knife tester, I keep nearly a dozen different knives in rotation at a given time).
This knife has held up well over time both in my own home and in the Test Kitchen, according to editors we spoke with who have used it frequently. Food director Chris Morocco is a fan: “Hedley and Bennett’s chef’s knife has all the attributes I look for in an everyday knife,” he says. “A thin blade with a relatively flat profile for precise control and fluid cutting, excellent finish quality with soft edges, and, frankly, it just looks great. I am frankly unsure of what exactly they might have sacrificed to make it so affordable, and trust me, I have looked.”
What we’d leave: The Mac knife did chop and slice a bit more easily while residing in a similar price bracket as the Hedley & Bennett. Hence the reason why the Hedley & Bennett didn’t win the top overall spot. And, while the blade of the Hedley & Bennett has held up well over time, the handle shows wear with heavy daily use. That said, this is a great knife at a great price point.
What we love: This knife, from family-run Japanese knife-making company Misono, was an absolute joy to slice, dice, and chop with in our testing. It was incredibly sharp out of the box, making fast work of dicing up onions and peppers, tackling hefty kabocha squash with ease, and producing paper-thin slices of tomato, gliding through the delicate skin with little pushing from us. Testers and Test Kitchen editors alike all noted how comfortable the knife felt to hold and use thanks to the shape of its handle—no hand cramps here—and how nimbly they were able to maneuver it thanks to its lightweight feel.
The Misono is a gyuto (sort of a Japanese version of a Western chef’s knife), which means, like many of the other knives on this list, it has a long, hybrid-style blade. It features a riveted silver nickel bolster that aids in durability and helps the knife feel balanced. Every part of the knife is produced in-house at Misono’s facility in Seki, Gifu Prefecture, a Japanese city known for its 800-year-old history in blade making. The attention to detail is evident: This knife is a beautiful product, fit for a serious home cook who is willing to treat it right.
What we’d leave: The reasons we recommend this knife only for more experienced home cooks are twofold: For one, it’s more expensive than almost all the other knives we recommend, and you don’t need to spend over $200 on a great chef’s knife. But more importantly, this knife is harder to maintain over time than the others on this list because of its asymmetrical double-bevel edge. Rather than having the same blade angle on both sides (50/50), this knife has a 70/30 bevel. That means that one edge is sharpened to a smaller angle, making these knives suitable for either right-handed or left-handed use, but not both. The orientation of the bevels can be changed, but you may need a professional knife sharpener to do it (our upgrade pick from our knife sharpener testing, the Tormek T-1, is capable of turning a right-handed knife into a left-handed one, but it will still take attention and care on your part).
Food director Chris Morocco explains the difference between asymmetric and symmetric knives like this: “Think of a chisel versus an axe when trying to picture the difference between a 70/30 bevel and a 50/50 one. That thinner edge passes more easily through foods, but it does require consideration when sharpening. The side with the wider edge should be sharpened at a shallower angle, i.e., closer to the stone or sharpening rod, whereas the thinner edge should be steeper. Consistency of angle is more important than getting the exact angle right. If you are apprehensive, practice on your worst knife first, or try drawing on the blade edges with a sharpie and sharpen until the ink is gone to get a feel for the correct angle.” For reference, as we’ve maintained this Misono for our testing, we sharpened the steeper (inside) edge at 15º and the shallower (outer) edge at 10º.
What we love: Benchmade is an Oregon-based company that specializes in outdoor knives, which is why it’s never been featured on this list—until now, with the release of the Chef Knife. With its three-holed handle and matte metal blade, Benchmade’s Chef Knife looks quite different from your typical kitchen knife, but its performance was on par with some of the best models we’ve tried in our years of testing.
Benchmade’s high-carbon CPM-154 stainless-steel blade was ultrasharp out of the box, just thin enough to handle precise tasks like cutting paper-thin slices of tomato without being so delicate that it felt like it was going to snap when tackling tough winter squash. But my favorite thing about this knife is how comfortable it is to hold—so comfortable that everyone who picked it up during testing commented on the same thing. It’s lightweight and balanced with a durable G-10 (laminated fiberglass) handle that feels incredibly natural in the hand thanks to its ergonomic, contoured design.
Benchmade’s expertise in making knives meant for outdoor use means that this knife is built to last. The knife comes with a limited lifetime warranty, and the company offers free sharpening for life with your purchase.
What we’d leave: My only real complaint with this knife is the hefty price tag. I’d never tell anyone they need to spend $400 on a knife, especially when there are great options in the $100–$200 range. That said, it may be worth the splurge, especially if you vibe with Benchmade’s (very particular) aesthetic.
We put each knife through four tests to test its sharpness, comfort, and durability.
