Welcome to our large vegetable knife test 2023. Here we present all the spreaders we have tested in detail. We have compiled detailed background information and added a summary of customer reviews on the internet.
We would like to make your purchase decision easier and help you find the best vegetable knife for you.
You will also find answers to frequently asked questions in our guide. If available, we also offer interesting test videos. Furthermore, you will also find some important information on this page that you should be aware of if you want to buy a vegetable knife.
Summary
- When it comes to vegetable knives, there are not only numerous suppliers and manufacturers, but also clear price differences. As is often the case with knives, quality has its price. It is better to buy a high-quality model that will last you a long time than several low-priced ones that do not meet your requirements.
- The blade material of a vegetable knife is not only an indicator of quality but also provides information about the sharpness of the blade. In addition, proper storage and care can help to ensure the quality of the knife and support its longevity. So that you have a satisfactory cutting result for as long as possible.
- Some knives are designated by the manufacturer as dishwasher safe. Nevertheless, you should tend to wash high-quality blades by hand. Rinsing under lukewarm water is not time-consuming and protects the material of your vegetable knife
The Best Vegetable Knife: Our Picks
Guide: Questions you should ask yourself before buying a Vegetable Knife
Who is a vegetable knife for?
The use of a special vegetable knife can be advantageous for complex work in the kitchen. Cutting, peeling or cleaning can be easier with a special knife than with a utility knife.
When working with round vegetables and fruit, such as tomatoes and apples, it is recommended that you invest in a vegetable knife. Such a knife, also known as a tournament knife, is characterised by a narrow blade that is curved downwards.
This not only saves you time, but also excessive cutting away of the vegetable or fruit flesh.
What brands are there?
Others rely on mechanical production processes. You can buy vegetable knives from several well-known brands, in different price ranges and many designs:
- Fiskars
- WMF
- Victorinox
- Solingen
- Wüsthof
- Güde
- Gräwe
- Sky Light
- Rösle
- Herder/Windmill measurer
- Zwilling
What does a vegetable knife cost?
The prices of vegetable knives are as varied as their manufacturers, their quality and the material they are made of. As with all things, higher quality products are more expensive, as opposed to products that lack quality.
| Model | Price |
|---|---|
| Simple model with stainless steel blade | from 5 euros |
| Model with ceramic blade | from 20 euros |
| Model with Damascus steel blade | from 90 euros |
You can get a good quality knife for the kitchen for as little as 20 euros. There is no upper price limit. Models made of high-quality steel and handcrafted for months can cost over a thousand euros.
General criteria that can have an impact on the price are:
The blade material used
- Damascus
- Ceramic blades
- Stainless steel blades
The handle material used
- Steel
- Wood
- Plastic
The effort of processing
- Forged
- Stamped
The grind or the pull of the blade
- Machine
- By hand by a professional
Tip: It is better to buy a more expensive model than several cheap ones. Quality has its price when it comes to knives. The more careful the workmanship and the higher the quality of the material, the longer a vegetable knife will serve you as an energetic support in the kitchen.
What types of Vegetable knives are there?
In addition, it is cheaper than other household knives. You can also buy vegetable knives in different shapes to match the variety of fruit and vegetables.
In the classic sense, a vegetable knife has a short blade length, a curved back and a straight edge. These features make it particularly handy and suitable for preparing, cleaning and processing various types of fruit and vegetables.
Special shapes of the vegetable knife are:
- Tomato knife
- Nakiri
- Tournier knife
Tomato knife
Tomatoes, peppers or other vegetables are a challenge for most knives. The very smooth skin is resistant and does not provide sufficient grip even for some sharp blades. When cutting such a vegetable, you have to apply a lot of pressure, which crushes its flesh.
Serrated knives have a special saw-like blade geometry that allows you to chop tomatoes more easily and precisely.
The small serrations wear down more slowly, so you don’t have to constantly resharpen a tomato knife.
Nakiri
The Nakiri is a Japanese vegetable knife. With a standard blade length of 17 cm, it is larger than the more common types of vegetable knife. It has a blunt tip and a high blade back, making it ideal for fast, precise processing of large quantities of fruit and vegetables.
