As one of the most important tools in the kitchen, kitchen knives are used in a variety of recipes. Their sharpness is a valuable asset, but you need to take care of your surroundings and the utensil itself if you want to keep your knives in peak condition for as long as possible.
Keep Your Knives Sharp
It goes without saying, but a dull knife is a useless knife. They're also deceptively dangerous, as the dull edge may cause the knife to slip during food prep; despite not being as effective at chopping food, they'll still be sharp enough to give you a nasty cut. You want your knives as sharp as possible if you want your cuts to be precise. There are two main ways to maintain sharpness in your kitchen - buying new knives or sharpening your old ones.
Buying new kitchen knives are expensive, but there may be certain reasons as to why you’d want to do that. If your old set of knives was of low quality, for example, then it may not even be worth sharpening. Damage to the handle itself can also prompt one to buy a new set of knives.
On the other hand, you can also just sharpen your existing knives using a knife sharpener. This can be handy if you have a knife that you really love using and you want to continue using it. It also saves you the cost of buying new knives in the future.
Consider Getting Other Knives
There isn’t just one type of knife. Different knives are useful for different occasions, and your standard kitchen knife may not be ideal for a particular task. In this case, you may want to buy specialized knives that do a better job in specific cases.
If you want to cover all your bases, consider getting full carving sets or knife sets. They provide the versatility of having different shapes that may cut better than standard kitchen knives. Alternatively, you could also get electric knives if you need more cutting power.
Get The Right Cutting Board
Kitchen knives aren’t just used on the kitchen countertop. To keep your kitchen and your knife safe, you should use cutting boards. The type of cutting board can dictate the condition of your knife.
A good example of this is glass cutting boards. Glass cutting boards are great if you don’t want bacteria on your food while preparing them, but it comes at a cost. Knives tend to easily dull out or even chip and break when used on glass cutting boards. It may be good for your food, but your knife will definitely suffer.
If you want to prioritize the condition of your knife, you should look to get either plastic or wooden cutting boards. These boards will sustain permanent damage over time from knives, especially if they’re sharp, but they won’t damage your knives nearly as much as glass cutting boards. Besides, you can always just buy another cutting board in the future if you need to.
Conclusion
Every kitchen needs a set of sharp knives to make good food. You can keep your knives in peak condition by following simple steps and using the right equipment.
