Buying knives is never easy. You think that you can just whip out your credit card and order something from Amazon to your doorstep, and that’s it? I’m afraid not. Because you know what? Bringing home the wrong knives is like not bringing home anything at all.

If you choose a meat cleaver to cut your bread, for example, that wouldn’t do the work, right? Of course, that might be an extreme example, but you get the point.

The truth is, you should always go with the right kind of knife for different kitchen tasks you often have every day. For example, a good chef knife is a must if you are busy and want to perform many different cooking tasks with great ease.

A chef knife or a Santoku knife, for example, can handle a lot of tasks from mincing, chopping, cutting and slicing. So, you won’t have to think much about what type of knife you should pick up. Also, having a great chef knife like that will save you a lot of time and money down the road.

On the other hand, opting for specialized knives has its own benefits.

The first one is that you will almost always perform better cooking works compared to doing them all alone with only your chef knife. For example, a good bread knife will slice the bread much more smoothly.

Or a meat cleaver can handle bones and big chunks of meat much easier. You also can’t go wrong with a handy paring knife for peeling fruits, etc. But the main downside of this option is that you will often need to spend a lot more.

And you will also have to pay attention to retaining the sharpness of the knives if you really want to keep them in the long run.

So, a bit of a dilemma, I know. But that might be the most important tip when choosing knives for your kitchen out there. If you don’t have much time and are on a tight budget, then an overall good chef knife is a must. Or else, you can go the specialized route.

Your choice.