Having an ergonomic handle is pretty important. It’s not just good for comfort; if your hand or wrist is uncomfortable when using the knife, it raises the risk of a slip or injury.

An ergonomic handle can be made of different things. Often it’s plastic or rubber. Wooden handles have the risk of harboring bacteria, because it’s porous. Some localities even prohibit restaurants from using knives with wooden handles.

However, that doesn’t mean wooden handles are to be avoided:

It depends on the specification of the handle. Also, many good chef’s knives nowadays that come with wooden handles find a way around health concerns by treating the wood with special materials, like plastic resin.

The handle should connect to fully to another part of the knife that we need to talk about:

The tang of a knife is the part of the blade that isn’t a blade, so to speak. The best chef’s knives will be made from a single piece of metal; so the tang is part of that same metal structure.

Ideally, the handle goes around the metal tang fully. This allows for full stability and control. A half or partial-tang means the tang extends only partway through the handle, and that should be avoided.

Quality chef’s knives will not only have the handle fully meet the metal tang, but will match it perfectly. If the tang is full BUT slightly out of place with the handle, it’s a sign of poor craftsmanship, though it may not seriously affect performance.

WÜSTHOF Classic Chef’s Knife is a good example of what a well-crafted full tang looks like:

As for the other main parts of a knife to keep an eye on…

It’s important to note here that chef’s knives can still be excellent without these, or with only partial versions of these. However, they are often sought-after, and it’s good for you to know whether or not you’d like them in your chef’s knives.

So, what are they?

The heel is the widest and thickest part of the overall knife: where the blade meets the handle. Some are wider than others, or heavier, and they may have different slopes.

Japanese-style knives don’t really have heels.

Does it matter?

Sort of. In the scheme of things, a high-quality chef’s knife will be good for cutting most food regardless of the shape. But some people have personal preferences based on how they cut food and what they cut most often:

As the heel is used most often to cut down on the things that require the most force. Good examples include vegetable or fruit rinds, some parts of meat (like tendons), and so on.

So if you chop a lot of things that are tough like that, you may want a heavier and wider heel to make that easier. In that case, German-style knives are roughly better than Japanese-style ones.

For example, check out how hefty the heel of the WÜSTHOF Classic Chef’s Knife is:

It may also be nicer to have a blade slope that makes it easy to leverage the tip of the blade on a cutting board, so you exert less force yourself when using the heel.

The main downside of a thicker or full heeled knife? It’s usually heavier and may be tougher to maneuver. For that reason, many who prefer fine-slicing and easy movement also prefer Japanese-style chef’s knives.

To illustrate, compare the heel of the Wüsthof knife from above to the partial heel of this Japanese-style knife from the Cangshan D Series.

Now, for bolsters:

The bolster is also a part of the knife where the blade meets the handle, but it’s not about the bladed part itself. It’s the top of the knife, not intended for cutting, that thickens as the blade meets the handle.

This is useful for stability and particularly to be used as a finger-guard for the hand that’s holding the knife.

For example, the ZWILLING Professional “S” Chef’s Knife has a full bolster. You can see how it provides room for a finger above the handle to steady cutting:

As with the heel, not all knives fully have this, and that’s okay.

Specifically, Japanese-style chef’s knives usually don’t have full bolsters—some don’t have any bolsters at all.

The main advantage to not having one? It’s easier to sharpen a blade fully without one, and as with heels, some prefer the lighter feel of a blade that lacks a bolster.

However, many chef’s knives nowadays combine Eastern and Western styles, so you can get Japanese-style blades without heels but with bolsters, Western-style blades that lack bolsters or heels, and so on.

One might think at first that maintenance should only be needed for cheaper chef’s knives:

However, the reality is actually a bit more nuanced. You should put some care into maintaining chef’s knives in general, but ESPECIALLY if they’re premium.

That’s because premium knives are intended for constant use and thus constant upkeep.

Of course, ideally, a very high quality knife will retain its edge on its own for a while. That’s mostly the case with the higher end chef’s knives on this list. However, it’s unlikely to retain the edge for more than a couple years unless properly cared for.

So what does properly maintaining a knife entail?

It’s actually not that bad. You should use a knife steel to hone the blade after each use, or at least pretty frequently. You should also sharpen with a sharpening stone (also known as a whetstone) a couple times a year.

Luckily, some manufacturers sell whetstones and/or knife steels in combination with their chef’s knives, or separately but for intended use on their line of knives.

While it may sound like a nuisance, it’s important to understand this as a natural component of buying a high quality knife for the kitchen.

If you do take basic care of your high-quality chef’s knife though, it’ll last for decades. In the long run, it saves you money and frustration; spending $150-$200 for something that stays effective over the course 20+ years is a great investment.