Knife Types 101

What Every Knife Is Actually For

Most people own a chef's knife, a bread knife, and something small they use for everything else. That works fine until you start cooking more seriously and realise there is a reason professional kitchens have a dozen different blade shapes on the rail.

This is a plain-language guide to the most common knife types, what they are built for, and how to figure out which ones are actually worth adding to your kit.

The Knives Worth Knowing About

Chef's Knife (Gyuto)

The one knife everyone should own. A chef's knife handles the vast majority of kitchen work: chopping vegetables, slicing meat, dicing onions, breaking down herbs. In Western kitchens it typically runs 20-25cm with a curved belly that suits a rocking motion. The Japanese equivalent is the gyuto, which tends to be thinner, lighter, and flatter in profile, built more for push-cutting than rocking.

If you only own one knife, this is it. If you are buying your first serious knife, this is where to spend the money.

Who it suits: Everyone.

Santoku

Santoku means "three virtues" in Japanese, referring to meat, fish and vegetables. It is shorter than a chef's knife (usually 16-18cm), has a flatter cutting edge, and a rounded tip. The flatter profile makes it better for straight up-and-down chopping rather than rocking, which suits people who prep a lot of vegetables or work on smaller boards.

It is not a replacement for a chef's knife so much as a personal preference thing. Some cooks reach for a santoku every day and never miss the gyuto. Others try it once and go back immediately.

Who it suits: Cooks who do a lot of vegetable prep, people who prefer a shorter knife, anyone who works on a smaller bench.

Paring Knife (Petty)

A short knife, usually 8-12cm, for tasks that need control over power: peeling, trimming, segmenting citrus, removing seeds, detailed work you cannot do safely on a board. The Western version is called a paring knife. The Japanese equivalent is a petty, which is slightly longer and more versatile.

You will use it less often than a chef's knife, but when you need it nothing else will do.

Who it suits: Anyone who does detailed prep work. Worth owning once you have a chef's knife sorted.

Bread Knife

A long serrated blade, usually 20-25cm, designed to cut through crusts without compressing the crumb underneath. The serrations do the work, which means it can tackle things a straight edge struggles with: crusty sourdough, tomatoes with tough skins, layered cakes.

It is one of the few knives where the Western design has no real Japanese equivalent, and it is genuinely irreplaceable for what it does.

Who it suits: Anyone who buys good bread.

Nakiri

A Japanese vegetable knife with a rectangular blade, flat edge, and blunt tip. It looks like a small cleaver but cuts nothing like one. The flat edge means the entire length of the blade contacts the board on every cut, which gives you clean, precise slices through vegetables without the tearing or compression you can get from a curved blade.

It is a specialist tool, but if you cook a lot of plant-based food or do serious vegetable prep it is one of the most satisfying knives to use.

Who it suits: Cooks who work heavily with vegetables. A good second Japanese knife after a gyuto or santoku.

Boning Knife

A narrow, flexible blade (usually 12-15cm) for working around bones, removing skin, and separating joints. The flexibility lets it follow the contour of the bone without wasting meat. Stiffer versions exist for heavier work like beef and pork. The flexible version is better for poultry and fish.

Who it suits: Anyone who breaks down whole animals or whole fish at home. Less relevant if you buy pre-portioned cuts.

Filleting Knife

Similar to a boning knife but thinner and more flexible, specifically designed for fish. The flex allows it to follow the spine of a fish and work under the skin without tearing the flesh. If you fish, or buy whole fish regularly, this is worth owning. For occasional use, a flexible boning knife will cover it.

Who it suits: Cooks who work with whole fish regularly.

Sujihiki / Carving Knife

A long, narrow slicing knife (usually 24-30cm) for carving roasts, slicing cured meats, or cutting boneless proteins into clean portions. The length means you can slice in one long pull rather than sawing, which gives you cleaner cuts and less tearing. The Japanese sujihiki is thinner and more precise than a Western carving knife. Both do the same job.

Who it suits: Anyone who carves roasts at the table, does charcuterie, or portions fish and proteins at home.

Cleaver

A heavy, rectangular blade for tasks that require force: splitting through bone, breaking down whole chickens, portioning large cuts of meat. It is not a chopping knife for vegetables despite what you might see on street food videos. That style of cooking suits a very specific Chinese cleaver (thinner, lighter) rather than the heavy bone cleaver most people picture.

A cleaver is not an everyday knife for most home cooks, but if you buy whole birds or larger cuts it earns its place.

Who it suits: Cooks who work with whole animals or need to get through bone.

Bunka

A Japanese knife with the profile of a santoku but with a reverse tanto tip, meaning the spine drops sharply toward the point rather than curving up. That tip gives you more precision for detail work and scoring without changing how the rest of the knife handles. It sits somewhere between a santoku and a gyuto in terms of versatility.

Who it suits: Cooks who like the santoku profile but want more tip precision. A good option if you find yourself doing detailed work regularly.

Yanagiba

A long, single-bevel Japanese slicing knife used primarily for sashimi and raw fish preparation. The single bevel (only one side of the blade is ground) creates an exceptionally acute cutting angle that glides through fish in one clean pull. It requires more skill to use and sharpen than a double-bevel knife, and it is specific enough that most home cooks will not need one.

Who it suits: Cooks who prepare sashimi or sushi regularly, and are comfortable with single-bevel sharpening.

How to Think About Building a Knife Kit

You do not need every knife on this list. Most home cooks are well served by three: a chef's knife or gyuto for general work, a paring knife or petty for detailed tasks, and a bread knife for baked goods.

From there, the next most useful addition depends entirely on how you cook. If you eat a lot of vegetables, a nakiri or santoku. If you cook whole fish, a filleting knife. If you carve roasts, a sujihiki. Buy to solve an actual problem rather than to complete a set.

The other thing worth knowing: one excellent knife beats five mediocre ones. A well-made gyuto in good steel, properly sharpened, will outperform an entire block of budget knives. If you are going to invest, put the money into your main knife first and fill in the gaps later.

Browse our full range of Japanese and Western knives at Chef & a Knife. If you are not sure what to buy, get in touch - we are happy to point you in the right direction.