What You'll Find in a WÜSTHOF Kitchen

Managing Partner

The WÜSTHOF Amici 1814 Chef’s Knife is the highlight of my kitchen every day. As a limited-edition piece of art, I look at it more than I cook with it! For food preparation, I like to use the WÜSTHOF AEON Santoku because of its brilliant geometry and beauty. I also love The Original — the WÜSTHOF Classic 8" Chef's Knife. And slicing bread with any of our 9-inch double-serrated bread knives is a pleasure, as is carving meat with our beautiful long ham slicer or carving knife.

Managing Partner

I have more than one favorite knife! The first is the WÜSTHOF Performer 7" Santoku. In general, I like santoku (and nakiri) knives because they are really sharp. There are two features I particularly like about the santoku knife in the Performer series. One is the honeycomb texture of the Hexagon Power Grip handle — even with wet hands, you have a good grip on the knife. The second is the Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coating, which is easy to clean and prevents food from sticking to the blade. I love using this knife to cut fruit into small pieces for a fruit salad. I think the way you cut something can truly enhance its flavors. And I love fruit salad. It’s seasonal, regional, and different every time! Sometimes I’ll add extra flavor with a kick of tea leaves, Grand Marnier, or Cointreau. Love it! 

My other favorite WÜSTHOF knife is the Classic 9" Double-Serrated Bread Knife. (Or, as I sometimes call it, the crumb-free bread knife.) About 14, 15 years ago our head of engineering, Juergen Weber, and myself were brainstorming about the idea to have a bread knife on steroids. Besides the facts that we were co-workers we also were training for a marathon together, and needed a lot of carbs. That’s where it all started. The result was the double serration. The performance of the blade speaks for itself, and as a German I prefer cutting bread from the loaf instead of buying it pre-sliced. You can glide through even the hardest crust with that blade. Back in the days we only had 2 forged lines, and Classic was clearly my favorite.

WÜSTHOF Academy Director

Hands down, the knife I always reach for is the WÜSTHOF Performer 8" Chef’s Knife. If it’s not clean, I clean it so I can use it. This knife is a newcomer to the WÜSTHOF line-up — it became my go-to knife after the first use. The honeycomb texture of the Hexagon Power Grip handle creates the perfect grip, and the Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coating on the blade makes slicing and dicing even more fun. Faster is not always better, but I swear you can cut faster with this knife! The first slice always makes me smile. When I am relaxed, fully present, and have a bunch of vegetables lined up to chop, working with a tool like this Performer knife turns food preparation into a meditation. 

One of my most satisfying slicing moments comes in the late summer, when my garden is overflowing. I fill up my basket with the daily veggie harvest, bring everything into the kitchen, grab a WÜSTHOF paring knife, and get started on trimming and doing a little prep work. Thinking about all the things I can create with that summer bounty is as good as it gets.