Each knife was evaluated based on the following criteria:
Victorinox Swiss Classic, $61→ Read more
Made In, $129 → Read more
Miyabi Kaizen, $225→ Read more
Our Place Everyday, $70→ Read more Tojiro DP
Our Place Everyday, $70→ Read more
Tojiro DP Gyuto, $130→ Read more
Middleton Made Echo, $240 → Read more
Quince Essential Japanese Damascus Steel, $70→ Read more
Shun Kazahana, $140 → Read more
Steelport 8″, $400 → Read more
Global 8″, $150→ Read more
New West Knife Works 8″, $410→ Read more
Shun Classic Kiritsuke, $200→ Read more
Shun Hikari, $250→ Read more
This 8-inch knife from Victorinox was a former budget favorite. It rings in at around $60 and performed nearly as well as many more expensive knives. With a non-slip plastic handle, it’s not particularly nice to look at, but what it lacks in the material quality and style departments, it makes up for with solid construction, an ultrasharp stainless-steel blade, and an affordable price tag. The blade is slightly rounded, which means you’ll find it comfortable to use for all of your precise knife work needs, whether you prefer the rocking motion typical of Western-style knives or the slicing motion used with Japanese styles.
If you’re a fan of a pronounced belly, this knife will likely feel nice and steady for rocking motions like mincing herbs and dicing onions. And the full-tang construction provides proper balance and support when dealing with hardy vegetables and proteins. We found the grip design to be a little strange, though—it’s a “guided grip,” seemingly to encourage a pinch grip on the bolster, but perhaps it’s meant for particularly small hands.
This Damascus steel knife from Quince was very sharp out of the box and features a full-tang construction and comfortable pakkawood handle—all impressive attributes considering its $70 price tag. If you like the look of Damascus steel but aren’t ready to take the plunge on a pricier option, this is a good starter knife.
When we last reviewed this knife, we found it surprisingly dull. In 2025, however, Made In updated its edge-grinding technology, and now the brands chef’s knives feature a 70/30 bevel that offers incredible sharpness out of the box. We really like this knife’s traditional design with a tall heel for chopping, but we also appreciated the hybrid touches you’d normally see in a Japanese knife, with the drop point tip and recessed bolster. We think this is a great option for anyone who wants an updated version of a traditional Western chef’s knife. The one thing we’ll add is that it is heavy—its handle carries a lot of mass, and because of that, this isn’t a super nimble chef’s knife. But it’s a workhorse that would fit nicely in most people’s kitchens.
If you’re looking for a hand-forged traditional Japanese chef’s knife at an affordable price, Akira-Saku’s Funayuki Gyuto is a great option. Its core steel is White #1 carbon steel, renowned for its hardness and edge retention, and it also features wrought iron cladding to protect the blade and prevent rust. This knife shape resembles the traditional all-purpose fisherman’s funayuki knife, making it great for slicing, push cuts, and chopping, all while having a rustic charm and a refined edge. Its carbon steel core does require a bit more upkeep (regular oiling will help prevent rust), but if you’re tired of all the Western-style chef’s knives, this is a great and unique option.
The Wüsthof Classic is a classic for a reason—its razor-sharpness out of the box, comfortable handle design, and high-quality proprietary steel make it an excellent kitchen workhorse. The only reason it wasn’t a top pick is the price point—it’s relatively expensive; we found it just wasn’t quite as versatile as our other pricier picks, and some of our mid-tier tested knives performed just as well. Still, if price isn’t a factor and you’re interested in a knife that will serve you well for years, the Wüsthof Classic is a great option.
The Torjio gyuto was one of the sharpest knives right out of the box. It has a more traditional Japanese gyuto shape with a more rounded sheep’s-foot drop point tip and a gentle curve to its belly, making designed more for slicing than rocking back and forth on the cutting board. Tojiro’s DP line features a full-tang construction in which the blade steel runs all the way through the handle, and its bolster is set farther back. This lets you balance the weight of the blade either in your palm with a traditional handle grip or with a pinch grip further up on the blade. This knife also uses san mai construction, sandwiching a high-carbon VG-10 steel core between two layers of corrosion-resistant stainless steel. Despite having three layers of metal and an extra quarter inch in length on most other knives, the Tojiro is relatively light with a thin blade that’s easy to maneuver.
This knife performed very well across all of tests, slicing through anything we put in front of it with practically zero resistance. Its downward-curved tip made it easy to perform precise cuts, and the knife also had just enough curve for a rock chop when needed. It’s an excellent knife for both burgeoning home cooks and seasoned professional chefs, but we ultimately preferred the Mac enough to merit spending an extra $30 on it. And while the Tojiro’s VG-10 core stays sharp, it’s more brittle than other knives and can chip if used against hard material like bone. The other thing to know about Tojiro knives is that at giant retailers like Amazon, they are not always labeled correctly. The parent brand of the company makes a bargain line that is sometimes labeled as the nicer DP line we recommend (we’ve linked to the correct knife here).
