What Is a Utility Knife Used For?

A kitchen utility knife is the mid-size blade — usually 4 to 7 inches — that sits between a big chef's knife and a little paring knife. It is essentially a small chef's knife, and it is handy for jobs that feel too small for a chef's knife but too big for a paring knife. Whether you actually need one is a fair question — so here is what it does and who it suits.

What a utility knife is good at

The utility knife shines on small-to-medium jobs on the board or in the hand:

• Slicing sandwiches, bagels and rolls
• Cutting a single tomato, a small onion, a lemon or a lime
• Trimming fat and sinew from meat, or topping and tailing vegetables
• Slicing cheese, cucumbers and small produce
• Any job where a chef's knife feels like too much blade and a paring knife too little

Its length makes it more nimble than a chef's knife for these small tasks while giving more control on a board than a paring knife. Some utility knives come with a lightly serrated edge, which makes them handy all-rounders for tomatoes and soft rolls.

Do you actually need one?

Honestly, for most cooks, no — and we would rather tell you that than sell you a knife. The reason is that a chef's knife and a paring knife togetheralready cover almost everything a utility knife does: the chef's knife handles anything on the board, and the paring knife handles small in-hand work. The utility knife falls into the gap between them, which means it is a convenient extra, not an essential. Buy the chef's knife first, add a paring knife second, and only add a utility knife if you find yourself reaching for something in between often. The full distinction from a paring knife is in paring knife vs utility knife, and from a chef's knife in chef knife vs utility knife.

If you do buy one

A utility knife does not need to be expensive — it is a supporting player, not the star. Look for a comfortable handle and a blade around 5 to 6 inches, and keep it sharp like any plain-edged knife (a lightly serrated one, like a bread knife, is best replaced when dull). It fits the same essential logic as the rest of the block: a few good knives you actually use beat a drawer full of specialty blades — the case we make on the sets page.

Where to go next

Once you know what the knife is for, the question is which one to buy. Our best utility knivesroundup ranks six of them and makes the case that this is the worst place in the kitchen to spend money — the cheapest pick finishes first on purpose. If you are still deciding between sizes, compare it with its neighbors in paring knife vs utility knife and chef knife vs utility knife.