When it comes to kitchen knives, I'm a dyed in the wool Henckels girl. I admire the craftsmanship, the durability and the balance of these knives and I know from long experience just how well an investment in a high-quality knife pays dividends at the chopping board. I thought my collection of knives was complete with chef's knives of two different lengths, an offset serrated bread knife, paring knife, two utility knives, boning knife and a carving knife. So I was a little non-plussed to receive a KitchenAid Professional Series santoku knife as a gift a while back. I had no idea what the specific utility of this knife was, and I didn't feel that my collection of knives left any gaping holes in my kitchen tool set. I soon got over my skepticism however, and grew to love it.

The santoku knife has a distinctly Asian appearance, somewhat like a meat cleaver, without the heaviness and with a more oblong blade. Just above the cutting edge on both sides of the blade there is a single row of oval dimples running the length of the six and-a-half inch blade. The idea behind the dimples is to prevent foods from clinging to the side of the blade when slicing. The knife's edge is not straight, having a slight curve to it. This allows for a slight amount of rocking when chopping foods. The tip is not as pointed as a chef's knife, but the unsharpened side of the tip curves back slightly from the blade, providing a good cutting edge for point work.

The KitchenAid santoku is lighter than I would have expected for its size, which didn't necessarily seem like a good thing to me. In a knife, weight indicates the presence of metal. The balance of the KitchenAid santoku suffers somewhat because there isn't a metal tang running the full length of the handle. This makes the knife easy to handle, but it also gave it a "trivial" feeling in my hand, which is accustomed to working with heavier, full-tang knives. Eventually, I got used to this. Now I appreciate the lightness of the knife, even though I still like the balance of my better quality knives. The handle is wrapped with heat-resistant silicone, which gives it a comfortable grip. Also, the upper surface of the knife, opposite the cutting edge, is nicely rounded. So when holding the blade with a professional "pinch grip" between thumb and the middle bone of the index finger, there's less abrasion on the ball of the index finger. This will likely matter to few people, since professionals will have respectable calluses there and amateurs aren't likely to grip the blade for enough hours each day for this to matter.

I used the santoku knife almost exclusively for every cutting task in the kitchen in the first two weeks after I got it. To my great surprise, I found that it did almost everything my chef's knives could do, and also doubled capably as a utility knife. I haven't tried fine paring with the santoku, because it just doesn't seem like the smartest maneuver. But I can tell that it would serve very well for peeling large items such as pumpkins or celeriac. For apples and citrus I'll stick with my three-inch paring knife. I especially like the way I can easily cut with the tip of the santoku, using a dragging motion across a cutting board. When removing the thick rib from a cabbage leaf, the santoku works even better than a chef's knife, because of its short length and light weight. I can then continue chopping the cabbage with the same knife. It can't compare with a ten-inch chef's knife when it comes to chopping across a large area of course. This is simply a function of the blade length. Other than for these few purposes the santoku does not fulfill, it's a tool I will reach for very often in the kitchen.

To tell the truth, I wasn't blown away by the effect the dimples had on foods while I was slicing them. When dicing onions, for instance, they still stuck to the blade somewhat. There was certainly less sticking when using the santoku, but this wasn't ever something that bothered me at the cutting board when it came to vegetables. If clingy vegetables drive you absolutely mad, you'll get some relief with this santoku, but not full satisfaction. What I did notice when slicing a large batch of onions or eggplant, was that my hand was less tired. This could be because the blade is so light, or because the dimpled blade produces less drag than a conventional knife; I'm just not sure which is true. If the dimples had the same effect when slicing cheese, I might be more impressed. Again, the shape of the blade seemed to help the cheese cling somewhat less to the side of the knife. But the cheese stuck to it anyway. (A soft cheese knife is something I've always thought about buying, but never have.) Still, I think this is a fantastic addition to my knife collection, and I'm especially pleased to have something that combines the most important functions of the chef's and utility knives. The santoku makes it that much easier to undertake big cooking projects without stopping to clean knives between each step.

All the knives in KitchenAid's Professional Series come with a "Hassle-Free Replacement Warranty." I've never tried to exercise this warranty, so I don't know how much it really means. I guess it makes for good copy though. I put my santoku through the dishwasher regularly, and other than pinprick rust spots on the blade, there have been no problems. I figure that if I like this santoku enough that I eventually ruin it by putting it through the dishwasher all the time, then it'll be a good investment to buy a better quality brand santoku when this one reaches retirement age. After several weeks of heavy usage in my kitchen, the blade remains still very sharp without either sharpening or steeling. If I were to somehow lose this knife, I would definitely look into replacing it with a Henckels santoku.

Some of my other favorite kitchen tools:

• Swing Away Can Opener - the one I kept after trying all the others
• Taylor Instant Read Pocket Thermometer - the most necessary tool for cooking roasts of any kind
• Endurance Precision Pierced Colander - drains like a dream, and made of stainless steel
• KitchenAid Standing Mixer - indispensable for certain kitchen tasks, and incredibly strong
• Oxo Good Grips Kitchen Tongs - sturdy and safe to use with non-stick pans
• Oxo Good Grips Offset Bread Knife - does its job well and safely
• Black & Decker Rice & Vegetable Steamer - takes a licking, keeps on ticking
• Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven - ideal for stews, and no-knead bread
• Bron Mandoline Slicer - the Cadillac of the kitchen
• Magnabar Knife Holder - extra storage space for my best kitchen tools




Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): gift