Mercer Culinary Ultimate White, 8 Inch Chef's Knife

Like the shape and grip of the handle. The steel is good enough to take a sharp edge and a reasonable commercial kitchen beating. You can get a better handle and better steel. But in a commercial setting, any knife will take a lot of hard use. This one is made to take that abuse without draining the tool budget. Pro kitchens need sharp chef’s tools that can do all the chef tool jobs. They need to pay as little as possible for them. Mercer Culinary understands this need and produces several lines of low-cost cutlery to meet slightly different needs, the primary one being kitchen tools as a wear item that can perform at chef level without blowing too much overhead on them. These are easy to sharpen and don’t chip easily. The handles are certified for chlorinated sanitizer sinks. Lots of companies make a tool like this but Mercer outsells them all. You might not want one for your home kitchen where a little nicer tools make sense, but for your restaurant they’re a great compromise between cost, quality, and utility. You can get better everything but for 14 bucks probably not. My kitchen knife is a Shun with a VG-10 core and mild steel “Damascus” cladding. It has a stainless handle and could work well in a pro setting but VG-10 is notorious for chipping when you’re working on bones. I have a German cleaver for that stuff and the Shun for everything else. My favorite part of the VG-10 blade is the laser sharp edge it holds. But it might be a bit fragile under commercial use. If a $14 knife chips under hard use it’s no great loss. Everything about this knife maximizes commercial effectiveness per dollar spent. If that is your priority, this is a pretty good candidate to be your knife. Your kitchen might buy these by the gross.

I bought this knife back in 2023 when I started my restaurant and I would have to say this is the best knife I’ve ever owned!! I’ve kept up with the maintenance with a sharpening stone, cut tons of meat and vegetables with it. The Japanese steel is durable and sharpened at 15 degrees. Comfortable grip and size for multipurpose. Best quality for a good price!

There are people out there with lots of disposable income which results in exposure to lots of things that most of us might never see, do or learn and so, a knife like this one might seem like a trifle to them. For the rest of you, those who, like myself, have lived with stainless steel kitchen sets from the likes of Walmart, Target and Ross for their entire lives. This review is for you. This knife is SCARY SHARP right out of the package. When I first held it in my hands and felt it's balance and gazed upon its highly reflective, high carbon steel surface, I immediately knew that I was on another level. I've been using it daily for several weeks now and, at first, I only noticed subtle differences between it and my old stainless cheap knives, then I realized that I was handling it improperly. I was using it in the same manner as the flawed knives that I had grown accustomed to. I attempted to immitate the actions of chefs and cooks that I had seen on TV and the internet and this knife began to shine. To be sure, I am no chef and I definitely MUST learn proper cutting and chopping technique to get the most out of this knife but the user experience is BEAUTIFUL! I don't feel 100% confident in the hard plastic handle. I worry that if my hands are too wet or maybe oily, there might be a slip, leading to an unfortunate encounter with its unforgiving blade but, the handle isn't bad. It's just chunky enough that I never lose track of it while my hands are in motion and it has raised textured areas for the thumb and forefinger which works really well to help keep the handle stable while in use. Also, and this could be a pro or a con, as I understand it, due to the fact that the blade is high carbon steel and not stainless, you can't let it air dry in the dish rack. It has to be cleaned and dried immediately after every use. As a guy who is used to maintaining and caring for various types of equipment and gear, this is not a problem for me. I appreciate the performance of the knife so much that I WANT to take care of it that way. This knife is obviously not the best chef's knife that money can buy but, for the PRICE, I think it's beautifully made, its frighteningly sharp and for the most part, a joy to use, if you can get beyond the new and unfamiliar fear of cutting yourself (YES. It's that much different from what you find in cheap kitchen sets). It has changed my kitchen experience! I LOVE it and I don't think you'll regret it! By the way, I got this size because my very petite wife has very small hands and she did not want a heavy knife. I will definitely be purchasing it's bigger brother for myself in the near future.

