Cutlery Reviews

I purchased this item from Amazon back in 2001 and was thrilled with the quality and value of the knives. They were by far the best set I have ever owned.

Flash forward to 2003, and I repurchased the set through Amazon after the originals were lost in a fire. The new set came in different packaging and is noticeably inferior in quality. The steel isn't as thick or as durable, the blades are dull and poorly finished, and the handles have a cheaper feel and look to them. I've already noticed rust and discoloration on two of the knives even though I've always hand washed them. This never happened with the earler set.

I'm inclined to believe that these are seconds or knockoffs, even though they carry the Sabatier "Made in France" inscription on the blades. My advice: stay away, or purchase from somewhere where you can see and feel the knives before buying.

These were too good to pass up for this price. I received a Sabatier Grand Chef as a gift a few years ago and it's my knife of choice for slicing firm vegetables(like carrots and potatoes). The thin edge cuts effotlessly through. I use my Wusthof Trident for meats because the heavier blade helps in cutting paper-thin slices. These Provence Sabatiers have the same blade as the Grand Chefs so I expect the same edge quality. Buy this set - you won't find a better price anywhere else.

I have owned German, Japanese, U.S., Chinese and Brazilian knives. I have also used various Sabatier knives for over 10 years. They are sharp, well-balanced, beautiful and easily maintained. You can spend more money, but you cannot find better knives than these. At under $60 for 3 of the most useful and popular Sabatier Provence knives, I can't believe it's true. I have to look twice, no three times, before I immediately place my order. Buy these today, now!, before Amazon comes to their senses and either take these off the market or double their prices (which still will be a bargain). Just remember, while washing them, use non-abrasive sponges to prevent scratching and to maintain their beauty (as with all high carbon stainless steel knives or cookware). You will thank me and enjoy these wonderful knives for many, many years as I have.

I was expecting calphalon quality, but these knives just don't feel like they are quality knives.

Picked up this set for $79 at Amazon and did not expect too much. However this is not a cheap set of knifes. They are real sharp, solidly build and slice with professional authority. I had never known that a Chef's knife could slice vegetables so fast! If you do not want to spend $$$ on German steel (China made anyway, just like this set) and do not want a cheap knife set that is a waste of money after all, then consider this set. I think you will not be disappointed. For more extensive reviews please also check epinions.com.

These feel very good in the hand. The set has the perfect number of items to have on the counter top for almost all my usual, and some extraordinary, food preparation needs.

This is a wonderful knife for the average guy. It cannot match the superior quality of the more expensive Henckles but you get a big bang for the buck. It is sharp and well balanced. This one is produced in Spain. If you want the best, look to spend much more. If you are on a budget DO NOT settle for the cheaper brand of knives, this is a far better investment.

(Love You Sue)

This is like a mini chef's knife. It's very high quality and fits perfectly with my other Henckels knives. It's almost like a sandwhich/utility knife.

This Henckels Chef Knife is the perfect size to use for just about anything you do in the kitchen. It is a wonderful starter piece to the Henckels collection of knives.
I never have to work with a dull knife again, this Chef's knife keeps a sharp blade longer than any of the other brands I have used, and it is not a difficult process to sharpen and maintain it, as well.
This knife has always been known for the highest quality of knives, this price is a steal.

It's not that this isn't a high quality knife, it is.

For that quality, I'll give it four stars. It's got a full bolster, and it's forged (not stamped) in the German style. It's very hard, and takes a good edge, that lasts well. It's perhaps a bit tough to get an edge on without knowing what you're doing if using a flat stone, so for that I'll give it four not five stars.

The thing is, why do you need a $...sandwich knife? Many other companies make many other knives in a similar style and shape that cost a fraction what this knife does.

Forschner comes to mind. Sure it would be stamped and wouldn't have a full bolster, but it would cost $... instead of $..., and for a knife you're really not going to use that often you should save the money and get yourself a better chef knife.

Forschner makes a monderful 5-6" utility knife that looks like a mini chef knife that is great for cuting vegetables, and doubles as a terrific sandwich knife.

I frankly only have this knife because it came in a set with a 8" chefs knife and a pairing knife.

There are really two main competitors in the high-end mainstream kitchen knife market: Henckels and Wusthof. Those who have used both usually have a preference. My preference (and therefore bias you should know about) is for the Wusthofs.

The Wusthof Classic line is the more conservative counterpart to the Grand Prix line. The only difference, however, is the handle style. I personally prefer the Grand Prix, but this is an issue of personal preference. The balance and grip of these knives are as close to perfect as I have found. For those wondering what benefits a higher priced knife provides, one benefit is that the blade (or tang) is one piece all the way through the handle. This makes the blade much stronger, and less likely to snap.

This particular model is the 6 inch sandwich knife. I don't find this knife to be particularly useful in everyday usage. The 8 inch chef's knife, or 4 ½ inch utility knife work just fine for jobs on either end of the spectrum. Do you really need this expensive of a knife to cut baloney? I don't.

Don't get me wrong; this is a good high quality knife. However, for the mainstream chef, I think its usage will be minimal, and thus it is overkill.

I just added this knife to my Wusthof collection. I arrived extremely sharp, and is nice for semi-fine work. Activities like dicing shallots, which are too small for a large 8 inch knife and to big for a paring knife, are nice with this knife. Be careful though, the tip of the blade is quite thin, and will not stand up to abuse.

There are really two main competitors in the high-end mainstream kitchen knife market: Henckels and Wusthof. Those who have used both usually have a preference. My preference (and therefore bias you should know about) is for the Wusthofs.

