Here at Gastrotools, you will find a wide range of kitchen knives. But when should you use a utility knife rather than a paring knife? And can I use a vegetable knife for anything other than chopping vegetables?
You will find answers to all these questions and more here.
The chef's knife – the knife you can use for 90% of all your daily kitchen work
The chef's knife is the kitchen's answer to a Swiss Army knife. You can use it for almost all kitchen work. Depending on the chef's knife you have, the blade will be between 15 and 30 centimetres long and have a ‘straight’ back. Most chef's knives have a solid handle that makes the knife comfortable to hold for long periods of time.
At Gastrotools, we sell two different chef's knives. The very ‘classic’ Gyuto Chef's Knife and the Asian chef's knife, the Santoku Chef's Knife.
You can use chef's knives for 90% of all work in the kitchen, but you will most often use it for cutting tasks where you use the rocking motion of the knife. This is where you place the blade of the knife on the cutting board and then use the wide blade of the knife to roll it off your knuckles.
The chef's knife is the first knife you should invest in if you want slightly better equipment in your kitchen than what you have today.
The utility knife – a hybrid between the herb and chef's knife
If we take a look at the utility knife, it is a slightly odd knife that can best be described as a hybrid between a herb knife and a chef's knife.
Our model has a 12-centimetre blade, which makes it ideal for chopping onions and cutting vegetables, but it can also be used to debone poultry, fillet fish and work with raw ingredients by hand, just as you would with a herb knife.
It is smaller than a chef's knife, which for many people makes it easier to work with in the kitchen, and is therefore a good alternative to the very versatile chef's knife.
The paring knife – your best friend when working with vegetables
A paring knife is designed for work done by hand. With a 9 cm blade, it is easy to handle, allowing you to stand with herbs and vegetables and cut them into smaller pieces or turn fruit.
That said, you can also easily use a paring knife for work on the cutting board.
Vegetable knife – perfect for cutting tasks
If you have never held a vegetable knife before, you may quickly be overwhelmed by its somewhat intimidating appearance. But of all the knives you will ever come across, the vegetable knife is the safest, as it has no sharp point.
The vegetable knife has a wide blade that is 18 centimetres long, which makes cutting tasks easy. With a small rocking blade, it is easy to keep the blade in the chopping board and support it against your knuckles.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the large, wide blade makes the knife extra easy to use for those who are inexperienced in the kitchen.
The carving knife – a versatile knife that can be used for much more than just cutting
A carving knife is typically known for ‘just’ being the knife you use for cutting. But that's a bit of a shame.
With a long, narrow blade and a slight rocker blade, your paring knife can be used just as well for cutting vegetables as your chef's knife.
Boning knife - for cutting fish, poultry and meat
We touched on this with the utility knife, but if you want the real deal for boning poultry and fish, you need a boning knife.
It is made for one purpose – deboning and filleting food. It has a narrow, curved blade and, unlike the utility knife, for example, it is completely rigid, which makes it feel completely secure in your hand when deboning meat.
Bread knife – a household essential
Yes, the bread knife needs no introduction. A bread knife has a typical serrated blade measuring 15-22 cm (ours is 21 cm) and is used to cut through baked goods. The serrated blade allows the knife to easily break through the crust and cut precisely without destroying the inside of the baked goods you are cutting.
As you can imagine, there are a number of knives that overlap and can be used for different functions. For this reason, we have also created different knife sets to cover different needs. See all our knife sets here.