Despite working quickly with a very sharp knife, you can minimise the risk of injury. The wide blade ensures good blade guidance along the knuckles, even with large quantities of cut material.
The large blade of the Japanese vegetable knife can be used as a pallet after chopping, so that you can transport the chopped pieces into the pan or pot.
The speed with which work is done in Japanese cuisine is not only due to the technique with which the cooks work, but also to the appropriate tools.
The use of the nakiri is not only something for cooking professionals. Its practical, double-edged blade also makes it a common utensil for you. To work well with a nakiri, it should be sufficiently sharp.
You should only use such a special vegetable knife for cutting. The fine grind of the blade makes it unsuitable for chopping, despite its shape.
Tournier knife
The term touring is used to describe the peeling and preparation of fruit and vegetables. From the definition it can be deduced that a touring knife is a common peeling knife. It is characterised by a short knife blade with a curved back and a straight cutting edge.
The so-called bird’s beak shape has some advantages over a straight blade. It allows you to de-peel on uneven shapes and to easily peel round shapes. Peeling an apple is not only easier with a peeling knife, but you can also remove the core with the same knife.
What are the alternatives to a vegetable knife?
When handling the peeler, it does not matter with which hand you operate the peeler. It is suitable for both left-handers and right-handers.
It is particularly suitable for peeling long vegetables, especially cucumbers and carrots. In most cases, you can put peelers in the dishwasher for cleaning. Even storage in conventional drawers does not affect the quality of the peeling.
Most households have both a vegetable knife and a peeler. If your peeler also has a corer, you don’t even need an extra vegetable knife to remove potato eyes, for example.
Characteristics: Material, Size, Shape and Care
What material should a good vegetable knife be made of?
Vegetable knives consist of two parts, the blade and the handle. Both components can be made of different materials.
The blade
In conventional use, you will usually find knives with blades made of hardened stainless steel. The better the quality, the sharper and higher the quality.
In the meantime, you can also find vegetable knives with ceramic blades. Their blade is also very sharp. As a rule, these knives stay sharp longer than those made of steel. The disadvantage is that they are more sensitive. Ceramic can break quickly if dropped and becomes unusable.
Damascus is another blade material. Damascus steel folded layer by layer embodies all steel properties in one. This makes it very flexible, hard and sharp.
The handle
Knife handles differ both in their shape and in their material. A knife should lie securely and well in your hand when you use it. To achieve this, it should have a balanced weight compared to the blade.
You can choose between wood, plastic and metal . This decision can depend on your own taste, price or usefulness.
Wooden handle
Plastic handle
Metal handle
How big should a vegetable knife be?
The vegetable knife, which is mostly used in the kitchen for fine work, has an average blade length of 9 – 13 cm and weighs about 70 grams.
The tapered blade should ideally rest completely on the cutting surface when cutting. With its slender blade, it is more flexible than other types of knives. This means you can use it to chop vegetables, peel potatoes or cut out the core.
What blade shape and grind should a vegetable knife have?
You can choose from different types of vegetable knives. You should try out the one that best suits you and your needs before buying.
These knives differ in the shape of the blade and the cutting surface (also known as the grind).
- Some knives have a curved blade that is particularly suitable for peeling.
- Others have a straight blade that is suitable for chopping and slicing.
The cutting surface is generally divided into straight and serrated blades. With a straight blade you make a straight, clean cut. With serrated blades you can cut vegetables with smooth surfaces more easily.
- Vegetable knives with a straight wad (blade) are used for a clean cut. It is suitable for cutting soft or hard vegetables without fraying the food.
- Vegetable knives with the so-called fluted edge are used to cut fine slices. These can be easily removed from the indentations on the cutting blade (the dimples).
- With the serrated or serrated edge, you can cut soft vegetables with a smooth surface without crushing the vegetable flesh.
How do you care for a vegetable knife?
Cleaning
To ensure that you are satisfied with your vegetable knife for a long time, you should clean it properly. Premature wear can be caused by aggressive cleaning agents.
