I’m not sure if there’s such a thing as an extended use kind of review but I’m going to start one now. There is a product that I’ve owned for quite a while now. It’s a product that I considered and researched for a long time before I pulled the trigger an made the purchase. It’s a set of tools that I use daily since I’ve become the de facto cook in my household – a Global 3-knife set.
Ive owned these knives for about 8 years now. I’ve sharpened them once and they still cut beautifully. I can eviscerate a tomato into a 1/4″ dice with ease. I can chiffonade basil like a champ. It’s been a great investment for my gastric endeavors.
First in the set is the 8″ Santoku. This is basically a small Japanese chefs knife and it handles most of the larger tasks with ease. The balance is great due to the handle being filled with sand and when using the pinch style grip, the bolster less design exudes control.
The next knife in the set is the 5″ Utility knife. This is like a sacred down chefs knife but with more of a pointed blade. This is my go-to knife in the set. It’s large enough to give similar control like the santoku, but I could still do paring tasks with it without having to reach for the paring knife. This is a great knife for making quick work of slicing and coring an apple and yet I can still switch to a chop mode with smaller veggies very easily.
Lastly there is the paring knife. The design of this knife is the least remarkable of the three, but hey – it’s a paring knife. the grip is the standard global polka-dot pattern which is still grippy if your hands are a bit wet, but cleans up easily. Also it just looks cool – I mean Globals are the preferred knife of serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. It must be because the high tungsten content of the steel hold an edge for what seems like forever…definitely years of daily use.
However, as much a I love using my Globals, they lack the artisan character of a set of damascus steel Shuns or Ken Onion knives, but there’s also something to be said for the sleek utilitarian feel of the globals. Maybe it’s because I’m not afraid to use my globals whereas the Shuns I would just sit and look at how pretty they were.
In short, if you need a set of knives to replace the rusty Kitchenaid knives you thought were a good by at Target just after college, I would seriously consider these 3 basic knives from Global. You won’t even miss the other knives in the set…well a bread knife is nice to have…and a good cheese knife, but otherwise these three knives will up your culinary game exponentially.
