The Best Petty and Utility Knives

Lightweight, and with a medium-size handle, this petty knife felt great in our hands, maneuvering nimbly around chicken joints and bones and making quick work of mushrooms and shallots. It sported the sharpest blade straight out of the box; thin, keen, and just the right length, it was capable of producing near-surgical incisions. One tiny quibble? The plastic handle was just a touch slick when wet.

This petty knife felt and performed almost exactly like our winner—perhaps not surprisingly, since they share most of the same specs. Just as agile and nearly as sharp, it made quick work of every task, and felt great in our hands as well. Like our winner, its handle can be a little slick when wet.

Very sharp and thin-spined, this knife sailed through food cleanly and precisely. We liked it almost as much as our winner; its blade is just a hair longer, giving us a bit less control, and there’s a tiny bit less clearance for your knuckles under the handle. But these are really minor quibbles; this is a great knife, and larger-handed testers will appreciate that its handle has a little extra room for them to grip.

Hand-forged in Sakai, the capital of Japanese knife-making, this gorgeous premium petty knife was ultrasharp and capable, slicing and mincing foods beautifully. Its walnut handle was longer than most and felt warm and responsive in our hands; because it had a little grippiness to it, it was also easy to hold when wet. It’s just a touch heavier than our top picks, and its spine is a little thicker, so it occasionally wedged into food a tiny bit.

This “prep” knife had a slightly curved blade that allowed us to rock through each slice, rather than cut in a more up-and-down motion, as with our other top choices. And it did a great job with all the foods; its relatively short blade made it very easy to control. While a touch slippery, its handle is on the longer side for these types of knives and provides lots of clearance underneath, making it an excellent choice for large-handed cooks. 

This lightweight petty knife performed most tasks very well. Although it wasn’t as keen as some, it was still fairly sharp at the outset, making precise cuts. A few minor issues kept it from the top tier. Its blade is a tad longer than we prefer, so it isn’t quite as easy to control; its handle is a little shorter than we prefer, so bigger hands might feel cramped. And the knife’s tang sticks out a touch from the handle, feeling rough against our palms; we wish it were finished a bit more smoothly. Still, it was capable of great finesse, making it pleasant to use.

This miniaturized chef’s knife—which is also our favorite knife for older children—performed well. While not the sharpest, it was still reasonably keen, cutting cleanly and evenly. And most of us loved its grippy plastic handle, which was easy to hold even when wet. Measuring 5 inches long and positioned at an angle to the blade, the handle is great for larger hands, providing plenty of knuckle clearance when chopping. Still, a few testers found the handle a bit outsize and out of balance with the blade. It’s not the best option for detail work; its blade is on the long side and thus a touch harder to control, and the angle at which the handle is set put our arms in a slightly awkward position when we worked at the tip of the blade.

This knife was the heaviest model we tested; while a few testers liked its solid build, others found it cumbersome, missing the airy, nimble feel of many of the other models. While still perfectly serviceable, it was the least sharp of all the knives when tested fresh out of the box; its relatively thick spine made it feel a bit duller at times, wedging into mushrooms and salami instead of cutting smoothly and evenly. A fairly long handle with good clearance underneath gave large hands a bit more space; we only wish that the handle had been finished a bit more nicely, as the tang stuck out and felt rough against our palms.

With a long, narrow, sharp blade, this model was great for tasks performed at the tip and slightly off the cutting board—maneuvering around joints and bones while breaking down a half chicken, for example. But its length made it a touch harder to control. And larger hands will have trouble holding it; the handle is short, and there is very little clearance under it, so even smaller-handed testers banged their knuckles when chopping parsley or slicing salami on the cutting board.

This utility knife had an especially long and narrow blade, and because it was one of the sharpest we tested, it was capable of making beautiful, clean cuts. It was great for slicing through the joints when we broke down half chickens, though because the blade was so long, it was harder to control for fine detail work such as mincing shallots, and it felt oversize when deboning the chicken breasts. It was also hard for even smaller hands to hold comfortably. It was somewhat heavy, and while the handle itself was relatively long, there was very little clearance underneath it, so our knuckles bumped up against the cutting board whenever we chopped parsley or sliced cheese.