Looking for the Best Chef Knives under 200? Well, you found exactly what you need. It can be easy to be confused by the vast number and variety of kitchen knives that are available, all with different features, prices, pros and cons, and designs. The amount of time and effort to make a simple informed decision when buying a knife is immense. That’s why we’ve done the hard work for you.
We considered things like sharpness, price, balance handle construction, and a few other things so you know exactly what you’re buying. The knife is one of the most important tools in the kitchen and the consequences of not having a trusty blade may even prove to be dangerous.
On the other hand, the joy of feeling a good knife glide over your chopping board is an emotion that is indescribable. Go through this list of the best chef knives under 200, find the knife that exactly matches your needs, and get cooking!
Feel free to check out our article on best chef knives under 50 or best kitchen knives under 100
Editor’s Picks: Best Chef Knives under 200
Best value for money
Shun Cutlery Premier 8” Chef’s knife
The Shun Cutlery premier 8-inch Chef’s knife is a quite the joy to use. The wooden grip is extremely comfortable and the blade is easy maneuverable due to its lightweight. The standard 8-inch length means that it can be used for cutting, slicing, chopping and dicing any sort of food that you would encounter.
The wide nature of the blade makes it very convenient to move chopped ingredients from the cutting board into a plate or pan. The blade is hand sharpened to be razor sharp and has a 16° double bevel, making it convenient for left and right-handed users. The most visually stunning element of this piece is the blade itself, which has 34 layers of Damascus cladding on each side.
Features
- Weights 0.48 lbs.
- The tang of the blade extends into the handle
- The handle is contoured and made from walnut colored Pakkawood
- The blade has a VG-Max cutting core
- The edge is extremely sharp
- The edge is hand sharpened to perfection by the manufacturer
- The entire blade is Japanese handcrafted
Most heavy duty knife
Japanese Chef Knife, 8 Inch Gyuto, Professional Grade
This blade comes with 67 layers of Japanese super steel. The metal has been vacuum heat treated and given an elegant Damascus pattern. The blade extends into a full tang into the handle, which is polymer and triple riveted. The middle rivet has a neat mosaic pin, adding to the visual appeal.
The blade itself has been finished with nitrogen cooling, giving the blade exceptional hardness and corrosion resistance and anti-rust properties. The blade has also been hand polished, to the point where it glints in your hand as you chop across the board.
Features
- Weights 1.53 lbs.
- Blade is 8 inch long and 2.2 inch at the widest point
- Handle is polymer 5.11 inches, triple riveted with a center mosaic pin
- Uses AUS-10 grade Japanese super steel
- Has a 62+ HRC with 66 layers of high carbon metal
- The handle is military grade to offer the most comfort for precision control
- 8-12° of bevel on the blade
Most durable knife
WÜSTHOF Classic 8 Inch Chef’s Knife
This blade is the mule of the kitchen, ready for anything and everything. The all-purpose WÜSTHOF Classic 8 Inch Chef’s Knife is good for chopping, slicing, mincing, and dicing. If you need to cut something, this blade will do the job. The perfect combination of balance and weight allows this blade to cut through anything with comfort and ease.
Features
- Weights 0.69lbs.
- Blade has been precision forged and turns into a full tang into the handle
- The handle is polymer and contoured, ensuring a solid grip which is safe and comfortable
- The edge has been hand toned
- Has an HRC of 58
- Comes with a lifetime warranty
- Made in Germany
Most comfortable knife
DALSTRONG Chef Knife – 8″ Shogun Series X – Damascus
This beautiful blade comes with a military-grade G10 handle, which makes the handle near immortal. The handle itself has excellent hand control, comfort, agility, and safety, with your palm curling around a non-slip grip. The blade has an intricate Damascus pattern and the end cap is engraved to make the knife stand out even more. An intricate copper mosaic can also be seen on the middle Rivett.
Features
- Weights 0.6 lbs.
