All Purpose Kitchen Knife

Much like the All in one Kitchen knife, getting yourself an all purpose kitchen knife may well be as fruitless as a hunt for the holy grail or the meaning of life. However, if you are truly set on getting hold of a kitchen knife that tickets all the boxes (well, as many boxes as it can possibly tick) then you can certainly try and pick the right kitchen knife for you.

An all purpose knife is a balancing act

If you are set on making do with just one kitchen knife, it may well be for budgetary constraints. However, I would urge you think carefully about just getting one kitchen knife for as cheap as possible and assuming it will do what you need it to do. There is a false economy with some cheaper kitchen knives in that they will break or just wear down so quickly that you will need to replace them sooner, which is of course an additional cost.

It is far better to get hold of one good, reliable kitchen knife that will last several years rather than several months.

You should be looking for something along the lines of a medium sized chef’s knife with a high quality rubber or wooden handle. I would personally steer away from uni-body all metal kitchen knives - they high end ones are really very good (Shun, Global), but the cheaper imitation brands will have you frustrated every time you want to chop a carrot.

Avoid anything too small, but don’t go for anything too big - a chef’s knife around the 8 inch mark should do what you need it to do and avoid risking injury if you have to fillet a fish with it.

Some brands to look for

You could get a mid range Wusthof or Henckels (slightly cheaper) kitchen knife or look into Victorinox, especially their Fibrox series. These knives are mid range, so will cost more than the supermarket unbranded knives, but are also of high enough quality to last you a good few years.