Is there any significant difference between santoku knife from e.g. Victorinox versus santoku knife from e.g. Kasumi?
Can I as normal kitchen user :) be able to distinguish the difference between santoku knife from Victorinox, and a knife from Kasumi, which has damascus steel and costs almost 3x as mutch as the knife from Victorinox? Is the quality worth the money, or can the much cheaper Victorinox do the same for me?
As a former line cook, I can say that many people I've worked with prefer Victorinox knives at work because:
I've owned many of both kinds, and honestly, I only use my expensive knives at home.
There's more practical reasons to go with a less expensive brand that maintains a very positive review average over a very expensive brand, but it's your choice and your money :)
I personally save the big bucks for vintage knives that have gone up in value consistently over the years, especially given how mass production obviates eventual rarity. So if you want to go expensive and have it last as an heirloom, go rare, too.
Otherwise, the 'house knives' from any commissary supply chain are great, and many feature Victorinox. Sure, I'd love to use a Shun, but my 10" Mercer Culinary gyuto holds a nice edge, too, and the resin / santoprene handle makes me much more confident with fish.
This holds a little less true with breaking knives (or Deba), or those that are engineered to take abuse, you can end up ultimately replacing cheap blades so often that you ended up spending the same anyway. But that's another situation entirely, and worth different consideration.
For a normal user, probably not.
One of the thing that you might find better on the Japanese knife is that the blade will hold its sharpness better.
The price difference is due construction, both from the blade and the handle
Is it worth 3 times the cost ? only you can decide.
