New kitchen knives

[seedubs1]

I need a new 210mm chef/gyuto, a paring knife, and a 5.5-6.5" Santoku. Those are the knives I use, and I'd like to get some awesome ones that I can buy for the rest of my life and never have to think about again.

I'd rather stay away from softer German knives and lean towards Japanese.

Should I:

1) Shun Classic - $$325 - owned by KAI with a lifetime warranty, so if anything ever happens, they're replaced. I've read heat treat and the knives in general leave a bit to be desired for the price and are generally a bit overpriced. The main reason to go this route is the no questions warranty.

2) Tojiro DP - $155 - Pretty well regarded as the best entry level Japanese knives and an awesome bang for the buck. Not as pretty as the higher end stuff or Shun, but at least on par if not exceeding Shun in regards to performance and heat treat.

3) Masamoto, Tanaka, Kohetsu, Masakage, Kurosake, or other high end Japanese... - $500ish - Pretty much top of the line stuff. But I'm having a really hard time justifying this. I'm not a professional chef, and I'm struggling to see what these would do that the Tojiros wouldn't.

 

[Fargo]

Look for Shuns on woot.com, they often have them on their dramatically marked down. Also look at the Zhens that show up there from time to time. They are generally the same Japanese steel but much less pretty and finished in China rather than Japan. I own both and they get used daily.

 

[danielocean03]

My wife and I bought a couple of Shun kitchen knives on sale at Williams-Sonoma a few weeks ago, and even though I've been a high-er end knife snob for pocket knives for years (hence the KAI family purchase - Kershaw/Zero Tolerance/Shun) and I'd never really used a quality kitchen knife.

I am amazed at how great they are, I wish I would have invested in some years ago. I plan to slowly grow the collection by adding knives on sale over a longer period of time.

 

[danielocean03]

Oh- to answer the original question - buy the Shun.

 

[Tanfodude]

Resurrecting this. How often are the Shun sharpen after regular use? How long do they retain their sharpness? I'm shopping for a quality chef knife that rarely needs sharpening like a CTS-XHP steel or something.