I was surprised this came to me sharp! It feels comfortable enough and its weight is sufficient. It cuts well... That's why it was so hard to bring myself to dull it with a brick and resharpen it to put this knife to the test! Used 400/1000 grit whetstone to sharpen . Factory bevel seemed to be around 15°. It sharpened up nicely; another surprise! Lol, sorry if I use excessive exclamations it's a habbit. Next test was march chopping (look it up) it on a hard wooden cutting board to slowly emulate wear and tear until it couldn't cut a tomato smoothly. I honed it and the edge restored quite well! I suggest a steel rod. I'll explain why shortly. Over all this knife is perfect for beginners or anyone looking to just buy a sharp knife for cheap so they don't have to sharpen their old one(s) and want something better then what you can get at a supermarket. If you plan on sharpening it, a lot of steel was removed in my initial whetstone work. I have a feeling it will need sharpening several times a year as the edge retention isn't so great. That's why I suggest a steel rod over diamond or ceramic for daily honing. Save that steel! Lastly, remember to take care of your knives! Wash them and dry them well and they won't rust. Don't throw them in a draw and they'll last longer! A sharp knife is a safe knife! ;D

Mercer Knifes always hold there own and this is no exception... I really love their higher end VG10 knifes and own a full set of them. The get babied and for chores I don't want to put them through I use the stamped millennial knifes. I own most of then and a few of a couple different versions such as the Nikari that I own 3 of and the 6 inch boning knife 3 as well and 3 of the 8in chefs kinfe.. The edges on the higher end knifes are much finer finishes as you would expect but for the low cost the edge is fantastic. What I do when I get a new one is run a 800, 1500, 3000 and 6000 whetstone treatment on it keeping the exact factory bevel (no need to reprofile as the factory bevels are excellent as they are, I will say on the Nikari I do reprofile it to a 11 degree bevel as the thin blade is just so ultra razor sharp with a 11 degree edge over the 15 degree factory edge that it's worth the it if you have a set of DMT or other high quality Diamond stones that I go for it and the steel is hard enough to hold up to a 11 degree angle and keep a edge so long as you are cutting friuts and vegs or slicing tender cuts of meat as the Nikari is intended to do) then over a progressive stropping starting with 3 micron Diamond paste on high quality leather then down to 1 micron to half micron then to .25 micron and finishing with .1 micron. This will give you a edge that will whittle hair even on the thick blades like the 12in chef knife... For most people out the box will be more then good enough as they will shave no problem out the box but I have OCD with sharp knifes and love taking edges to a ultra mirror finish that is literally sharper then a razor blade. At 15 degrees with the method I use on the chefs knifes the edge will hold up extremely with a simple strop on the .1 micron strop after you are finished with it just 5 or so strops per side and that's it and your edge will be flawless (this is how I treat all my knifes). Realistically a home cook could simple strop the knifes once a week even with the factory edge and have razor sharp knifes that don't need to touch a stone for a month or two... If you work edges like I do then the bevel and edge will hold up for an extremely long time with just a few hits on the strop and not need to visit the stones or diamond plates but maybe 2 times a year. The Japanese steel used in these knifes is fantastic and punches way above its price point and holds its edge well but is a little tough to sharpen if you don't have the equipment and or skills to do so... Their German steel knifes are deff easier to sharpen with just a 1k and 3k grit combo whetstone but will not hold a edge near as well as the jap steel will so there is a trade off there. Anyone that's on a budget and needs excellent knifes... Looking further then these is a waste of time. The steel is excellent, the factory edge is excellent, the knifes performance as a whole is excellent.... A 12 to 15 dollar knife that will hold its own with 100 dollar knifes out the package is exactly what these are. They aren't pretty, they aren't flawlessly balanced but they ARE low budget high performance knifes that leaves very very little on the table performance wise versus knifes costing literally 10x...

Love this knife. The weight and feel of it is great. Stays pretty sharp too.

Great Knife for the kitchen comes very sharp perfect size for slicing vegetables

Great Chef knife for the price. Only knock is the handle is a bit on the big side for smaller hands.

La hoja es un poco gruesa pero es algo que me ha servido muy bien, el agarre de seguridad con el cuchillo lo hace muy preciso, el filo lo mantiene de buena manera, el acero es de excelente calidad. he visto compañeros del trabajo con cuchillos 4 veces más costosos que no tienen el desempeño que tiene el mercer.

For the price dont walk pass this knife. Comes nice and sharp, keeps its edge well and as long as you wash and dry it after use is always ready to go with a beautiful finish. Great gift for someone starting out cooking at home that needs to understand that a good knife makes cooking way easier and more fun. Or grab a few and have one ready to go all the time.

Very sharp knife, and very consistent too. Handle is plastic and what can I say? It cuts stuff really nice and easily. Huge upgrade from my decades old knife. Now just need a good chopping board

Há qualidade no aço, bem construída, recomendo pelo custo benefício

Purchased one for the RV, loved it so much ordered one for home. Sharp, sharp, sharp and nice to handle.