How to Choose a Kitchen Knife | Finding the Right Knife for You

Hello.

For a while now, I had been thinking that Miura Knives actually puts out surprisingly little content in its own voice.

I had been thinking about it, at least.

I just never quite got around to doing anything about it.

Anyway, hello. I’m the editor.

From here on, we’ll use this blog to talk about knives from the perspective of people who work with them every day at a specialist knife shop.

We’ll cover the familiar topics, of course, but we also hope to bring you a few things that are a little more unusual.

Especially this part:

“Miura Knives: young, a little unusual, and very much ourselves.”

Whether that counts as a strength or simply a personality trait is debatable, but we plan to lean into it.

Now then.

Since this is our very first article, I’m sure expectations are already dangerously high.

Unfortunately, as the title has already spoiled, today’s subject is...

“How to Choose a Kitchen Knife”

Yes. That one.

I know what you’re thinking.

“Basic.”
“Not exactly exciting.”
“Hasn’t this been written a thousand times?”
...and so on.

I can practically hear it.

And to be fair, if you search for “how to choose a kitchen knife,” you’ll find plenty of articles giving more or less the same answers.

Which is not very interesting.

So this time, we want to make the process of choosing a knife itself enjoyable—even if you’re completely new to Japanese knives.

After all that talk about doing things differently, the first question still has to be:

“What do you want to do with this knife?”

Yes. That one.

There is no getting around this one.

We can hardly recommend a Deba just to slice cherry tomatoes.

Extreme examples aside, choosing a knife that actually suits the job is incredibly important.

Unless you’re collecting rather than cooking, a knife is a tool meant to be used, so “purpose” has to be part of the decision.

In fact, when someone walks into our shop, the first things we usually ask are:

“What kind of knife are you looking for?”
“What are you planning to use it for?”

That is usually where we start.

The answers tend to sound something like this:

• Cooking (...which, technically, is not a use case)
• Everything
• Meat
• Vegetables
• Fish
• Precision work

Those are the usual ones.

Putting “Cooking!” aside for a moment, we can simplify knife use into two broad categories:

“All-purpose” or “Specialized”

That gives us two useful ways to think about the problem.

Let’s take a quick look at each.

That is the rough divide.

For most beginners, the sensible first stop is, unsurprisingly, the “all-purpose” category.

If you already know that your goal is “I want to slice sashimi” or “I want to break down whole fish,” that changes things. But if you want one knife for everyday cooking, starting with a Santoku or Gyuto is usually the safest choice.

The “specialized” category, on the other hand, starts to make sense when...

“I want one knife that does everything” becomes “I want to do this particular job better.”

That is usually the point where specialized knives become easier to justify.

Sujihiki is a slightly awkward case, by the way. Many professionals use it almost like an all-purpose knife, so whether it truly belongs in the “specialized” box is open to debate.

Of course, if you happen to be a highly motivated beginner with an equally enthusiastic budget, buying an entire set of top-end specialized knives would make us extremely happy. Purely from an educational standpoint, naturally.

For the majority of beginners who are not quite that enthusiastic with their wallets, starting in the “all-purpose” category is the smarter way to avoid an expensive mistake.

...Don’t worry.

We are not trying to hide behind vague wording and give you an answer that sounds useful without actually committing to anything.

Let’s get more specific.

This time, we’ll focus mainly on knives that can reasonably fit into the “all-purpose” category.

Depending on how people actually use them, that usually includes:

• Santoku
• Gyuto
• Petty
• Sujihiki

These are the main candidates we’ll consider.

I know what some of you are about to say.

“Aren’t Petty knives and Sujihiki specialized knives?”

Right?

If we judge them only by their original intended purpose, yes.

But real kitchens are less tidy than categories. Some households use a Petty as their main knife, while some professional kitchens use a Sujihiki for an impressively wide range of jobs.

If we start debating exactly how specialized Petty knives and Sujihiki really are, we’ll accidentally write an entirely different article, so we’ll stop there for now.

What we actually need to talk about is:

The difference between Santoku and Gyuto

That’s the important part.

Broadly speaking, three differences are especially easy to see:

• Blade length
• Blade height
• Edge radius / profile

Let’s go through them one by one.

Santoku vs. Gyuto ① Blade Length

First, blade length.

Generally speaking:

Santoku: around 165–180 mm
Gyuto: around 180 mm to 330 mm and beyond

Those are the sizes you will most commonly see.

Gyuto are made in everything from relatively short lengths to very long professional sizes. Santoku, by contrast, are easy to find around the compact 165 mm range.

So, in practice:

“I’m not very comfortable with a long knife.”

For that person, we often recommend a Santoku.

“I’m comfortable in the kitchen and want a bit more blade length.”

For that person, we will often point toward a Gyuto.

Of course, kitchen space and cutting-board size matter too. Longer does not automatically mean better.

Santoku vs. Gyuto ② Blade Height

Next comes blade height.

Obviously, if we put a 165 mm Santoku next to a 330 mm Gyuto and announce...

“Look, the Gyuto is bigger!”

...we have not made a particularly meaningful comparison.

Instead, think about blade height in proportion to blade length.

Despite the Gyuto’s reputation for being the long, large knife, a Santoku often has more blade height relative to its length Yes. That one.

In other words, at similar blade lengths, a Santoku tends to feel taller, while a Gyuto tends to look slimmer and more elongated.

