What Is the Best Chef Knife Set for the Money? – Reviewing the Misen Chef Knife
A Chef knife set is an indispensable price of kitchenware. Ask any professional chef what the most important tool is in their kitchen – and they’ll tell you it’s a sharp Chef’s knife.
While a chef’s knife is a versatile tool, there are other specialist knives in the chef’s knife collection essential in meal preparation.
Choosing the right chef’s knife set can be a confusing and frustrating task for the home cook. There are dozens of manufacturers with hundreds of chefs knifes set available. Which set is the right choice for your kitchen?
This post looks at the best kitchen knife set for the money. We’ll unpack the components and advantages of having a chef’s knife set in your kitchen. We’ll also make our recommendation for the best kitchen knife set to suit any home cook’s needs.
What Knives Come in a Chef’s Knife Set?
A chef’s knife set consists of three to five knives. However, the three-piece configuration is the most popular choice and covers almost anything you need to cut in the kitchen during your meal prep.
The Chef’s Knife – This blade is the most versatile knife in the set and the kitchen’s workhorse. They come in European (German) and Japanese designs, featuring design and construction with stainless steel, carbon steel, ceramic, or Japanese steel.
The Paring Knife – this knife is another essential and the second most-used knife in the kitchen. It’s a good choice for fine cutting and scraping, allowing precision work on challenging foods.
The Serrated Knife – This knife comes with a long, serrated edge. It’s suitable for slicing bread or fruits.
These three knives form the foundation of the Chef’s knife set. However, many sets add the following knives.
The Slicing Knife – This blade is suitable for carving meat or filleting your fish. The thin blade provides clean cuts, and there’s more flex than the chef’s knife.
The Santoku Knife – This knife is like the chef’s knife but has a drawn-down point that drops to the blade’s tip. It’s a good choice for mincing, dicing, and slicing.
Is it Worth Buying Expensive Kitchen Knives?
Knives are a kitchen tool that is worth spending money on. However, there are various collections of knives that cost a fortune. The top chef knife sets can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Unless you’re a professional chef, spending this amount of money on your knives isn’t necessary. When purchasing your chef’s knife, we recommend focusing on the following factors.
- Comfort and control
- Balance
- Handles
- Blade design and shape
- Blade material
Comfort and control are the most important factors to consider with your chef’s knife set. You could have the best steel and grind in your blade, but if the handles are terrible, it ruins the knife’s performance.
Look for larger handles with squared edges. The squared edges help you control the knife and provide leverage for the cutting movement. The handles should also feature construction with hygienic materials that are easy to clean.
The knife should have a good balance in your hands and not feel lop-sided to one side. Unbalanced blades can create accidents in the kitchen. A well-balanced knife reduces operator fatigue while making the knife feel nimble in your hands.
The blade design and shape are worth considering. Look for German or Japanese designs for the best results in the kitchen. However, we recommend Japanese over German knives.
The blade material is your final consideration. The best knives feature stainless or Japanese steel in their construction.
What are the Best Kitchen Knife Sets to Buy?
We recommend going with a three or five-piece set from Misen. Misen is a newcomer to kitchenware, but it produces some of the best knives available at an affordable price.
There’s no need to spend hundreds of dollars on a knife set when Misen gives you the same quality for less than half the price.
What is the Best Knife Set for the Money? – The Verdict
We recommend going with the Misen knife set. Misen is a high-quality kitchenware and cookware brand founded in 2016 by Omar Rada. The company gained 15,000 customers in its first two years of business, thanks to its competitive offering and high-quality product range.
Omar Rada started Misen by running a Kickstarter to fund his chef’s knife’s design and fabrication. After experiencing huge success with the chef’s knife, Rada went on to add more kitchenware and cookware to the Misen range.
The company has manufacturing facilities outside of Shanghai in China, and they use the best Japanese steel for their knife sets. The Misen knife set comes in a three-piece or five-piece configuration to suit your needs in the kitchen.
The Misen Knife set features design and construction with Japanese AICHI steel for a strong and durable blade. The Chefs knife comes with an asymmetrical 50/50 grind for a long-lasting edge and high-performance in the kitchen.
The three-piece “Essentials” Chefs knife set from Misen includes the Misen 10″ chef’s knife, a paring knife, and a serrated knife. You also get a high-quality knife bar included with your set for easy storage.
The five-piece Misen Chefs knife set has the 10″ chef’s knife, paring knife, and serrated knife. You also get the utility knife and Santoku knife included with the 5-Piece set.
The three-piece set from Misen retails for $130, and the 5-piece retails for $200. We think that’s an affordable price point for the quality of these knives.
Misen gives you a risk-free trial of its knife sets for 60-days. If you’re not satisfied with your purchase, return the knife set to Misen for a full refund.
The company is confident you’ll love your knives, and they issue a lifetime warranty on both sets. Misen also offers a free sharpening service for your knives. When they start to dull, send them back to Misen, and Misen sharpens them for free, restoring the blades to original condition.
Misen knives offer you professional chef performance at a fraction of the price of other leading brands. For less than the cost of a premium chef’s knife, you get a complete high-quality chef’s knife set that lasts a lifetime.