- has 8-12° double bevel on the blade
- scores 62+ on the rockwell scale
- AUS-10V vacuum treated japanese super steel core
- 67 layers of folded damascus that has never been etched
- full tang and hand polished spine
- comes with a PerfectFit Dalstrong Sheath
- has a lifetime warranty
Most aesthetic chef knife
Shun Classic 8” Chef’s Knife
Another entry from Shun, the Shun Classic 8-inch Chef’s Knife is a blade that is equipped to be an all-purpose cutting, slicing, dicing, and chopping instrument. The slightly curved blade of the Shun Chef’s Knife makes rocking it back and forth simple, making easy work of any herbs that need mincing. The size and width may be ideal to prepare any common food item in the kitchen.
You can easily scrap anything off your chopping board and onto a plate or pan with a wide blade. The blade has a Damascus pattern, with a total of 69 total layers of VG-Max steel. The blade extends into a tang which is covered with an elegant Ebony Pakkawood handle.
Features
- Weights 0.44 lbs.
- The blade has extra tungsten for a sharper edge, extra chromium for anti corrosion properties and more carbon and cobalt to give it strength
- The blade transition into a tang which goes into the handle
- Ergonomic handle made from ebony pakkawood
- Hand sharpened and polished
- Built in finger guard
- Free lifetime sharpening offer by Shun
Sharpest knife
Zwilling J.A. Henckels Professional S
Created by skilled craftsmen in Germany, the knife’s laser-controlled edge delivers razor-like sharpness. The blade was precision-forged from a solid piece of steel and the handle has the standard triple-rivet, making the grip comfortable for anyone.
Designed similarly to a classic French chef’s knife, this blade is wide and has a curved blade, making rocking and chopping one of the simplest of tasks. The bolster is stain resistant and the tang is corrosion-resistant, giving the knife an exceptionally long lifetime.
Features
- Weights 0.61 lbs.
- Made in one piece precision forged construction techniques
- Has a laser controlled edge
- Has friodur ice hardening, to give maximum corrosion resistance and strength
- Precisely honed, to make the edge stay sharp
- Blade made from high carbon steel which is an exclusive J.A. Henckels formula
- Dishwasher safe
- Full warranty by the manufacturer
- Made in Germany
Best for large hands
Zelite Infinity Chef Knife 8 Inch – Executive-Plus Series
This piece takes beauty and function to another level. It has a Japanese chef’s knife design philosophy, using a Japanese AUS10 super still with 45 layers of high carbon steel. Furthermore, the blade has been polished with Zelites tsunami rose damascus pattern, giving the blade a stunning look.
The knife also comes with a beautiful leather sheath to make sure the blade is well protected during storage. The handle uses the traditional triple rivet but comes with the twist of having an innovative humpback shape. This is thought to add further ergonomics to the handle itself.
Features
- Weights 0.63 lbs.
- Uses Japanese Takefu VG10 Super steel
- Has a rockwell hardness of 61 +/- 1
- Has a double bevel of 12°
- Balances around the bolster area to give most comfortable balance
- The handle is military grade G10 triple riveted with full tang
- Comes with a high quality leather sheath
What to consider when buying Best Chef Knives under 200 for the home kitchen
Since the knife is one of the most essential tools of any home kitchen, you should be fully informed of what you’re buying. When we made this list of best chef knives under 200, we decided to evaluate the knives on multiple factors. The 6 most important factors of a knife are outlined below, so you know exactly why we made our recommendations and can always make your own evaluations.
Sharpness
The blade of a knife should always come razor sharp right out of the box. This is an indication of the quality of both the manufacturer and the blade itself. If you find the blade to be dull, simply resharpening it would fix the issue, but that’s an unnecessary step that you’re having to do. Whenever you’re unboxing a new high-quality blade, always be careful as the sharp edge can easily knick your fingers. After unwrapping the knife, check if it can effortlessly cut through a piece of A4 paper. If it can, you’re good to get cooking.
