Cutting mid-sized fruits and vegetables. Reach for your utility knife to cut and peel mid-sized produce, like large potatoes and apples, small winter squash, and cucumbers.
Some of the best uses for a utility kitchen knife involve prepping fresh fruits and veggies. This handy knife is perfect for cutting produce with soft-to-medium firm skins or rinds like tomatoes, potatoes, apples, citrus fruits, cucumbers, zucchini and more.
A utility knife is generally six inches long and works well for slicing fruit, tender pieces of meat, or sandwiches. As the “knife of all trades,” it's a handy go-to for the everyday chef.
Utility kitchen knives, also called all-purpose knives, are some of the most versatile knives you'll find in the kitchen. They're a tool that can be put to almost any cutting job, from segmenting grapefruit and fileting fish to chopping raw veg and slicing chicken into strips.
You don't always need a fancy kitchen knife to cut food. If you're in a pinch, a utility knife works just as well. For example, you cut mid-sized fruits and veggies, cheese, meat, small citrus, and sandwiches. Just be sure you wash your blade thoroughly before and after using it on food to avoid cross-contamination.
Utility knife:
These knives are smaller than chef's knives but larger than a paring knife, making them good for miscellaneous tasks. While they're not specialized for meat, they can come in handy for cutting smaller pieces of cooked meat or tackling other tasks like slicing fruit or sandwich meats.
The blade is generally 5 to 6 inches, which is shorter than the average bread knife, but the serrated utility knife is still a great choice for small loaves.
Designed to be lightweight and easy to carry and use, utility knives are commonly used in factories, warehouses, construction projects, and other situations where a tool is routinely needed to mark cut lines, trim plastic or wood materials, or to cut tape, cord, strapping, cardboard, or other packaging material.
Since chef knives have a bigger, broader blade, they're able to chop and slice larger quantities faster. Also due to its bigger size, it features much less precision. A utility knife, on the other hand, has a much smaller (and often serrated) blade that's designed to get the job—any job—done.
A utility knife is more suitable if you require a knife that can handle various cutting jobs. Size: Think about the size of the ingredients you usually work with. If you often work with small fruits and vegetables, a paring knife's compact size will be beneficial.
Historically, the blades on utility knives were narrow and relatively long; those on petty knives were and remain more triangular in shape. Today, however, distinctions between the two types of knives have become somewhat blurred, at least if the models we tested are any indication.
It is important to remember that when you are using a utility knife, you want to use lighter strokes. Alongside that, you want to avoid using too much pressure in order to get a smooth, straight cut. The best method for using a utility knife is by lightly dragging the knife across the material's surface.
The superb craftsmanship of this 5" kitchen knife provides you with the perfect shape for chopping, dicing, slicing, dicing meats, vegetables, and a variety of everyday cooking activities.
Utility knives are well-suited to tasks like dicing raw tomatoes and other vegetables, thinly slicing meat, and even for filleting and breaking down whole chickens (though we don't recommend using them for hacking through bones, nor for cutting hard vegetables like winter squash).
Utility knives are used to cut and trim a variety of building materials including: drywall, felt paper, wallpaper, rope & twine, plastic sheet material, fiberglass insulation and more. They can be divided into 3 general categories, Retractable Blade, Fixed Blade and Snap-off Blade.
Can you also use a utility knife to cut meat or fish? Yes, you can! We do have to admit: a kitchen knife that was specifically designed for one specific purpose is often a little better. So consider using a carving knife when cutting meat and a filleting knife when cutting fish.
Versatility: Carpet Trimming knives are best for cutting fabrics, while utility knives are more versatile, being used for multiple types of projects in crafting, opening boxes, woodworking and DIY.
High-Carbon Steel: This material retains a sharp edge longer due to its hardness. High-carbon steel blades are standard in professional-grade utility knives.
As its name implies, the tomato knife is a kitchen tool specifically designed to easily cut and slice tomatoes. It is characterized by its serrated blade design and ergonomic handle.
Grab the handle directly behind the blade.
Professional chef Ollie George Cigliano recommends wrapping the middle, ring, and pinky finger of your dominant hand around the handle, just behind where the blade meets the handle. Keep your fingers close together so you don't see the knife's handle between them.
We found serrated knives performed better than chef's knives when cutting cake; they made neater slices with fewer frosting smears. Another plus? With a serrated knife, you can use a gentle sawing motion so the knife moves through the cake without compressing each slice.
As you can see, it is pretty easy to cut wood paneling with a utility knife. In fact, it is the safest method you can use to prevent the wood from splintering, unlike with circular saw blades or table saws.