Bread Knives

Every kitchen should have at least one good serrated knife. When you've got an especially tough or hard or crusty item, a serrated knife can be the only tool to really help work through it. The standard "bread" knife has pointy serrations and is mostly straight. Another option you'll see below are knives with scalloped ("wavy") reverse serrations (each "serration" is a little half-circle instead of a V-shaped point) which are popular now because they slice VERY well and so are also useful as everyday knives and as roast slicers for example. And instead of the standard straight shape, you'll also see offset (Z-shaped) handles, which can be nice when you want to use the knife for things other than bread (soft fruit, tomatoes, meats, etc.) since it moves your hand away from the cutting board making it easier and more comfortable to use the knife as an all-around slicer. The disadvantage of the wavy edge is that without the points it won't go through super crusty items (like thick crusty bread for example) quite as easily. And note that none of these knives can really be sharpened -- while serrated knives may possibly be sharpened by going between each serration with a whip-file or other such thin rod-shaped sharpening device, few people would do this, and virtually no sharpening service does this (most sharpening services just grind the face, doing nothing really except grinding off the points). So yes, this means that most serrated knives are semi-disposable... they'll last a long time (5-10 years of home use maybe?), but eventually the edges and points will dull and it may be more work and money than it's worth to bring them back into shape.