11 best kitchen knives for 2025, expert tested

There’s a lot to think about when investing in a knife set, but comfort is key; every knife should act and feel like an extension to the user's hand.

GHI tip: Always try a knife before buying if you can. A reputable retailer will let you try the knife out on vegetables - always test on tomatoes, as a new sharp knife should cut through easily without resistance.

Material

Knives are commonly made from the following four materials: stainless steel, carbon steel, Damascus steel or ceramic.

• Stainless steel: The most common type of knife, they are simple to sharpen and don’t rust easily. However, they're prone to flexing, bending and going blunt fairly quickly. This is because stainless steel is softer than other metals, such as carbon steel.
• Carbon steel: The traditional material used for making knives, carbon steel stays sharp for a long time. However, it's prone to rust (seasoning it with mineral oil will help prevent this) and requires more care and maintenance than its stainless steel counterpart. But if you're serious about cooking and not working within a budget, carbon steel is the way to go.
• Damascus steel: Damascus steel knives have a carbon steel core and a stainless steel exterior. They're distinguished by their striking designs along the blades, but can be expensive – they’re usually handmade, so expect to pay between £70 and £500. Some stainless steel knives are coated to look like Damascus steel, so beware.
• Ceramic: These lightweight, extremely sharp knives aren’t too expensive. They don’t rust and rarely need to be sharpened, but they can chip easily. They're difficult to maintain at home, as hard ceramic requires a diamond sharpener, meaning you usually have to send them back to the supplier to sharpen.

Weight

There’s no such thing as an ideal weight of knife; it comes down to personal preference. Most experts would agree that a chef’s knife, for example, should have some weight behind it, but you don’t want a knife that’s so heavy it strains your wrists.

Comfort

Some knives have rubberised handles for extra grip, others are moulded to fit the contours of the hand, and some designs combine the two.

Make sure the handle doesn’t have angular or sharp edges that will form pressure points in your hand. Some handles have smooth bolsters (the thick section between the blade and the handle), which are designed to allow your forefinger to rest comfortably on top.

Balance

A knife's weight should be balanced equally between the handle and the blade. Check this by carefully laying the knife across your middle finger and forefinger where the handle and blade meet; does it tip one way or the other? If the handle is too heavy, it won’t cut as effectively. If the blade is too heavy, it’ll be uncomfortable to use.

Tang

The tang refers to the unsharpened, unexposed part of the blade that extends down the handle. There are three main tang types:

• Full tang: The blade is one solid piece of metal that runs down the full length of the handle. On some knives, the tang is visible and fastened by rivets. A full tang knife is always the best choice, as it usually has better balance and a more robust design. It also means there's no danger of the handle coming loose from the knife blade.
• Rat tail tang: The blade narrows as it goes through the handle and is commonly welded at its base. Knives with a rat tail tang can come loose over time, making the handle wobbly.
• Half tang: The blade extends half way along the handle. If too much force is applied, a half tang knife can snap, as only glue is binding the knife and handle.

Handle types

• Plastic: Plastic handles tend to be smooth and free from grooves that can trap dirt. Some plastic knives are also slightly textured to offer a more secure grip. Keep them well away from heat sources when cooking to avoid melting the handle.
• Wooden handle: Some pure wood handles will need oiling with a dedicated knife handle oil. Most modern wooden-handled knives have a light clear plastic coating to protect them. When washing, avoid prolonged soaking. Or, hold the handle out of the water and wash immediately.
• Left-handed: Most knives are suitable for right- or left-handed users, as the double bevel makes both sides angular and sharp. But some knives – bread knives, in particular – usually have a single bevel. This means the blade is only sharp down the right-hand side.

The best sets come with a lifetime warranty and if you care for your kitchen knives, you’ll find they’ll keep chopping, dicing and slicing for decades to come. It’s important to clean and sharpen them properly, as well as storing them safely and securely.

Cleaning knives

According to Good Housekeeping’s Household Advice Editor, Katie Mortram, cleaning your knife set correctly is one of the best ways of keeping it in good nick.

While some brands claim their knives are dishwasher safe, she recommends handwashing. “Never put kitchen knives in the dishwasher, even if they say dishwasher safe,” says Mortram. “The abrasiveness of the detergent can degrade the blade, and the prolonged exposure to moisture and humidity can encourage rust. If the handle is made from wood, this can split and crack as well.”

