All straight edged kitchen knives need to be maintained in order to keep them razor sharp. Even the sharpest knife will quickly dull as soon as it touches other metal or glass. For this reason, you must always use a chopping board. These are cleaner that a worktop surface and they will also help to minimize the chances of an accident if the knife slips.

If you do end up with a dulled knife blade then you will need to have it sharpened. A sharpening steel will help to keep blades in top working condition although you will need to sharpen the blade manually and it can take a little bit of getting used to. If you are not comfortable however, you can always take it to a professional knife sharpener and have the them sharpened for you. If you look after your knives, such as not putting them in the dishwasher, and storing them in a knife block, you can usually do this just 2 or 3 times per year.

If you have a sharpening steel at home, you may find that there comes a time where it no longer does a good job. This does not mean however that the knife is on its last legs, it just means that it needs a new edge. Once again, a professional knife sharpener can put a new edge on it for you.

You should also try to aboid using most electric knife sharpeners as they can often do more harm than good. If you aren’t carful you may find that they remove too much metal and in some cases can harm the temper of the blade. Even worse that this, some of them also change the factory-applied angle on the edge and you do not want this to happen on a quality kitchen knife as it could be rendered useless.

A good set of kitchen knives will come with several different knife edges which are designed to tackle different jobs in the kitchen. While some are perfectly straight, to keep them razor sharp, others have grooves and ridges that are designed to make it easier to cut through harder foods.

Here are the 4 main types of blade edges that you should be aware of.

Straight. A straight edge blade has a perfect taper along the blade and they are probably what you most usually associate with a kitchen knife. Yhry do not have any serrations and they are designed to cut without teating. Most kitchen knives are straight edged and you will probably find you use them more than any other type.

Serrated: Serrated knife blades are designed with small, jagged teeth along the length of the blade. They are deceptively sharp, yet because of the teeth they may not seem to be at first. They are handy for cutting uneven or hard surfaces that a straight edged knife might have difficulty with.

Scalloped: Scalloped blades have round wave shapes up the length of it which is designed to get through tough exteriors. They are perfect for cutting through a loaf of bread that has a hard crust and any tough vegetables such as squash and pumpkin.

Granton. Granton edges have hollow grooves along the side of the blade. The blade itself is straight edged, but the grooves are designed to collect the juices and fat from the meat that you are cutting through. This means that you get thin cuts without terating.

As you can see, there isnt a lot of differences in the types of blades you can get, but they all have their uses. Bear in mind that you can also get different sizes of blade too and from the above you can get a knife for every situation in the kitchen.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. This is no different when you are buying your own quality kitchen knives. One of the good things however is that you do not need to buy every single type of knife. You can usually do everything you need with just a basic set and you can then add to them as your budget allows.

If you are looking for a basic set of quality kitchen knives then you should aim to buy the following;

A Paring knife

This is quite a small knife which is used in the preparation of small vegetables and fruit. The blade measures around 7-10cm so it isnt that big but it does have a pointed end that can be used to pick out pips. If you are proud about your cooking then you will know that you will usually cook vegetables every day so consider this vital.

A Large and Small cooks knife

These knives are the jack-of-all-trades. They come in several sizes, but you only really need to get a small and large once since they will overlap where you use them. They will help you tackle chopping jobs on a larger scale than a paring knife will be suitable for so they are probably one of the most essential knives you will need.

A Bread knife

Cutting warm, freshly baked bread is one of the most satisfying jobs in the kitchen, but to do it properly you are going to need a good bread knife. They usually have rigid, serrated edges but sometimes they are scalloped or even both. This makes them ideal for cutting through the tougher crust on the bread while making sure you do not tear or squash it at the same time.

A Carving knife

If you often prepare and cook your own meats then you are going to need a carving knife. They have a large flexible blade which is about 20-26cm long and the tip is pointed sharply so that you can free the meat on the bone.