What we’d leave: The only real downside to this knife is the price. At $230 at the time of writing, it’s a bit of a splurge—but what you get is a very sharp, very high-quality blade and impressive craftsmanship.
An upgrade pick for experienced home cooks: Misono UX10 Chef’s Knife
Misono UX10 Chef’s Knife No.712
Pros:
- Comfortable to hold
- Feels nimble on the board
Cons:
- Assymetrical bevel takes more experience to maintain
Blade Length: 8.2″
Weight: 5.6 oz.
Material: Swedish stain-resistant steel
Style: Hybrid, 70/30 double-bevel
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 to be had here—and how nimbly they were able to maneuver it thanks to its lightweight feel.
Like many of the other knives on this list, the Misono has a long, hybrid-style blade that is most akin in shape to a gyuto, which is essentially the Japanese version of a Western-style chef’s knife. 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 blademaking. 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 only recommend this knife for more experienced home cooks are twofold: For one, it’s more expensive than most of the knives we recommend above, 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 due to its asymmetrical double-bevel edge. Rather than having the blade same angle on both sides (50/50), this knife has a 70/30 bevel. That means that one edge is sharpened to at 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 vs.
