Knife Types

Although there are dozens of different knives, some of which are designed for the professional chef, a carefully chosen collection of six or seven will equip most home kitchens admirably.

Knives can be divided in three broad groups: those for chopping, those for striking and those for slicing. At the most basic level, you'll need at least one chopping knife (chef's knife) and two slicing knives - a parer and a longer slicing knife, which can be used for slicing bread or meat.

In this section, we take a look at the three major knife types, along with some of the knives you can use for specialist tasks, such as shucking oysters or preparing grapefruit.