Why that matters becomes much clearer once we combine it with the next point: the edge profile and its radius.

Santoku vs. Gyuto ③ Edge Profile / Radius

Finally, the edge radius.

Put simply, we are talking about...

how gentle or pronounced the curve of the cutting edge is

That is the basic idea.

Generally, a Gyuto tends to have a smaller radius relative to its length, while a Santoku tends to have a larger one.

Yes.

At this point, some of you are probably thinking:

“Wait—shouldn’t ‘larger R’ and ‘smaller R’ be the other way around?”

Fair question.

Your confusion is completely reasonable.

Earlier, I described R as a way of talking about how strongly the edge curves. More precisely, however, R means...

the radius of the circle that the curve would belong to if we treated it as part of a circle

That radius is the “R.”

The larger the radius of a circle, the gentler the curve appears over the same distance.

So, in short:

Larger R = gentler curve
Smaller R = tighter curve

*Strictly speaking, a knife edge profile cannot be described as one perfect circular arc. We’re using the idea here simply because it makes the concept easier to understand.

If we consider both edge radius and blade height together:

• Santoku are generally comfortable with up-and-down chopping motions, making them well suited to repeated chopping.
• Gyuto generally suit forward-and-back movement, making them comfortable for push cuts and draw cuts.

That is how we tend to look at it at Miura Knives.

Of course, the exact edge profile varies from knife to knife, and everyone develops their own cutting style.

But as a broad framework for choosing between Santoku and Gyuto, these differences are useful to keep in mind.

Let’s put it into a table.

By this point, you can probably see that the difference between Santoku and Gyuto is not simply “one is longer.”

The blade length changes, the blade height changes, and the edge profile changes.
As a result, the type of cutting motion each shape naturally encourages changes too.

That does not mean you are forbidden from draw-cutting with a Santoku, nor will anyone arrest you for chopping green onions with a Gyuto.

We are simply talking about which shape tends to make each motion feel more natural.

In the end, choose the size and shape that fit your own cooking style, your cutting board, and your kitchen.

Now then.

Once the shape is settled, we can finally talk about what the knife is actually made of.

Once you have decided on the size and shape, the next question is the steel.

For the purpose of choosing a knife, it helps to start by dividing steels broadly into:

“Carbon steel” and “Stainless steel” That simple split is a useful starting point.

Carbon Steel

In very simple terms, carbon steel is:

“A relatively straightforward steel made mainly from iron and carbon.”

Yes. That one.

Of course, White steel and Blue steel have different compositions, and if we start arguing about exactly where the definition of “carbon steel” begins and ends, this article will never finish. We’ll save that for another day.

One of the big attractions of carbon steel in kitchen knives is that it is often...

easy to sharpen to a very keen edge and highly responsive on the stones

Yes. That one.

But it also has one very obvious downside.

It rusts.

Leave it wet after use and it can rust. Depending on what you cut, the blade may also discolor or develop a patina.

If you are happy to accept that extra care in exchange for the pleasure of sharpness and sharpening feel, carbon steel can be extremely rewarding.

“I really don’t want to babysit my knife.”

If that sounds like you, carbon steel may not be the best match.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel, on the other hand, is:

steel designed with corrosion resistance as one of its major advantages

Yes. That one.

However:

“Stainless = impossible to rust”

is not true.

Under poor conditions, stainless steel can absolutely rust too.

There are many varieties—VG10, Ginsan (Silver #3), SG2, and more. In general, they are more corrosion-resistant than carbon steels and easier to live with day to day.

Modern stainless steels can also offer extremely high sharpness and excellent edge retention.

So, in practice:

“Carbon steel = sharp”
“Stainless steel = not sharp”

That shortcut will lead you in the wrong direction.

If the world were really that simple, knife shops would not need to stock quite so many knives.

Ultimately, the question is:

Do you want to maximize qualities like sharpness and sharpening feel?

Or:

Do you value the everyday convenience of better corrosion resistance?

Are you the type who wants to push the strengths as far as possible, or the type who would rather minimize the weaknesses?

That is actually a surprisingly useful way to think about the choice.

Although with knives, the “weakness” in question is rusting which is a little more serious than an endearing personality flaw.

This may be the most important part.

Because this number determines...

just how happy both you and we can become

Budget is powerful like that.

Jokes aside, everyone has a budget.

“The Best Knives for Every Budget—Top X Picks!”

We could certainly write an article like that, but if we did, everything we have worked through together up to this point would become rather pointless.

First:

What are you going to use it for?

Next:

What size and shape feel practical for you?

Then:

Does carbon steel or stainless steel fit your lifestyle better?

Only after answering those questions should you bring your budget into the equation.

Once those conditions are set, what first looked like hundreds of possible knives quickly becomes a much shorter list.

Then:

“Okay, then which one should I choose from these?”

That is when we can finally start talking about finer differences: specific steels, cutting feel, handles, makers, craftsmen, finishes, and design.

...Exactly.

We are not finished yet.

In fact, from a knife shop’s point of view, this is where things start getting really interesting.

Next time, we’ll ask:

“Is a More Expensive Knife Really a Better Knife?”

And we’ll try to answer it properly.

What actually changes as the price goes up?
What do we even mean by “sharpness”?
Is higher hardness always better?

Those are the questions we’ll dig into next.

See you in the next article.