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Zyliss Knives

Jansie
Blades, Kitchen
Last mod: January 2, 2020

Zyliss makes a range of funky coloured knives. But are they good at cutting?

Zyliss knives look great in a kitchen. The funky colors add a beautiful touch to a bland room. But do they cut well?

We recently bought four Zyliss knives. It’s for my wife. She’s the cook; I’m the eater. I would cook, but I fear being ostracized.

My wife loves the pink one. I like all the others.

I did some cutting tests to see whether they’d hold up in everyday use.

They’re fine knives; not top end, but good knives for average folks.

Let’s take a closer look…

Cuts well

Most new knives need sharpening.

It’s great if you can remove a knife from its packaging and it’s sharp enough to use, but that’s often not the case.

Zyliss knives are sharp enough to work well out of the box.

Is a sharp blade important?

I never sharpened my knives. If a knife didn’t cut, I applied more pressure. Knife sharpening was something tobacco chewing old men with bony fingers did.

Then a friend introduced me to the Lansky Deluxe, which I reviewed.

Since then I’ve never settled for a blunt blade again.

From the Lansky I went on to review the Warthog V-Sharp Classic 2, which became my go-to knife sharpener.

Once I started using sharpened knives, I couldn’t stand working with blunt blades.

The Zyliss santoku knife's blade up close — The Zyliss santoku knife’s blade up close.

The Zyliss paring knife's blade up close — The Zyliss paring knife’s blade up close.

The Zyliss utility knife's blade up close — The Zyliss utility knife’s blade up close.

The Zyliss small cook's knife's blade up close — The Zyliss small cook’s knife’s blade up close.

Comfortable

Zyliss knives feel comfortable, if a bit small, in my hands.

If you have short fingers, you won’t have trouble gripping a Zyliss.

The plastic handle shouldn’t slip from your grasp either.

The small cook's knife has the largest handle of the four I bought — The small cook’s knife has the largest handle of the four I bought.

Funky colors

The four Zyliss knives we bought came in these bright colors:

Blue
Pink
Green
Orange

It’s enough to make any vegetable green with envy.

For those who don’t like bright colors, Zyliss makes knives with non-coated blades too.

The orange small chef's knife and sheath — The orange small chef’s knife and sheath.

Safe

Zyliss knives come with plastic sheaths.

When you’re done with the knife, give it a rinse and slide it into its sheath.

Now your knife won’t hurt tiny hands searching for things to explore.

The four Zyliss knives we bought came with colourful sheaths — The four Zyliss knives we bought came with colorful sheaths.

Dishwasher safe?

These knives are dishwasher safe, but ANY knife will get blunt from being washed in a dishwasher.

It’s better to wash your Zyliss by hand. This ensures that the blade doesn’t make contact with other hard objects.

Cutting tests

To test the knifes, I cut pumpkin, garlic, tomato, green pepper and carrot.

Some disclaimers:

I’m not a chef; I’m a tester of things. I don’t aspire to fast cutting.
I’m left-handed, but in the vids I use my right hand for cutting. This is awkward, so please excuse the lack of rhythm.
I worked with ink earlier in the day. Hence the black marks on my hands.

I got my son to video the cutting. He strung together some bits and bobs. Nothing special.

The goal was to show that Zyliss knives cut well, out of the box.

Zyliss achieves that goal.

Bristled knife block

Zyliss makes a beautiful black knife block.

But it’s not a standard wooden knife block with slots into which you slide knives.

It’s a plastic container filled with plastic bristles. You stick your knife in anywhere and it stands upright.

I’ve since learnt that they’re not the first ones to make a bristle block. I’m sure theirs aren’t better than other brands either. But it is a handy way to store knives.

You can pop the knives into the bristle block at any angle.

The bristle block has four holes at the bottom. If you did half a job of drying your knives, liquid won’t accumulate at the bottom.

Furthermore, you can remove the bristles from the container and wash the container.

The Zyliss bristle knife block with the Zyliss knives next to it.

The bristle knife block with the four knives inside.

The bristle block container has four drainage holes at the bottom.

You can remove the bristle block from the container for easy cleaning.

Technical specs

Zyliss small cook's knife specs

Zyliss santoku knife specs

Zyliss utility knife specs

Zyliss paring knife specs

Final thoughts

Zyliss makes beautiful knives. Your kitchen cause visitors to yawn? Zyliss knives bring zest to any cutting board with their bright colors.

Zyliss knives cut well, out of the box. You need to sharpen most new knives. Many people don’t know this, and many people don’t care. That’s why a Zyliss knife is a good buy. It’s sharp enough out of the box. If you don’t care about sharpening a new knife, the Zyliss is for you.

Zyliss knives are comfortable. The handle, made from plastic, feels good in your hand. The handle offers a firm grip and won’t slip and cut where it shouldn’t.

A knife for any cutting need. I bought the following Zyliss knives:

Small cook’s knife
Santoku knife
Utility knife
Paring knife

But they have many more. They even make knives with toned down colors, for those who don’t dig the dazzling.

Zyliss products have great ratings. You’ll notice that many Zyliss products have a 4+ rating on Amazon, from hundreds of reviewers. They make happy customers.

Zyliss also makes kitchen utensils, including tin openers, cheese graters, food choppers and storage containers.

Zyliss knives are lovely cutting tools, and they won’t rip a hole in your bank account. I recommend you get some.