A high-performance knife turns a good cook into a kitchen samurai, so it pays to know what you’re paying for. But you don’t need to cut chunks out of your budget to buy a good quality knife. Some affordable options deliver a must better cost to quality ratio compared to the more expensive knives, even if they don’t perform quite as well.

We lab test and review the latest kitchen knives to help you find the best knife for your cooking needs. We review non-serrated, 20cm cook’s and chef’s knives. Our expert testers put each knife through its paces to find out which ones:

• have the best cutting performance
• have the best initial sharpness
• have the best sharpness following a blunting test.

Shopping links on this page

CHOICE is an independent, nonprofit organisation. Some of our links go to retailers, and we may earn a small commission if you buy. This never influences any of our rankings. The money we make goes straight back into our nonprofit mission. We’re trialling this feature and may expand it. Tell us what you think.