Most kitchen knife sets are decoration. You'll cook for a year and only ever pick up two of them.
What actually matters
A single 8-inch (20 cm) chef's knife. Sharp. That's it.
It chops onions. It slices meat. It minces garlic. It dices peppers, carrots, courgettes. It slices a melon. It even works for filleting most fish.
A cleaver, a paring knife, a serrated bread knife — useful, eventually. But none come before the chef's knife.
What sharp actually means
If you can't slice a tomato cleanly without crushing it, your knife isn't sharp. Doesn't matter what it cost.
A cheap knife you sharpen every two weeks beats a famous-brand knife you've had for ten years and never honed. Buy a pull-through sharpener for £15 and use it. Or take it to a sharpening service every six months. That's the whole secret.
How to hold it
Pinch grip. Thumb and index finger on the blade itself, just past the bolster. Other three fingers wrap the handle.
You'll feel weird at first. Then you'll never go back. Pinch grip gives you control. Handle-only grip turns a chef's knife into a butter knife.
What to skip
- The 12-piece block.
- The "Japanese-style mini chef" with a hollow handle.
- Anything described as "self-sharpening."
One good knife. Sharp. Pinch grip. You're done.