To prevent this, you should wash your vegetable knife by hand. Using a mild dishwashing detergent and a scratch-free dishcloth is particularly gentle on the knife.
As a rule, you can put knives made of steel in the dishwasher. The temperature should not exceed 55 degrees and you should use a gentle detergent. Dishwasher detergents contain chemicals that can attack surfaces such as plastic and steel.
You should also sort the knives separately so that they do not bump against each other during the wash cycle. Cleaning in the dishwasher can shorten the sharpness and life of your knives.
It is better to clean by hand: Do not clean your knives in the dishwasher and wash them under lukewarm water!
Dry your knives directly: materials such as wood can swell when damp!
Sharpening and honing
How you care for your vegetableknife is crucial to its longevity. Not only cleaning a knife in the dishwasher can affect its sharpness.
Using a knife frequently also contributes to a natural decrease in sharpness. With the right tool and the right application, you can re-sharpen your knife yourself.
Sharpening steel
You can maintain the sharpness of your knife with a sharpening steel. To bring the edge of the knife back into shape, run the entire blade from the base of the handle to the tip along the sharpening steel at an angle of 15-20 degrees. Only the angle at which you guide the knife is important for the result.
Sharpening stone
Knives have been sharpened with whetstones for many years. To achieve the best possible material removal on the blade of your knife, whetstones are moistened. This reduces friction and generates the perfect sharpness.
Knife sharpener
To keep your knife sharp, we recommend that you use a knife sharpener regularly.
Mechanical knife sharpeners are particularly suitable. They are quick and easy to use. The degree of sharpening is predetermined with such a device.
A sharp knife is safer to use than a dull one because you exert less pressure when cutting. Controlled cutting means you are less likely to slip and your hand gets tired more slowly.
How do you store a vegetable knife properly?
The blades can be damaged by banging against each other, which reduces the quality. To avoid this, you should always store knives properly. The following are suitable for this:
- Knife blocks
- Magnetic strips
- Drawer inserts
Knife block
Knife blocks are available in numerous materials. In wood or stainless steel, round or square. They are not only a visual eye-catcher but also offer your kitchen gadgets optimal protection.
Depending on your taste, knife blocks are available in different colours. You can always keep your knives handy in them.
Magnetic strips
As an alternative to knife blocks, magnetic strips can also be used to store vegetable knives. Your knives are held securely by a strong magnet.
Due to their space-saving properties, magnetic strips are particularly suitable for small kitchens. With their aluminium, wood or plastic look, they can also serve as a decorative object in your kitchen.
Drawer inserts
With drawer inserts you can keep your drawers tidy and safe. The blades of your knives are protected from collisions and are spared scratches and other damage.
Some drawer inserts can also be placed decoratively directly on the worktop.
What types of Vegetable Knives are there and which is the right one for you?
Basically, we distinguish between these types of vegetable knives:
- Vegetable knives with stainless steel blade
- Vegetable knives made of Damascus steel
- Vegetable knife with ceramic blade
In the following, we explain the different types and their respective advantages and disadvantages. In this way, we want to help you find the most suitable vegetable knife for you.
What are the characteristics of a vegetable knife with a stainless steel blade and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
Generally, you use vegetable knives to peel, slice and dice vegetables and fruit, such as potatoes and tomatoes. First and foremost, it impresses with its small and handy shape
It usually has a 9 cm long blade made of slightly flexible stainless steel and the handle is made of plastic or wood. The last criterion is that these kitchen utensils have a straight or curved blade shape.
Both shapes have their advantages and disadvantages:
- With a curved, slightly flexible blade, peeling should be easier for you. The curvature of the blade adapts to the shape and unevenness of the vegetables.
- With the straight blade, you can slice mushrooms and other vegetables and fruits more precisely. You can also cut onions into cubes effortlessly. Straight blades can also be used to cut sausages and eggs.
Common feature: Both types of blade have a very pointed tip with which it is possible to carve smooth surface structures, such as on tomatoes, peaches or cooked potatoes.
