18/8 and 18/10 are the same steel. Both describe the austenitic grade sold as AISI 304, and the British Stainless Steel Association states plainly that the "10" does not indicate a genuinely higher nickel content. 18/0 is different: it is the ferritic grade 430, with almost no nickel. If you are choosing between quotations, the number that matters is the grade, the gauge and the finish, not the marketing designation.
The short answer, and why most pages disagree with it
Search for this comparison and you will mostly find pages explaining that 18/10 contains more nickel than 18/8 and is therefore the better steel. It is a tidy story, it is what the designation appears to say, and the industry association that publishes guidance on these grades does not accept it.
Is 18/10 actually better than 18/8?
Not as a material. The British Stainless Steel Association's note on cutlery stainless steel grades says that 18/10 "is claimed to indicate a better quality steel than '18/8', and is essentially the same as the '304, (1.4301), grade", and that "In practice the '10' does not indicate an actual higher Ni content and is purely a marketing ploy."
That does not mean two products labelled 18/10 and 18/8 will feel the same in the hand. It means the difference between them, where one exists, is coming from something other than the alloy: the thickness of the metal, how the piece was formed, how the edges were finished, and how it was polished. Those are the things worth specifying and worth paying for.
Is 18/10 the same as 304 stainless steel?
Effectively yes. The numbers describe the nominal chromium and nickel content, and the world stainless association describes the austenitic family where "a typical composition is 18 % chromium and 8 % nickel, as found in the popular AISI 304 grade" as non-magnetic. In European designations that is 1.4301. A supplier quoting 18/10 and a supplier quoting 304 are, in the normal case, quoting the same material.
What the three designations describe
Swipe or scroll the table to compare all columns.
| Designation | Actual grade | Structure | Magnet | Corrosion resistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18/10 | AISI 304 (1.4301) | Austenitic | Little or no pull | Good. Handles acid, salt and dishwasher cycles well. |
| 18/8 | AISI 304 (1.4301) | Austenitic | Little or no pull | Good. The same steel as 18/10 in practice. |
| 18/0 | AISI 430 (1.4016) | Ferritic | Strong pull | Lower. Vulnerable to pitting where moisture and salt sit. |
BSSA adds a detail worth knowing when comparing quotations: on 18/0 the chromium "is optimistically said to be 18% but is nearer 17%". The designations are trade conventions rather than specifications, which is precisely why they cannot be checked.
Why does 18/0 flatware stick to a magnet?
Because it is a ferritic steel with almost no nickel, and nickel is what stabilises the austenitic structure that makes 304 effectively non-magnetic. A magnet is therefore a reasonable way to separate 18/0 from 18/8 or 18/10, and a poor way to distinguish 18/8 from 18/10, since both are the same non-magnetic grade. Our 304 vs 430 comparison covers why cold working can make even genuine 304 attract a magnet slightly at a drawn corner or a polished rim.
What actually differentiates quality
If the alloy is not the variable, something else explains why one supplier's piece feels substantial and another's feels cheap. In our experience four things account for almost all of it, and all four can be written into a specification.
- Gauge and weight. Thickness is the single largest contributor to how a piece feels, and it is the easiest place to remove cost invisibly. Two items in identical grades can differ by a third in weight.
- Forming method. A stamped piece and a piece that has been forged or thickened at the stress points behave differently under load, and the difference shows at the neck or the joint rather than on the surface.
- Edge and joint finishing. Hand-finished edges cost labour and are what stops a piece feeling sharp or unresolved in the hand. This is where rushed production shows first.
- Polish grade and consistency. A mirror polish demands more passes and a tighter cosmetic tolerance than a satin finish, and it shows every defect the satin finish would have hidden.
Does 18/0 rust in the dishwasher?
It can, and this is the one case where the designation genuinely predicts performance. 18/0 is 430, and 430 is more vulnerable to pitting where salt and moisture sit. Detergent is alkaline and aggressive, and pieces left wet in a basket after a cycle are the usual failure case. For anything repeatedly dishwashed or meeting acidic food, specify the austenitic grade for the contact surface.
Grade is also not the whole story for corrosion in service. A piece left to dry in contact with a rusting item can pick up contamination that looks like a failure of its own material, which is why complaints sometimes arrive for products that were specified correctly.
Choosing by where the product is sold
Which grade should I choose for hospitality use?
For a hotel, restaurant or canteen the deciding factor is usually cycles rather than appearance. Items washed several times a day in commercial machines face far more exposure than domestic ones, so the austenitic grade on contact surfaces is the safer specification, and gauge matters because pieces are handled roughly and stacked.
For a value retail range sold on price, 18/0 is a legitimate choice for pieces that are not repeatedly soaked, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. The error is not using 430; it is using it where liquid sits and then being surprised by the return rate. For a premium or gift range, the grade is table stakes and the differentiation comes from the four factors above.
A note on what we make: KOVA Tough produces kitchen tools, kitchen knives, serving and tabletop pieces and barware rather than knife-fork-and-spoon flatware sets. The same logic applies directly to serving and tabletop items and cooking utensils, where a handle, a bowl and a rim can each be specified in a different grade.
Specifying it so the factory cannot substitute
How do I check the grade I have been quoted?
You cannot verify 18/10 on a mill certificate, because a mill certificate reports a grade and a composition, not a marketing designation. That is the practical reason to stop using the shorthand in purchase documents. Write AISI 304 or EN 1.4301, state it per component, and ask for the mill certificate to reference your production lot rather than the mill batch in general.
Where the grade is commercially important, a handheld alloy analyser on a finished part gives a composition reading in seconds and settles the question without argument. The cost is trivial against a corrosion recall, and asking for it early signals that the grade is a genuine requirement rather than a line copied into a specification.
- Write the grade per component using AISI or EN designations, never 18/10.
- State the gauge, because it drives perceived quality more than the alloy does.
- State the finish and, for a mirror polish, the cosmetic tolerance you expect.
- Say whether a mill certificate is required and what it must reference.
- Ask how edges and joints are finished, not just how the piece is formed.
Put these on the drawing rather than in an email, and carry them into the quotation request. The RFQ template has fields for grade, gauge and finish, and sets out what a factory assumes when each one is left blank. Where the product touches food, the evidence your market requires is a separate question from the grade, covered in the food contact guide.
Your checklist
- Designation translated to a real grade before comparing quotations
- Grade written as AISI or EN per component, not as 18/10
- Gauge specified, since it drives perceived quality more than the alloy
- Finish and cosmetic tolerance stated separately from the grade
- Austenitic grade specified for surfaces repeatedly washed or meeting acid
- Edge and joint finishing described, not assumed
- Mill certificate requirement agreed, referencing the production lot