This knife was just as sharp as the other Shun knives that we tested, but the handle was bulkier, and the steel lacked the Damascus pattern that Shun is well known for. Our biggest gripe was with the handle. The tang jutted out a bit beyond the handle scales and caused some friction and rubbing when we used the knife for extended periods. We did appreciate the knife’s overall shape, though—the Kazahana series features a slightly more downward-sloped spine, creating a halfway point between a Western chef’s knife and a gyuto.
This was the first knife former associate food editor Kendra Vaculin put in her set of real knives after years of cooking with a set of multicolored Ikea blades. “I love how malleable Global knives feel in my hand despite their size,” she says. That balanced malleability is due to the fact that, instead of a full tang, the knife’s hollow ergonomic handle is filled with just enough sand to offset the weight of the knife blade. That weight distribution makes this knife feel lighter than it is. Ultimately it’s the handle that cost it a spot in our recommendations because, while it’s a quality knife, no doubt, the metal handle can be tricky for people with larger hands and overall is just a little slippery, especially with wet hands. If you do use it, make sure to dry off thoroughly when cleaning your cutting board between prep tasks.
Made In’s Japanese chef’s knife features a traditional blade shape and Damascus-patterned steel paired with the brand’s signature knife handle. This gyuto is plenty sharp and a good deal lighter than Made In’s French-made knives, and we were impressed with its performance in the cutting tests. Our one gripe is that it’s a bit expensive, and for the same price, you could snag our top pick for a Japanese gyuto.
This knife from Middleton Made is an absolute stunner. Designed by South Carolina–based bladesmith Quintin Middleton and his apprentices, it features a beautiful dymalux (dyed birch veneer) handle and forged stainless-steel blade, which has a hybrid shape that makes it versatile and able to accommodate both rocking and slicing motions.
It’s deceptively lightweight (just 0.3 ounces heavier than the Misono) and has a notch at the back of the blade for resting you index finger on that makes it particularly comfortable to grip. It also cut like a dream, tackling thick-skinned squash and sinking through juicy tomatoes with shocking ease.
We also love that buying this knife means supporting a master bladesmith who’s been honing his craft for 20 years. It would make an excellent gift for the avid home cook in your life—even if that home cook is you.
The only note we’d make is that love of the blade shape wasn’t universal among our testers, but that just goes to show how personal knife preference can sometimes be.
This knife was well-balanced and, between its sturdy handle and thin and sloping blade, allowed for excellent precision cuts. We like this knife’s Damascus pattern, adding visual appeal, sturdiness, and corrosion resistance, but ultimately it didn’t perform quite as well as our top picks and cost more.
With its birch pakkawood handle and shiny patterned blade, the Shun Hikari is quite the looker. And in our most recent round of testing, it proved to be a top performer as well. This knife glided effortlessly through everything we threw at it. It’s light while still being weighty enough to sink through tomatoes as if they were room-temp butter, and it cut easily through tough acorn squash. We liked the shape of the blade, which is sloped in a way that makes it conducive to different types of slicing motions. This knife was also one of the most comfortable to hold thanks to the angled design of the bolster and its seamless transition into the blade. The only real downside to this knife is the price. At $230 at the time of writing, it’s a bit of a splurge.
Shun’s update to the traditional kiritsuke knife, defined by its angular tip, adds a bit of swell to the belly to create a more hybrid-style chef’s knife. We really enjoyed the performance of this knife, and it excelled at slicing, push cuts, and julienne work. Ultimately, it wasn’t quite as versatile as Shun’s Classic chef’s knife, and its shape wasn’t ideal for dicing an onion or breaking down a whole squash. If you have the budget for a second chef’s knife, however, Shun’s Classic kiritsuke is a great companion to a more traditional chef’s knife.
Beautiful, functional, and comfortable to use, New West Knife Works’ chef’s knife aced our cutting tests. Its edge also held up excellently after thorough use, requiring less honing than most of its competition. Its sky-high price point makes it tricky to recommend, however, leaving this knife better for true enthusiasts and collectors.
With its carbon-steel edge and proprietary heat treatment, Steelport’s chef’s knife is razor-sharp and sliced its way through our tests with flying colors. Without stainless-steel cladding, however, this knife will rust if not dried thoroughly and oiled consistently. It mimics a more traditional kitsune shape with its steep tip and finger groove at the heel. It’s also heavy, which might be harder to control for some users. Finally, like the New West knife, its high price tag makes it better for picky knife obsessives than the average home cook.
Jesse Raub: I’ve spent the past several years testing over 40 different models both in my home kitchen and in the BA Test Kitchen. Over time, I’ve developed a real sense of what makes a great chef’s knife, and because I’ve handled so many different types of knives, a sense of what makes different models good for different kinds of people.
Alaina Chou: I’ve been testing kitchen products for Bon Appétit and Epicurious since 2022. I use chef’s knives every time I’m in the Test Kitchen reviewing air fryers or at home testing meal kits.
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Source: www.bonappetit.com
