VictorinoxMini Chef's, 5" Blade, 1.25" at Black Fibrox Pro Handle

While starting life as a graduate student, I made the decision to get more serious about cooking to eat better and save money. A functional kitchen begins with quality cookware and a good set of knives; toward that end, I considered purchasing several of Victorinox's knife sets: Victorinox 46892 Fibrox 3-Piece Chef's Knife Set, Victorinox 8-Piece Knife Block Set, Victorinox 7-Piece Knife Block Set, Victorinox Swiss Classic 15-Piece Cutlery Block Set. In the end I found that, at Amazon's heavily-discounted prices, it's just as economical to construct a 'custom set' by purchasing the knives individually. This also ensures that you get exactly what you want, and that you don't waste money on knives that you don't want or need.In the end, I purchased:Victorinox 40521 10-Inch Chef's Knife, Black Fibrox HandleVictorinox Fibrox 7-Inch Granton Edge Santoku KnifeVictorinox 5-Inch Mini-Chef's Knife with Fibrox HandleVictorinox Honing Steel 12-Inch Round Regular Cut, Black Plastic HandleHenckels 20-Slot Super Knife Storage BlockAll of these products are very highly reviewed, and together they form an excellent introductory knife collection at a reasonable price.I often cook with friends who do not have much experience in the kitchen. If I try to hand them the 10" Chef's Knife, the look in their eyes tells me that they're seeing a trip to the emergency room. At half the length, this knife is much less intimidating and more than sufficient to turn a bag of vegetables into a salad or stirfry. The construction is top-notch and the Fibrox handle ensures that it is easy to clean. As is the case with other Victorinox knives, the cutting edge is amazingly sharp and, when cared for properly with handwashing and regular honing on a quality steel, it maintains this edge extraordinarily well. This knife handily defeats anything at the same price point, and you'll surely use it enough to justify the purchase in no time.

Wonderful knife for smaller kitchen tasks. Well made and very sharp. Bought this for my mother who is in her 80s and doesn’t handle the 8” chefs knife well. She loves this knife. I have also used it many times now, and really like it for smaller jobs where the 8” chefs knife is not needed.

This is a remarkably sharp, well balanced smaller knife. I only miss having more of a bolster as I nicked my finger. Still, wonderful slicing and cutting.

This knife I had no idea what to expect because of the mixed reviews on what it looked like.But all reviews were positive in how well the knife worked .I already have the 8 inch chef knife and love it but it can be a tad big for some tasks.Yes it looks different, but who cares about how it looks it is a very light knife that is well balanced not to mention razor sharp!I have used it to slice red meat thin style ,chicken also was sliced super thin for stir fry.With this knife slicing was easy I did not need either meats to be a little frozen to get strips real thin.I cut both hot peppers and bell pepper with no slipping and real slicing and dicing ease!!I love this knife just like I love my 8 inch chef knife and will be buying the 6 inch chef and a boning,filet knife when I can.These knives are a great price and excellent in quality and I would recommend them to everyone!

I have only had this knife since last December and I have rarely used it. It is kept in a special knife holder in a drawer by itself. I pulled it out a few days ago and I tried to slice challeh bread to make French toast. It was as dull as a butter knife. I don't know what happened. I do put it in the dishwasher a few times, but not always. I could count on one hand how many times that I've used it. There is nobody else in my household. I guess that you have to keep a knife sharpener handy. I have other Victorinox knives that I really love and they stay very sharp.

This is an amazing kitchen knife, and that’s coming from a knife guy. The handle is super comfortable in all sorts of different grips, and the finger scallops on the handle for side grips are amazing as well. Slices vegetables and meat incredibly easy. Edge retention is good, it’s very easy to put a razor sharp edge back on. So far it is standing up to the dishwasher fine, and gets used nearly every day. For the money, this is an amazing kitchen knife, and I’d prefer it over many more expensive brands. Overall if you want a medium sized general use for everything kitchen knife that you can throw in the dishwasher, you won’t be disappointed with this victorinox.

I do a lot of prep work, being the cook in my family. I use a parking type knife a lot. This is a cross between a paring and a chef's blade. The handle is full size, keeping my hand from contacting the cutting board. It is an NSF rated knife, meaning it meets the quality and cleanliness standards for commercial use.The edge grind is very nice, with a nice thinness, but not a chisel type edge. Very easy to maintain, and very easy to cut with. I keep my knives very sharp, honing them frequently with an oval ceramic sharpener. Given the taper of this edge, it is easy to hone.The steel is not extremely hard, also making the edge easy to keep perfect.

You get what you pay for - as usual - nice handle - very lousy blade - by a good knife made of actual steel