A kitchen utility knife has a 4″ to 7″ sharp blade and is perfect for a multitude of cutting tasks in the kitchen. These utility knives are also sometimes referred to as a “petty knife”. Most people would describe it as an all-purpose knife used for cutting fruits and vegetables, and carving poultry. Sometimes referred to as the “sandwich knife”.

There are an endless number of tasks that can be performed by such a knife:

1. To Cut Up Medium-Sized Fruits & Vegetables

Once the fruit or vegetable gets larger than the blade of a paring knife,it becomes a much less efficient tool for such a job. Anything that is roughly the size of the paring knife’s blade should be considered as a good task for the utility knife. 

2. To Slice Hard Cheeses

Utility knives are the perfect tool for slicing cheese if you don’t have a dedicated cheese knife in your kitchen.

3. To Make Veggie Slices

As is often the case a paring knife is typically just a little too small and your chef’s knife is overkill.  A utility knife is perfect for these food.

4. To Cut Up Citrus (Lemons, Limes, Grapefruit)

Cutting citrus for drinks or freshly squeezed juice is an easy task with a utility knife. Larger citrus fruits like grapefruit are sized perfectly for such a knife. Many are just too big for a paring knife. 

5. To Cut Sandwich

Most people use utility knives to cut sandwiches, because they maintain the condition of the bread or toast and the filling.

Buying a kitchen utility knife is a great way to reduce the number of knives you need in your kitchen because of how versatile it really is. As you saw above, there are so many tasks that can be taken care of by this knife, even if it’s not the best tool for the job.