I Have Dozens of Knives, but My Favorite One Is This $13 Cleaver From My Prep Kitchen Days

A colleague recently asked me what the first thing I would grab if my kitchen were on fire would be. My mind’s eye surveyed all my most beloved gear, from my Breville espresso machine and Ooni pizza oven to countless pieces of beautiful Le Creuset, Staub, and Made In cookware. I considered all my knives, including a stunning Japanese chef’s knife and a Bob Kramer x Zwilling collaboration. Eventually, I thought about my inexpensive, years-old Chinese cleaver that I bought in my prep kitchen days, and I knew that would be the one.

It’s kind of an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade situation, where he has to select the correct holy grail at the end of the film or face dire consequences, and realizes that among all the dazzling, shiny options, he should choose the oldest, most boring-looking one. Similarly, my Winco Chinese cleaver is not flashy. It’s not from an especially cool brand, and doesn’t turn heads when I have people over (though I personally think it looks awesome). Still, it’s my favorite piece of equipment in my kitchen — and it only costs $13.

Winco Chinese Cleaver

When I was younger, I worked in a restaurant where I spent a lot of my time in the basement kitchen doing prep work. This involved coming in early in the morning every day to chop vegetables and make sauces for hours and hours. On my first day in the basement, I rolled in with my expensive chef’s knife, ready to flex on everybody with my amazing skills and cool gear. The guy working with me had been there for years; he took one look at my knife and said something like, “Bro, you don’t want to use that down here. Go across the street and get one of these.” He held up a massive, shiny cleaver that looked like it was straight out of a horror movie. “This is, like, $10 and it’s all you’ll need to do this job.” I walked across the street to the international market, where I found what is now probably my single favorite piece of kitchen gear.

The Winco cleaver is a perfect knife. It’s heavy enough to get through bulky vegetables like sweet potatoes and squash, but it’s sharp enough to finely chop herbs, onions, and garlic. It’s made from stainless steel and wood, is really easy to clean, and, honestly, it’s just extremely fun to use. Like, chopping food with a comically huge cleaver? It rocks. I love it. 

And I’m not the only one — I see this cleaver in all sorts of kitchens, from Italian fine dining restaurants to fast-casual burrito joints. It’s one of those industry secrets, at least in my experience: People who have to do hours of laborious food prep don’t always want to mess with a $300 knife (though admittedly some tasks do require a super high-quality knife) — they need something big, reliable, and strong. And that’s the Winco Chinese cleaver. 

Hopefully, my kitchen won’t be catching fire anytime soon. Still, it’s not lost on me that the first thing I’d grab happens to be one of the cheapest things I own — it just speaks to how much I love this knife. Whether you’re looking for a new food prep workhorse or just want to add a fun, new knife to your collection, this masterpiece (which is currently 34% off) should be it. 

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At the time of publication, the price was $13.