Hi. i have made a few kitchen knives. I usually go with 1/8" or 3/32" steel, depending on what steel is it and the cost.

My fave steel right now is S30V. takes a little more work to grind and make shiny, but its not too bad and well worth it. norax belts makes the job go much easier! I usually tend to grind my kitchen knives vertically on the contact wheel, producing a flat grind. This works well to get a convex edge and grind, and it very easy to polish the steels up from the wheel to the hand finishing I do, especially with S30V.

I would recommend 154-cm. Give crucible a call, ask for Bruce Di Vita @ 1-800-365-1168. 154-cm is great steel from them. I made a filet knife from 3/32" stock, 6" blade, much like the shape of a carving knife and the guy has fileted 14 fish with it so far and its still sharp. and the fish weren't small trout either he said some were 30" long.

I would recommend 3/32" 154 or S30V, but i dont know if S30V comes that thin yet. paul Bos does a great HT on these by the way, email him and ask him what rockwell hardness they should be.