Are Expensive Kitchen Knives Really Better?

Last time, we said that when choosing a kitchen knife, it helps to start with:

What you’ll use it for.
Size.
Shape.
Stainless steel or carbon steel.
And, of course, your budget.

Those are the basics we suggested thinking through first.

This time, let’s take a closer look at that last point: “budget” —and dig into it a little more.

This may be the most important part.

Because this number determines

just how happy both you and we can be

in the end.

That said,

“If expensive knives are better, shouldn’t I just buy the most expensive one I can afford?”

It sounds reasonable.

If we were thinking only about Miura Knives’ bank account, I would enthusiastically agree.

Unfortunately, though,

“the more expensive the knife, the better it is”

simply isn’t true.

If performance is the only thing you care about, there comes a point where the performance you gain for each extra yen starts to level off.

In economics, you might call it something like diminishing returns.

But let’s leave the economics lecture there.

The basic idea looks something like this.

At Miura Knives, when it comes to Santoku and Gyuto knives,

we feel that around ¥50,000 is where “value for money starts getting dramatically worse.”

That’s our general rule of thumb.

Of course, there are exceptions.

But by around this price point,

• Sharpness
• Edge retention
• Steel
• Finish
• Manufacturing precision

the qualities you expect from a practical tool—sharpness, edge retention, steel, finish, manufacturing precision, and so on—have already reached a very high level.

So what are you paying for once the price climbs beyond that?

From here on, you enter

a world that can’t be explained simply as “it cuts better.”

 

For example:

• Unusual or premium steels
• Hand finishing
• Decorative finishes such as Damascus or black-dyed finishes
• Premium handle materials
• Work by particular blacksmiths or sharpeners
• Very limited production
• Extra attention to the manufacturing process itself

More specialized, distinctive details like these begin to have a much stronger influence on the price.

At this level, the knife is increasingly expensive not because

“its performance is simply higher,”

but because

“this particular knife is what it is.”

That kind of value becomes a bigger part of the price.

If you already know what you’re looking at—or fall in love with a knife the instant you see it—that’s another story. But for a first knife, this is a difficult price range to navigate entirely on your own.

This is exactly when you should make use of the staff.

That’s what we’re here for.

So, as the price rises, what actually changes compared with other knives?

As you can see, it isn’t as simple as every aspect improving neatly as the price goes up.

Two particularly clear examples are ease of sharpening and resistance to chipping.

Both are strongly influenced by the hardness of the steel.

Many higher-priced knives are deliberately hardened to relatively high levels in pursuit of sharpness and edge retention.

“A harder edge resists deformation and can hold a keen edge more easily.”

So far, so good.

But

hardness does not bring only advantages.

Higher hardness can bring real benefits, but it may also make a knife more demanding to sharpen, and depending on how it is used, the edge can become more prone to chipping.

In other words,

buying a more expensive knife does not mean every single characteristic becomes a straight upgrade

わけではありません。

And whenever we talk about price, one question inevitably comes up:

“So does a more expensive knife cut better?”

 

This is a good place to think about what we actually mean by “sharpness.”

When I explain sharpness in the shop, I sometimes say that it is

a little different from simply “the ability to cut something apart.”

 

Imagine, for example, the sharpest kitchen knife in the world.

Would that knife be able to cut through a rock?

No.

In other words,

Sharpness = being able to cut absolutely anything

Clearly, that isn’t how it works.

To me, “sharpness” is closer to

how clearly the food communicates back through the blade

When the edge touches a tomato skin.

When you cut through an onion.

When you draw the blade through a piece of fish. 

How the edge enters the food.

Where it meets the fibers.

How much resistance you are feeling.

With a truly sharp knife, those reactions from the food seem to come back into your hand much more clearly.

Rather than forcing and crushing your way through the ingredient, you can actually feel the blade traveling through it.

For me, that sensation comes very close to what “sharpness” really means.

Once you look at it that way,

“Which knife is the sharpest?”

becomes a much harder question to answer.

There are many different qualities hidden inside that single word, “sharpness.”

That’s why, when someone asks us in the shop for “the sharpest knife,” we may respond by asking quite a few questions of our own.

We’re figuring out together what you actually want to be “number one.”

When you shop for knives online, you’ll run into plenty of specs such as:

• HRC
• Blade length
• Blade height
• Blade thickness
• Weight
• Steel

 

They are useful information, of course.

A knife is never defined by a single performance metric.

So,

specifications are tools for choosing a knife—you are not buying the specifications themselves

That is the point.

So once performance and numbers are no longer enough to decide, what should you choose a knife by?

Next time, we’ll step into the more enthusiast-driven side of knives:

steel, handles, appearance, and “who made it.”

 That’s where things start getting a little more personal—and a lot more fun.