Santoku Knife

A santoku knife is a Japanese-style general-purpose kitchen knife with a compact blade, relatively flat edge, and rounded or lowered tip. Its profile suits chopping, push cuts, slicing, and everyday food preparation, while its shorter length can feel easy to control on a busy cutting board.

Santokus commonly come in several blade lengths, with 165mm being a popular size for home kitchens. Smaller and larger versions are also available. Choose your length first, then compare the blade geometry, steel, handle, and edge design.

Shop Santoku Chef Knives

Explore our santoku knives for everyday chopping, slicing, dicing, and mincing. The collection includes different blade lengths, steels, handle styles, and blade finishes to suit different cooking preferences.

Browse the collection to find a santoku knife that fits your board size, cutting style, and daily kitchen needs.

What Is a Santoku Knife?

A santoku is a double-bevel Japanese general-purpose knife with a flat cutting edge, a tall blade face usually around 45–55mm at the heel, and a spine that curves down to a rounded tip. It's sharpened on both sides, so it works for left- and right-handed cooks.

Santoku describes one knife type, so "what is santoku knives" and "what is a santoku knife" ask the same thing. A Japanese santoku chef knife is generally thinner behind the edge and harder than a European-made equivalent, which changes both how it cuts and how you maintain it.

What to Use a Santoku Knife For

The purpose of a santoku knife is everyday prep across three food groups: vegetables, fish, and boneless meat. In practice:

• dicing onions, carrots, peppers, and potatoes
• slicing boneless chicken, pork, and fish fillets
• mincing garlic, ginger, and herbs
• portioning tofu, cheese, and cooked proteins

The santoku knife function is breadth rather than specialisation. A santoku kitchen knife covers most daily jobs without being the best tool for any single one.

Its limits are real. The rounded tip does little fine detail work, so a petty knife handles peeling and trimming better. The thin edge chips on bone, frozen food, and hard squash rinds. And the short blade runs out of length on a large roast, where a slicing knife does the job in fewer strokes.

Is a Santoku Better Than a Chef Knife?

Neither is better; they reward different techniques, and that should drive your choice.

• If you push or tap cut: pressing the blade down and slightly forward with the heel near the board, a Santoku's flat edge stays in contact through the whole stroke, so nothing is left uncut.
• If you rock cut: pivoting on the tip and sweeping through herbs — a curved western chef knife suits you better. Rocking a flat santoku leaves a gap under the middle of the edge and bruises delicate leaves.

Hold either knife in a pinch grip, thumb and forefinger on the blade, and the santoku's shorter length feels quicker to control on a crowded board.

Among the Japanese profiles, a gyuto is longer with a pointed tip and slight curve, while a nakiri is fully straight with a squared tip and no tip work at all.

Santoku Knife Types

Four santoku knife types appear most often:

Standard flat-faced

A plain blade face. Starchy vegetables such as potato and sweet potato cling to it more than to a textured face.

Granton (dimpled)

Scalloped hollows, also called kullenschliff, run above the edge on both sides. They break the suction that holds a slice to the blade, so food releases more readily. On a thick blade the effect is slight; how thin the blade is behind the edge matters more than the dimples.

Hammered (tsuchime)

A dimpled forge finish with the same release benefit, plus a textured look.

Clad and Damascus

A hard core steel with softer outer layers, sometimes finished with pattern-welded Damascus cladding.

Handles come in two families. Wa handles are light, often octagonal, and shift balance forward into the blade. Western handles are heavier with riveted scales, which feels familiar coming from a European knife.

Which Size Santoku Should You Buy?

165mm suits most home kitchens. The other two sizes solve specific problems:

• 140mm (5.5 in): small hands, small boards, and shallow prep
• 165mm (6.5 in): the standard size and the safest first purchase
• 180mm (7 in): more edge for cabbage, melons, and batch cooking

Blade height matters as much as length. A taller face keeps your knuckles clear and makes it easy to scoop chopped food to the pan, but it can feel slab-sided if you're used to a narrow European blade.

Steel and Hardness

Japanese-style santokus are typically hardened between 58 and 62 HRC and ground near 15 degrees per side. European-made santokus are often softer and ground closer to 20 degrees. Harder and thinner holds an edge longer and cuts with less force; softer and wider forgives mistakes and resists chipping.

Choose based on your habits, not on prestige. Cooks who prep acidic food and leave knives on the counter are better served by stainless. Those who enjoy sharpening and dry a blade immediately get a finer, faster-honed edge from carbon steel, which darkens into a grey patina as it's used.

Care for a Flat-Edged Blade

Three points apply specifically to a santoku:

Keep the edge flat on the stone

A flat profile punishes sloppy sharpening. If you lift the handle mid-stroke, as you would on a curved blade, you create a low spot in the middle that stops the edge from touching the board. Move the blade in straight passes across a 1000-grit whetstone, then refine at 3000–6000. Most home cooks need stones two to four times a year.

Cut on end-grain or soft wood

A tall, thin blade transmits every impact to the edge, and hard boards roll it within a few sessions.

Clean along the dimples

Food and moisture collect in granton hollows, so wipe with the scallops rather than across them, and dry the face before storing.