I’m so excited about my new knife block. I’ve just put in an order with a local artisanal blacksmith, who I’m told was apprenticed to master blade makers in Japan and Switzerland. The handles of his knives and the block itself are hand-crafted by the guy’s wife, an award-winning woodworker.
It’s costing me a pretty penny but hey – these things are worth it when you’re as much of a kitchen nut as I am. Knives are so central to the kitchen experience that bad ones can be deeply troubling on an aesthetic level. In practical terms, they can also be dangerous. You might think that’d be the nature of knives in general, but trust me, it’s the blunt ones you need to worry about. That’s if you know what you’re doing, I mean. PSA: don’t let your kids near your knife block (as if you’d let any grubby kid mitts near your pride and joy; let’s be real).
Unfortunately for my bank balance, this has got me to thinking about kitchen renovations. Melbourne is so rife with would-be chefs, it must surely be equally overflowing with excellent domestic kitchen designers. There’s a market for it professional-standard features in home kitchens, and I’m one constituent of it. I mean, with a knife block like this, how can I afford not to have cutting-edge appliances and seamlessly integrated storage solutions, all rounded out with the highest quality materials and finishes?
I’ve never been one for the whole ‘design your own kitchen’ thing – leave it to the experts, I always say. That said, I don’t want an off-the-rack solution, either. I guess, ideally, I’d have it customised precisely to my specifications, but as interpreted by someone who knows the full suite of possibilities available.
That was my move with the knife block. As in, I told the guy how I’d be using it and what I wanted from the investment, then gave him leave to run wild with designing the perfect set of knives for my needs.