I have a friend in Canada whose birthday is just around the corner. They mentioned how their kitchen knives suck. I’d like to order them a whetstone, sharpener and/or a new set of knives. Are there any shops or brands that you recommend?
I’m not in Canada, so ideally I’d buy the item online and have it delivered to my friend.
Henckels makes pretty good knife sets. Canadian Tire carries them, though I’d only really recommend buying there when they have their usual 40-70% off sales. Probably not that helpful since you’re looking to buy right now, but now you know!
Don’t buy Henkels at Canadian Trash. There’s a very wide range of Henkel knives, and the best come from stores like the Bay and Williams Sonoma and are made in Germany. Chef grade Henkels are from Spain and the junk at Canadian Tire is from China. A top Henkel is about $200. A full knife block at Canadian Tire is $200.
For what it’s worth my self-sharpening block from CT uses German steel assembled in India.
I like Knifewear. Been buying knives and etc from them for a long time time.
I’ll happily second the recommendation for Knifewear. They sell heirloom-quality cutting tools.
Depending on how close you are to you friends you can look at Grohman
https://grohmannknives.com/index.php/products/kitchen
The are based on Nova Scotia.
Since this community is smaller, you can also crosspost this to [email protected] :)
I know this is a really late reply, and I’m not sure if you ever found things out, but there is a store here in Calgary called Knifewear that’s run by the same people who own the Kent of Inglewood shave shops.
Seems they specialize in Japanese knives, but seems they do ship with Canada Post, though that’s likely currently affected by the current strike happening: https://knifewear.com/
If you’re in or around Vancouver, I highly recommend the Gourmet Warehouse (https://gourmetwarehouse.ca/). Knowledgeable staff, good selection, and they allow you to test the knives before you purchase them.
[Edit] I just read that you are not in Canada, my bad for missing that. Will leave this up as a recommendation for other people looking for a kitchen knife though. If you want to order a good set of knives online, I can recommend House of Knives: https://houseofknives.ca/