Edge retention
Getting a sharp blade is good, but that edge has to stay sharp. Resharpening a blade every few times that you use it is a hassle and a chore that no one wants to have to do. Edge retention mainly depends on the hardness of the steel. The harder a Steel, the better edge retention it has.
A good way to understand the hardness of steel is to check the Rockwell scale. A larger number on the scale indicates harder steel. Having steel that is too hard is not a good idea though. Hard steel is prone to chipping and notoriously difficult to resharpen
Ease of sharpening
irrespective of how hard your steel is, a blade will eventually dull. Like taxes and sunrises, blades dulling over time is another truth of life. Chopping, sheathing and unsheathing, clanking in a drawer, moving around in the dishwasher, all of this causes impacts on the edge of the blade which ultimately leads to the blade dulling. So you are going to have to resharpen that blade.
The ease of resharpening a blade has many factors, but the most significant one is the hardness of the blade. The harder a blade, the more difficult it is to resharpen. The softer a blade, the easier it is to resharpen. However, if the steel is too soft, the edge will stay sharp for a short time and be prone to rolls and other damage.
Weight
The weight of a knife is one of its fundamental characteristics. It is a core part of the knife. A blade should have enough weight to go through carrots and bones, but shouldn’t be so heavy that your wrist hurts after hours of prep and chopping for that weekend family dinner. Although lightweight knives are easier to use, they are mainly for chopping veggies. You will need something heavier when going through meat, bone, and cartilage.
Balance
Equally as important as the weight of the knife is where all that weight acts, which is basically the balance. The ideal point for a knife to balance is right around the finger guard, but this varies with design philosophy, manufacturer, etc. Some heavier knives balance lower in the handle area, to make the knife more comfortable to use over long periods of time. Some lighter knives balance higher in the blade, to give the knife some weight when cutting down on food which is particularly hard (think carrots, tomato skin, etc.)
Handle
The next part of the knife that we consider is the handle. What material is it made out of? Does it have a full tang? Is it a triple rivet design like other most traditional knives? How’s the grip? is the balance somewhere around the handle? Is the handle corrosion resistant? Answering these questions will let you know about the quality of the handle. Many cooks make the mistake of ignoring the handle. You must remember that the handle is the point of contact between you and the blade. Therefore, a poor handle will always lead to poor performance.
FAQs on Best Chef Knives under 200
What knives does Gordon Ramsey use?
Similar to most professional chefs, Gordon Ramsay has been known to be fond of WUSHTOF and J. A. Henckels branded knives. He seems to enjoy German blades.
Are forged in fire knives any good?
Forged blades are some of the best blades in the world. They will almost always outperform stamped or molded blades. Forging a blade changes the properties of the metal, giving it superior performance.
What brand of knives do professional chefs prefer?
Professional chef’s tend to prefer WUSTHOF and Henckel branded knives when they are looking for classic chef’s knives. Some chefs also prefer Global branded knives when looking for Japanese style chef’s knives.
What is the sharpest knife in the world?
The sharpest knives in the world are not made from steel but obsidian, which is also known as volcanic glass. These blades are extremely brittle and would probably break when trying to cut through a sandwich. If you want a really sharp knife for the kitchen, you could go with the sharpest blade in this list.
What is the best affordable chef knife?
We made this entire best chef knives under 200 list to try and figure this out. The most affordable knife depends mainly on your budget and what you are looking for. If you want to spend even less, try checking out our best kitchen knives under 100 list.
Final thoughts
After carefully evaluating each and every notable aspect of these knives, we have created a list of the best chef knives under 200. We tried to figure out which knife works best for which role and what are their pros and cons. We hope you found this review useful, and that you found the perfect knife for your kitchen. Take good care of the blade, keep it clean and sharp. Happy cooking!
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Written By Robert Onishi
Robert is a 3rd generation knife forger who has in depth knowledge of different types of knives, their strengths and weaknesses, and ancient and modern forging techniques. In his spare time, he writes knife reviews and blogs for RigMyKitchen.