The most popular length of a chef knife is 6-8'' (15-20 cm) long, which is perfect for 99% of your knife duties and is easier to maneuver and control. Professional chefs prefer 10-12'' (25-30cm) because they can handle more food prep at a time but they are heavier and harder to use for the untrained user.
If you have smaller hands or a compact kitchen, opt for knives with blade lengths between 6 and 8 inches. The santoku knife is an excellent choice for its versatility and ease of use. For home cooks with average-sized hands and kitchens, knives with blade lengths ranging from 8 to 10 inches are ideal.
10'' is good for: cabbage, deboning/despining chicken, cutting things like cucumber lengthwise, cutting cake if you don't have a cake knife handy. If you could only have one knife, then I would go with the 8'' because it's more useful for daily stuff.
This 7" Santoku knife is perfect for precision cutting, making it ideal for deboning fish and slicing and dicing meat and vegetables. This versatile Japanese style knife is shorter than a Chef's Knife, and offers easy maneuverability and handling.
Blade Length Restrictions
However, many states have restrictions on the maximum blade length you can legally carry in certain public locations. California, for example, prohibits blades over 4 inches long in most public buildings, and blades over 2.5 inches long on school campuses.
12 Inch Knives
Varieties include larger chef's knives and carving knives (serrated and straight blade). Larger chef's knives are used for cutting meat, dicing vegetables, disjointing some cuts, slicing herbs, and chopping nuts. Carving knives are used for slicing and carving dense meats.
There are two general sizes of dinner knife, which are the continental-size (or European size) and the place size (or American size). The continental-size dinner knife is approximately 9-3/4 inches long and the place size dinner knife is typically 9-1/4 inches long.
A chef's knife is among the most versatile knives in the kitchen and can be used for anything from chopping to cutting. Common uses for a chef's knife include cutting meat, dicing vegetables, slicing herbs, and chopping nuts. The flat side of the knife can even be used to crush garlic.
Switchblades, fixed blade knives with blades longer than 4 inches, and any other knives restricted by California law can't be carried in public buildings.
6-inch Chef's knife
Sometimes you want a chef's knife that's particularly lightweight and highly maneuverable. A 6-inch chef's knife is a perfect choice. Like all chef's knives, it is an all-purpose blade ideal for a wide variety of cutting tasks.
8″ chef knife is really one of the most widely used all purpose knives in restaurants. Of course, there are boning, filet, paring knives and others. But the 8″ is excellent for veggies and protein work.
A typical butter knife in a flatware collection will measure approximately 5 to 7 inches in length, and is slightly smaller than a dinner knife. Butter knives are sometimes called butter spreaders. They have a round tip, so that they do not tear the bread as one spreads the butter.
While the 6-in. length is perfect for slicing and dicing small to medium-sized fruits, vegetables, and other foods, many cooks prefer this smaller size for its sheer nimbleness. The wide blade keeps knuckles off the cutting board and is extra handy when transferring cut food from board to pan.
One of the most frequently used and versatile tools in the kitchen, the chef's knife is typically between eight and ten inches, although it can be as short as six inches and as long as 14 inches.
Utility Knife
They can feature a serrated or straight edge to handle a wide variety of tasks. A utility knife's blade length ranges in size from 5" to 9”, with 6" being the most popular size.
Chef's knives range from 6 to 12 inches in length. The most popular length of a chef knife is 6-8'' (15-20 cm) long, which is perfect for 99% of your knife duties and is easier to maneuver and control.
House Bill 1935. The most substantial shift in Texas knife laws occurred in 2017 with the passing of House Bill 1935. This bill removed the category of “illegal knives” altogether, making it legal to own and carry virtually any type of knife, regardless of size.
Illegal knives: All knives with automatic-opening (switchblades), push daggers, gravity knives, disguised knives (belt-buckle knife, sword cane, etc.), knives with two-parted handles (butterfly knives), knives with ready access by the wearer (neck or belt knives, boot knives, etc.) are illegal to own or possess.
Unlike the vegetable knife which is primarily made to cut vegetables, the chef knife is like a jack of all trades. It doesn't have a specific purpose. It can be used to slice, dice, and chop up vegetables, fruit, herbs, meat, and fish.
If you only had one knife, a Chef's Knife, also known as a gyutou would be the best option to handle slicing, dicing, mincing, and prep work. A good chef's knife, ranging from 7-10” can handle all of the most commonly used ingredients and works equally well with meat or even hard veggies like butternut squash.
The 8" Classic Chef's Knife is an excellent place to start for home cooks, giving you enough blade length to handle all the slicing, dicing, and chopping tasks required in the kitchen. For chefs who spend hours a day prepping ingredients or breaking down large cuts of meat, an 8-10 inch blade is likely a better fit.
In this usage, a butter knife (or master butter knife) is a sharp-pointed, dull-edged knife, often with a sabre shape, used only to serve out pats of butter from a central butter dish to individual diners' plates.
The dinner knife can be differentiated from other knives as it is the longest amongst table knives. It can be substituted with salad knife whenever there is a need to cut bigger salad leaf. The dessert knife is much smaller than the dinner knife and is used for dessert and fruits.