Knife Skills —

a kitchen guide to using the right knife the right way

This site will give you the confidence to choose and use the knives and other nonelectric sharp tools in your kitchen. It’s also a reference site that you can use as you improve your skills and acquire the tools that will make you a better cook!

Chef’s knife

The chef’s knife will be your go-to knife for the vast majority of your cutting, chopping, slicing, and dicing. With it you can carve meat and poultry, chop onions, slice tomatoes, and mince cilantro and parsley. Plus a whole lot more.

Chef’s knives generally come in three sizes: 8, 10, and 12 inches. The most popular size is the 8-inch knife. Many people feel a larger knife is too big, and that it will be less safe and effective to use. But if you hold your knife correctly and follow the chef’s knife techniques, you’ll find that a 10-inch chef’s knife is more efficient, less tiring, and safer to use than an 8-inch one.

This might seem contradictory, as it seems like you will need more effort to control a longer knife. But, if you’re slicing an onion, or almost any food, your arm and wrist will have to lift higher with a shorter blade. That’s because chef’s knives have an area that’s used most effectively for slicing and chopping. It’s like the “sweet spot” on a tennis racquet, golf club, or a baseball or cricket bat. On the chef’s knife, this is toward the back half of the blade.

This is where the weight of the knife, combined with your effort, gives you the most effective cutting area. A shorter knife has a smaller sweet spot, and it must be lifted higher for that area to cut the food. As a result, the area that actually cuts the food is smaller. This puts more strain on your wrist, arm, and shoulder. For the same cutting results, with an 8-inch chef’s knife, you have to work harder. And for a longer period of time too.

The parts of a chef’s knife
The parts of a chef’s knife
n 8-inch knife
An 8-inch knife (above) versus a 10-inch knife (left). Note the extra height that’s needed to lift the shorter knife
How to Choose and Use Your Knives

How to Choose and Use Your Knives

How to Buy a Knife

How to Buy a Knife

Caring for Your Knives

Caring for Your Knives

Nonknife, Nonmotorized Sharp Kitchen Tools

Nonknife, Nonmotorized Sharp Kitchen Tools


A child who fears beating, would never admit that he played with a missing knife. Nigerian proverb

A child who fears beating, would never admit that he played with a missing knife.

Nigerian proverb


Only a knife can best tell a child when to leave it. German proverb

Only a knife can best tell a child when to leave it.

German proverb


The pen can kill a man; no knife is needed. Arabic proverb

The pen can kill a man; no knife is needed.

Arabic proverb

James Russell Lowell

I have always been of the mind that in a democracy, manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.

John Owen

Temptation is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his), poison, his exercise or his destruction.

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The information in this site is true and complete to the best of our knowledge.
The author disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information.
All recommendations are made without guarantee.