$8 Cheap Kitchen Knife vs. Expensive kitchen knife $250 – Kiwi Brand

While the 8-dollar Kiwi knife shares some similarities with the 250-dollar knife, the differences are directly noticeable. We will be looking at why the cooks love the 8 dollars and the 250-dollar knife.

Fit, Finish, and Quality

There is no doubt that a far more expensive knife will be better with the fit, finish, and Quality of materials. The Kiwi knife is and feels cheap and is made from inferior materials. You get what you paid for, but why do some cooks love the kiwi knife so much? 

Edge retention & Rockwell hardness

The most significant difference is the edge retention, and the kiwi knives have very soft stainless steel. They are very soft, which means that you most likely need to hone the knife after a few minutes of slicing. Compared to the 250-dollar Japanese knife with a Rockwell of 63, which can easily hold the edge for a few months.

Knife sharpness

The 250-dollar knife can get a lot sharper, but the most important thing is that it can hold the sharpness for a significantly longer time. As for the 8-dollar knife, you don’t want to spend the extra time to make the knife as sharp as possible since the benefits of the sharpness are pretty much gone after a few minutes of use. 

Maintenance

With that being said, the cheaper 8-dollar kiwi knife is so soft that you don’t even need a whetstone to get the sharpness back. All you need is a honing rod, and you can maintain the knife with just a honing rod. As for the 250-dollar knife, you eventually need to use a whetstone to maintain or recreate the knife edge.  

Durability

With the 8-dollar knife, you don’t have to worry about chipping the blade. It will simply bend. As with the 250-dollar knife, you need to be a lot more careful since the edge retention and sharpness come with a risk of chipping due to improper use. 

Longer edge retention

There are multiple knives with multiple price ranges. You, as a consumer, have a choice in deciding what blade will suit you the best. There are thousands of knives with different edge retention, styles, and for various purposes. You have to ask yourself if the longer edge retention is worth it for you or not. With the obsession with Japanese knives, people tend to go for a higher Rockwell hardness, which gives you longer edge retention.

But with everything good comes a downside, and that is the edge durability. The higher you go, the more brittle the edge becomes.  

Knowing what works best for you is more important than buying a popular knife that gets recommended.

Final Conclusion

I understand why so many people love the 8-dollar Kiwi knife. It shares many similarities with the 250-dollar knives because it is thin, light, pretty much maintenance-free, and worry-free for an affordable price despite the underwhelming edge retention. The 250-dollar knife has a steep price point for several reasons. A knife artisan makes it with a limited workforce and supply. In return, you get a unique blade that is made with quality materials. Lucky for us, we can choose a knife based on our preference and price point from various brands. Is the 8 or 250 dollars knife worth it or not? That is something only you can decide. 

What is the best knife?

There is no such thing as the best knife, a knife that works for a sushi chef will not work for your local butcher. The same applies to home cooks. The best knife, in your opinion, may not be the best for others. Therefore it is essential to know what you plan to cook and what your preferred cutting style is. The goal is to find a suitable blade material and knife style to assist you in your daily cooking task as much as possible. To do that, you have to search for what knife style suits you the best and what blade can withstand the job you put the knife on. A super sharp and extremely thin Japanese knife with a high Rockwell hardness will work excellently for delicate tasks. But highly inadvisable to chop a chicken bone in half. 

Knife style

Which knife style will be the best fit for your task? There are plenty of knife styles and choices. Each of them serves a specific cuisine and cutting style better than the other. 

Questions

If you have any questions or need help choosing a knife style, leave them in the comment section below, and I will try to help you as much as I can. 

Knives used in the video and article:

🛒S H O P:

$8 Kiwi Brand Kitchen knife:
NA: Kiwi Brand Amazon Store​
EU: Kiwi Brand Amazon Store

NA: Dengjia Official Amazon Store

Japanese made knives
(Japanese artisan knives, recommended to order one from your local Japanese knife import store because of the return policy and warranty).

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N O T E S:

The knife used in the video and article is for reference only. There was no particular reason for showing them in the video. At the same time, there are knives that I like, but there were also knives that I still need to test and review.

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