Instead, she recommends sticking with handwashing. The best practice is to wash knives in hot, soapy water and then dry them with a tea towel, rather than leaving them to air dry.

However, we do also test any dishwasher-safe claims as part of our testing.

Sharpening knives

A sharp knife is a safe knife. Those that are blunt or unsharpened require more force to cut, which increases the likelihood of slipping and causing injury.

Here are some different knife sharpening methods, from tools to old-school stones.

Manual knife sharpener

Gently pull your knife through the two rotating V-shaped circular steels, and repeat around five times. It's compact, easy to store and often the cheapest sharpening option, but it won't sharpen as finely as other methods.

Electric sharpener

Like the manual sharpener, it has V-shaped circular steels of varying coarsenesses. But instead of pulling against the steels, the electric sharpener will buff the blade with the rotating steels as you lightly drag the knife through the Vs.

It offers a little less control than a manual sharpener and is typically more expensive, but it makes sharpening easier and quicker.

Sharpening stones or whetstones

Sharpening stones are for more experienced chefs, who can add more stones to their set over time. The stones themselves can be expensive, typically costing between £30 and £500, but they produce the sharpest knives and reduce the need to sharpen as often.

They are small rectangular stones, around 20cm by 8cm, with different levels of coarseness. This can range from 0 to 220 (extra coarse) to 5000+ (ultra fine). For most people, one stone with a grain of 1000 and another of 3000 will suffice.

Sharpening stones take a while to master, as you need to ensure you’re drawing your knife across the stone at the correct angle; most experts agree 20 degrees is correct. Here's how:

• To sharpen knives with whetstones, you need to soak the stones first and keep them wet as you sharpen.
• Starting with the coarsest stone, draw the knife blade across the full length of the stone, from heel to tip.
• Repeat this process, interchanging the stones with ones with decreasing coarseness levels.

Honing steel

Honing steel is often mistaken as sharpening steel, but it's actually designed to help maintain the edge of an already sharp knife, so don't confuse it with a knife sharpener.

You’ve probably seen professional chefs running their knives along honing steel. This doesn’t actually sharpen the knife, but it straightens its edge. As the knife runs along either side of the steel, the its edges are moved back into the centre. Once the blade has been properly aligned, the knife feels sharper.

GHI tip: Don’t use the blade side to scrape ingredients off a chopping board into a pan. Instead, turn your knife upside down and push them with the back (spine) of the knife across the board to avoid blunting it. Or use a scraper to transfer your ingredients from chopping board to a pan.

Storing knives in the cutlery drawer unprotected is dangerous and can seriously damage them, too. Here are the most effective ways to store your knives.

• Knife blocks: Some sets come with a knife block, or you can buy universal knife blocks. They're a great option for those short on space, but can be difficult to clean. You also risk dulling the blade as you pull the knife out, but luckily, some blocks have horizontal slots so that the knives don’t sit on their blades. Others have magnetic cores and work in a similar way to strips.
• Magnetic strips: These are long, horizontal, magnetic strips that attach to the wall above your countertop. They securely hold your knives to the wall and won't blunt knives.
• Sheaths: The cheapest storage option, some knife sets, such as the Zyliss Comfort set, include sheaths for all knives. This means they can be safely stored in the cutlery drawer.

The main issue with buying knives online goes back to the premise that it's important to try them out before buying, as our hands are all different in size and shape.

When buying knives online, you’ll also need proof that you're 18 or over. Here are the terms and conditions from the biggest retailers:

• Amazon: An online age verification check is required when buying knives from Amazon. Customers may also be ID’d at the point of delivery. You’ll need to be able to show some form of up-to-date photo ID. Knives, as with other age-restricted items, cannot be delivered to a neighbour, Amazon locker, pick-up point or safe place.
• Lakeland: You can order knives online from Lakeland, but they must be collected in store, or purchased using the FedEx age check service so that they can verify your age.
• Zwilling: To ensure that the customer is over 18, Zwilling runs age verification checks based on information input at checkout. This all happens in real time and won’t take too long. Their courier may also ask to see ID upon delivery.