What distinguishes a vegetable knife made of damask steel and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
Damascus knives are of high quality and are characterised by their special sharpness and durability. They are used in all areas where precision and sharpness are important.
With the help of a knife made of damask steel, you can cut fruit, vegetables and meat cleanly with ease and without effort. You can recognise the elaborate manufacturing process by the unique grain of the steel.
In the past, Damascus steel was used to make jewellery. Today you can use it mainly for precision work in the kitchen. Damascus knives are very expensive to buy. However, due to the very hard material, they hardly show any signs of wear even after intensive use.
When buying a vegetable knife made of damask steel, you should also pay attention to the shape and quality of the handle. A narrow, long handle is more comfortable to hold.
Ideally, it should be rounded so that it can adapt to your hand. With a damask kitchen knife you are well served when it comes to processing food neatly.
Regarding the processing of fruit, vegetables, fish and meat, you can make clean and thin cuts with a damask knife, regardless of the surface texture.
What distinguishes a vegetable knife with a ceramic blade and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
Knives with ceramic blades are enjoying ever-increasing popularity. They are produced in versatile versions, for example as steak knives, cheese knives and vegetable knives.
The designation refers to the material of the blade. Manufacturers advertise them as very sharp and durable. As a practical and convenient addition to normal kitchen knives, they are also called all-round knives.
When cutting with such a knife, you should be careful not to exert lateral pressure on the blade. You should always make sure to cut straight from the top.
When choosing a cutting surface, you should also choose a material such as wood or plastic. Hard surfaces such as glass, porcelain or stone could damage the blade.
The high-quality ceramic material gives the knife very good cutting properties that are durable over a long period of time. ceramic blades are characterised by their high hardness and wear resistance.
The very high degree of sharpness of the blade enables you to make precise and clean cuts without exerting a lot of pressure. Furthermore, ceramic knives are not only rust-free but also odourless and tasteless.
The material is not attacked by different food acids. Another advantage is that ceramic knives have no allergenic substances and are therefore allergy-friendly.
The extreme hardness of the material can be seen as a negative. Compared to stainless steel knives, it is more brittle and cannot be used universally. It is not suitable for you if you want to chop frozen or hard fruits and vegetables. You should also have the ceramic blade sharpened by a professional with special equipment.
Buying Criteria: Use these Factors to compare and evaluate Vegetable Knives
In the following, we will show you which criteria you can use to compare and evaluate vegetable knives. This will make it easier for you to get an overview and decide on a suitable and effective model.
In summary, these are the following criteria:
In the following, you can read about the respective criteria and find out why it makes sense for you to buy a knife based on the criteria or not.
Material
The material should be of a certain high quality. So that you can be satisfied with the sharpness of your knife for a long time.
For most vegetables and fruits, peeling, chopping and slicing will be quicker and easier with a sharp blade. The three blade materials you can choose from are ceramic, stainless steel and Damascus steel
Blade shape
The shape of the blade can be divided into straight and curved backs. Here you should ask yourself whether you would rather use a vegetable knife for peeling, for cutting or for both.
Size
Ideally, your vegetable knife should be handy and fit well in your hand with its ergonomic handles.
Larger vegetable knives, such as the Nakiri, should also fit comfortably in your hand. You can only work precisely if you wield the knife properly.
Cleaning
Generally speaking, you should always wash good, sharp knives by hand. Some manufacturers claim that their products are dishwasher safe, but aggressive cleaning agents usually attack the material and can lead to a loss of quality and sharpness.
Interesting Facts about Vegetable Knives
How do you use a vegetable knife properly?
You should always make sure that the vegetable knife has a good sharpness. This makes the work go much faster and reduces the risk of injury, as you can work with less pressure.
If the sharpness of your knife decreases, you should bring the edge back into shape with the help of a sharpening stone, sharpening steel or knife sharpener. The knife is guided by the index finger resting on the back of the blade.
You can support yourself on the cut material with your thumb. For larger vegetables, such as red cabbage, white cabbage or courgettes, use the vegetable knife only for cleaning. To do most of the work, you can then use the nakiri, for example.
Image source: 123rf.com / 75230578
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