My wife and I both like to cook and hence like having good cookware. Looking to replace some of our kitchen knives soon and thought I would see what other people like to use.

I am NOT looking to spend a small fortune on them (aka not looking to buy the uberest of uber good, top end knives) but also am not looking for crap that wont sharpen well, wont hold an edge, etc. In other words, I am not looking to buy a brand name, but do want some good, functional knives.

My main buying points

- I can sharpen them. So I am not looking for ceramic or something like that. Have a few ceramics and they are ok, but not wanting my primary set to be that. I have a set of good diamond plates that I use to sharpen all my knives
- Can be sharpened well but also will hold a decent edge. Not looking for "holds an edge FOREVER" which means it really wont, but will be almost impossible to sharpen again :P Also not looking for something that can be sharpened super easy but is dulled by looking at it

Basically, looking for above the quality of most big store knife sets you get. I dont mind spending good money on these things, but again, am not asking "what is the best knife on earth I can buy?" cause we all know that leads into a black hole of money if you let it. I would like my money to be well spent and not just being spent on a name.

Also looking into some new nonstick cookware (pots, skillets). I have my very old (Some of it older than me) cast iron that I LOVE. But for everything I am not using cast iron for I would like to replace a lot of our worn out other stuff. My wife does not like dealing with the big heavy cast iron stuff when she is needing a big skillet and there are some items I do not like cooking in my cast iron (sauces, especially with lots of tomato, can play havoc with the seasoning if simmered in cast iron for example). Again, not wanting to buy a brand name here, but wanting some good stuff that will last a good while.

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My wife put the less-expensive plastic-handled Victorinox knives on our registry. I've been pretty happy with them. For build quality and feel though, I'd have been more content with the mid-upper tier Wusthof or Henckel knives.

NOW, all that said, Bourdain said the only pan(s) you need are the one's from the pro kitchen supply store. I had an omelette pan from said kind of store, and it was indestructible, well-seasoned, and magnificent. Similarly, if I ever had to go bachelor mode again, I'd happily consider just getting some beefy food-safe-white-plastic-handled kitchen knives from the supply store.

For non-stick in particular, I've liked our Calphalon pans. Those have been great.

 

Look at Cutco for the knives and Le Creuset for the cook ware. Both are awesome but not cheap. Picked up the two piece non stick stainless steel skillet set for the queen at Christmas.

 

I don't have any specific brand that I can recommend simply because most of my knives are custom (aka hand-me-downs from my parents made by some village blacksmith) but Wustohf and Henckel seem to be the standard for kitchen knives when my cousin was starting out as a pro-chef. Even still, you may want to consider a custom-made set so they can be tailored to what you want to do. I find I only use a few of the knives available to me: A 8" chef-style knife, a small paring style knife and a 12" yardwork/bone chopping knife.

I'm partial to carbon steel blades myself since I think they are easier to sharpen and resist chipping better (I understand it really depends on the overall hardness from alloy composition, quenching, heat-treating etc but the higher Cr-content in SS alloys tends to make them harder by default). I've found, stainless steel is almost impossible to do at home properly without investing in some proper (power) equipment and lots of practice. If ease of maintenance is a priority, then get a relatively high hardness stainless steel set and I would just plan on having them sharpened by a chef/restaurant support company annually.

As important as the knife characteristics knife are, I think a proper sharpening set is even more important. I'm partial to the "Japanese Wet Stone" style sets because that's the style I grew up with but more modern diamond stones work really well also if you can get them in a fine enough grit. Even with the diamond sets I cannot seem to get a good edge on stainless knives but maybe that's just me and my bias towards carbon steel knives (I don't put in as much effort/practice). This is a great video on the subject of sharpening:

Along with the sharpening set is knowing what sort of bevel and edge you have on your blade so that you can sharpen them properly. I have an old, traditional asian-style knife that has a convex bevel that I use for yardwork and chopping through bones when butchering. The convex edge is super strong but the convex shape requires a slight rolling motion when sharpening versus a flat grind that you would find on a Chef's knife, which is pretty much a straight pull/push.

As for pots, have you ever considered a good wok? With a proper lid they are soooooo versatile. Boiling, steaming, deep frying, stir fry, sauces. I bet I do at least 60% of my cooking in a 24" top diameter wok. The other 40% split between a grill, an oven and cast iron cookware. A western type meal like spaghetti with a tomato meat sauce is super easy in a wok (really, this type of meal came from the east so makes sense). And only one pot!

 

Great inputs so far! Appreciate it!

In terms of sharpening, I went through a lot of typical diamond stone ones you get at cookware places... most were garbage. I have a set of DMT diamond plates now that I love. I have course, fine and extra fine and can pretty much make any knife I own a shaving razor in little time (once I got them all into good shape again). I went with the plates, because I will also use them to sharpen chisels as well for woodworking so a nice flat one is best for that.

I do love a good wet stone as well. Nice thing about diamond plates is they do not wear into a differnt shape and have to be flattened if you are sharpening things like chisels (need a super flat surface for that). But you use a diamond plate to flatten them again :P I probably will get a good set of wet stones later though. They really do work best.

Agree on the bevel. I need to get better and determine which type of bevel I want as it has a huge impact on sharpness and how long the edge lasts.

 

So I have have had several sets of cookware, all consumer brand. TFal is ok, we had a sucky Rachel Ray set, but most of it is crap and the non-stick will flake and and the pan exterior will turn color from the heat and look terrible.

The one exception I have found at the higher end of the typical consumer stuff is Circulon. Just buy one of their sets and you will be happy. We picked up one of the larger sets with half a dozen nice pots, pans and lids at Costco for cheap. It was less than $200 or so. Great stuff if you don't want to spend a ton. They last a long time.

Here is the set:

 

I have a few Shun knives and while they aren't cheap they are wonderful to use. I have had really good luck buying them open box from amazon warehouse which helps save some money. I really want to get their steak knife set but they are really spendy.

 

Thanks, will check that out. I have the same luck with anything non stick. I accept that non stick is a wear item and eventually will fail, but most fail way too soon. And not only does that suck for cooking, it makes you wonder the teflon content in the food you are eating! Most of the food show peoples stuff I think is made by most of the same people and is all the same. We do have a big pot from the Pioneer Woman that has been pretty good so far, but it is not nonstick so really there is not much to go wrong with that one And I do have a ceramic coated cast iron dutch oven that we love that is The Food Network branded, but it also cost a lot more than the stuff from the typical TV cook people. I think that pot was $100.

 

We bought some Cutco knives from Costco when they were promoting. We wanted to buy Cutco for sometime since our old knives were in constant need of sharpening. We are very satisfied with Cutco knives. They are well engineered knives and made in USA. As far as cookware, we like Staub the best. There are other brands who make similar cookware but Staub in my view is truly second to none.

 

Wusthof (knives) and Cuisinart (cookware) in our house. Used daily and no complaints. Throw in a La Creuset here and there usually bought as "seconds" at the outlet store.