In early 2015, we purchased from Amazon a new small serrated kitchen knife to replace an aging serrated knife that could no longer cut through fruit or vegetables very well. After doing some research and reading a number of reviews I finally plumped for the Kuhn Rikon Serrated Kitchen Knife, Model no. 22742.
The reviews on Amazon looked positive so I went ahead and ordered it, and spent a couple of days waiting in anticipation of getting a sharp knife to improve my time in the kitchen. Surely enough it arrived promptly and I quickly got to work trying out my new kitchen tool. It’s always fun testing out new kitchen gear, especially when you’ve spent your hard earned cash on it. On that note, I must point out that all reviews on Kitchen & Cook Shop are completely impartial. We do not receive goods to test from product manufacturers unlike some other websites, so you can be sure that our words are always genuine and honest because we’ve purchased the products ourselves!
Anyway, I digress… Let’s continue with the review shall we. The packaging was easy to access but also protective, which is always good, but I did notice that the plastic handle already had some very light surface marks on it. I assume these light scratches are from the manufacturing process, but I was a little disappointed to see them. The Kuhn Rikon 22742 serrated knife comes with a sheath to protect the blade, and your flesh whilst it is in storage too. It needs it to. This blade is very sharp.
The blade looks great in dark grey as it is coated in a non-stick material and I like the weight of the knife in my hand, however the knife is a little shorter than the one it replaced and I was disappointed in my choice of size. I think that perhaps I should have bought a longer bladed serrated knife.
Upon testing the knife I was immediately impressed at its sharpness. The Japanese Steel blade is very sharp but both I and my girlfriend find that the blade is too flexible. It tends to wander to the right for us when cutting apples and other tough fruits and vegetables. The Kuhn Rikon Colari serrated paring knife is excellent at cutting very thin slices and I enjoy cutting some very fine potato chips. I think that the non-stick coating really performs well. It is also very good at cutting meats and other edibles.
The serrations on this knife are a lot coarser than those on my existing knife and I personally find them a little too coarse. It has a slight tendency to tear the skins of ripe tomatoes and softer fruits. There is also another problem with this knife, and I feel that it is quite a major problem. In fact, it is such a big problem for me that it deters me from using this knife as much as I would wish to.
In our opinion, the biggest problem with this kitchen knife is the handle. It is made of a smooth plastic which, when wet, is so slippery that one cannot keep a firm grip on the direction of the cut you are attempting to make. I have come close to cutting myself more than once as I find the knife twisting in my damp fingers. I do not have this problem with wooden or metal handled knives. Even knives with plastic handles that have a rough texture are fine, so I can only assume that it is either the smooth finish or the shape of this handle that makes it so dangerous.
Technical information
- Overall Length: 198mm
- Useable Blade Length: 90mm
- Handle Length: 97mm
- Blade Material: Steel
- Handle Material: Plastic
- Weight: Approx. 59g
- Manufactured In: China
Final thoughts and rating
Unfortunately this kitchen knife is let down by some of its main features. We like the non-stick blade and the sharpness of it. The price is very favourable, but the aggressively coarse serrations, the tendency for the blade to wander whilst cutting and its slippery handle mean that Kitchen & Cook Shop can only give this kitchen knife a score of 3 out of 5.
I cannot find this knife on either the Kuhn Rikon website or on Amazon.co.uk anymore so I assume that it has been replaced with a newer knife of similar specs. There is a large choice of Kuhn Rikon products including knives on Amazon UK now and there is a knife that looks similar to this model which now has what looks like a rough textured handle so perhaps they have addressed the slippery handle issue. I hope so because I really want to like this serrated knife but I cannot.
Thanks for reading. I hope that this user review has helped!
