The Classic Wave Knife from Wüsthof Product Reviews

Like Emma, who showed us a variety of uses for serrated knives yesterday, we have come to really appreciate a good serrated knife. But our current serrated knife wasn't of the best quality. This Classic Wave knife, on the other hand, is not only better-equipped to slice bread, it's also become our favorite knife for all kinds of slicing.

Its small, half-moon waves cut very precisely and cleanly through just about everything. We find it easy to handle and easier to cut precise slices when cutting vegetables like eggplant, carrots, and celery. It's a dream on tomatoes. It cuts lovely slices through cooked steak and chicken. Overall, it just is far more multi-use than our old serrated knife, which is too long and unwieldy to use effectively for this many kitchen slicing tasks.

Now, we know that many of you are going to ask the obvious question: What about sharpening? We have several answers for that. First of all, this knife has held its diamond-sharp edge perfectly over several weeks of hard use. It just stands up well to the demands of the kitchen. Secondly, we do not sharpen our own knives. Yes, many people do, but we have an artisan knife-sharpener in our neighborhood and we not only enjoy seeing her sharpen our knives but we also feel that her craftsmanship is worth investing in. So, if you get your knives sharpened professionally once or twice a year, a knife like this won't be a problem for them. And finally, if you are determined to sharpen your own knives at home, there are sharpeners equipped to handle serrated and wave blades.

Overall, the size, weight, and sharpness of this knife are simply lovely. We reach for it before all our other knives now, and we find its multi-purpose functionality so helpful. It can do everything a Santoku does, while also performing marvelously at cutting bread and tomatoes. If you're considering a bread knife, we would highly recommend investing in this more versatile knife instead.

• Find it: Wüsthof Classic Wave Knife, $99.99 at Amazon

(Images: Faith Durand)

I recently received this as a wedding gift and love it! It's the first knife I pull from the block now.

posted by somewhiteguy on September 11th 2009 at 2:40pm
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Good to hear it! America's Test Kitchen didn't like it too much, but I love the shape and the length.

posted by laila on September 11th 2009 at 6:59pm
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It seems a little superfluous to me. It's beautiful, but wouldn't a bread knife sort of do the same thing? My Wusthof bread knife gets washed three times a day for it's various uses.

That said, I totally agree about professional knife sharpening. A worthwhile useful skill. Those people know how to cook too, and it's always fun to chat them up about it while they're sharpening things.

posted by Detective Ventriloquist on September 11th 2009 at 8:43pm
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I just bought the offset knife with the wave edge- I have to say I'm really not happy with it. My 11 year old F. Dick offset was a workhorse, this is not nearly as good a knife and almost 3 times the price. It's lighter, the blade is not rigid and it does not cut straight through things like apples and such. Also it is extremely uncomfortable to hold. Look around before you give one of these a try.

posted by davit on September 12th 2009 at 7:47am
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We have a long wave knife here at work that's mostly used for cutting bagels, but has been around for years...my thumb can attest to the fact that it is still extremely sharp!

posted by michpc on September 16th 2009 at 1:06pm
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