The Wusthof Culinar line is an all stainless steel look, rather than a black handle. Although the picture and some descriptions want you to think this is a single piece knife, be advised that the hand is a separate piece of stainless steel molded onto the tang. I personally prefer the handle of the Grand Prix and Classic, because the grip is surer for me, but this is, to some extent, a matter of personal preference. This series "looks" more professional to some (like a Viking stove).

This particular model is the 5 inch tomato knife. Most cooks believe the tomato is the most difficult food to slice cleanly (thus its appearance in Ginsu commercials). I think this knife is overkill for most cooks. I happen to think the 4 ½ inch utility knife will do the trick for the mainstream cook. This knife, while a good knife, is used so rarely in my kitchen it is usually relegated to a storage location, rather than the countertop.

If you slice a lot of tomatoes, be my guest and buy this knife, it is very high quality. But, for most cooks, this knife is overkill.

this knife is billed as a tomato knife and while it does the job effortlessly, if you own a good quality chef knife that you keep sharp this knife is not needed.

We bought the 10 piece Culinar set and this knife is my favorite!!! I have never used a knife that cuts a tomato so perfectly. I highly recommend it if you love to cook and like perfection with what you prepare.

...an edge, and good balance.

The fact that this knife came out of the package dull is something of a puzzlement to me, considering its cost. It did take an edge very quickly with a couple of passes over the steal, however.

The handle is very light weight hardwood and the black bolster is some kind of plastic, nylon I think, so the center of balance is too far out on the blade. I've had to Krazy Glue several American dimes to the butt of the handle to achieve proper balance (painted black to accent the bolster). The handle is also very short, not particularly designed for people with large, or even average sized hands, in mind. Keep in mind the stature of your average Japanese, I guess. Not meaning at all to be offensive, but my big American hand isn't afforded a real margin of comfort here.

I'm keeping this knife. I like the single-grind edge, which is also very straight - really ideal for certain jobs. I don't see this as fulfilling the role of an all-purpose kitchen knife though. But, then, that's not why I bought it.

I think the best thing about this piece, aside from its specialized application, is just its plain good looks. Sounds shallow perhaps, but this thing is really pretty. So, sometimes form outweighs function. I can live with that in this instance.

This knife is the ultimate in slicing raw fish. The square tip is in the "Osaka style", which makes it a little more unique than other traditional sushi knives. The all stainless construction means easier maintenance, since most sushi knives are carbon steel and rust and stain easily. Balance is never, ever a consideration with sushi knives. They are not made for chopping. The long blade is designed for extended blade strokes while slicing through fish or vegetables. This knife gets lots of use at our house, even in slicing bananas for morning breakfast!

I bought this knife for my mother who found my 8" chef's knife just a tad too big. I like the sleek and ergonomic looking handle. It's a very hefty knife, but maybe a bit too hefty. The blades are quite thick--not exactly what you want to produce thin slices. But for less than half the price of a Wusthof, you are getting a very decent knife--light years better than those flimsy Wal-Mart cheapos, but not quite as high-performance as some of the European knives.

While looking at cutlery for a wedding present a couple months ago I stumbled on Calphalon's new line. Being cheap by nature I was intrigued by their prices on chef's knives. This led me to get myself one of their 8" models. It is a great knife with only one drawback - it's almost too big for my small handed wife. Although it almost killed me to pay more for a smaller knife I recently purchased a six inch version. This knife we both love. Fit, finish, and balance all would make you swear that this is a high grade tool. Although priced nearer the cheapened up versions of Chicago Cutlery found in the Marts this is a knife that feels like it is a high grade piece. On the downside the knife is not German or American made but is another Chinese product. Unlike a lot of stuff from over there this time they got it right.

Very useful shape and size, I have two of these and also 8 and 10 inch Wusthof knives, and use these 6-inch knives more often than any other. Weight is good and the blade shape is perfect for mincing. But they rust - after just a few uses both started to get rust spots every time they're washed, unless they are dried immediately after washing. I've never had that problem with a Wusthof or Henckels knife. One also got a small chip in the blade for no apparent reason, that will probably come out with enough sharpening. Still a decent knife for about half the price of Wusthof or Henckels.

This is a great little chef knife. I got it as part of the 2 piece set with the bird's beak parer(also vary handy). I liked it so much I went ahead and bought the 15 piece set. I haven't had any problems with it yet. It sharpens well and maintains the edge. The overall form is slightly different than the 8" traditional chef. There is also room in the 15 piece block for this knife also.

This set of knives feels good in the hand. nice weight, good looks, but sadly the blades went dull really fast.

I guess for the price point, they are a good deal. We'll see if some professional sharpening will get them to hold an edge.

Being a student, I can't afford the knife set I really want, but this one will do until I graduate. The knives aren't very heavy due to their plastic handles, yet they are still fairly well balanced. They did need to be sharpened out of the box, but once that was done they cut everything from a very delicate bread to bagles to tomatoes to meat very well. Other knife sets in this price range tend to be "eversharp" (where they have that microserration so you can't use a steel to sharpen them), and this set is far better. I'm giving this set 5 stars not because I think these are the best knives I could buy, but because they are a very good set for very lilttle money.

I spent a couple weeks researching knives before taking the plunge on this set. Overall, I love these knives but please read on for full details before purchasing...

Pro's
Every Possible Knife You Could Ever Need
Great Weight/Feel
Quality Construction on Most
Great Edge (but not out of the box)
Serrated Bread Knife is Fabulous

Con's
*Too Dull Out of the Box*
Wood Block only Fair
No User Instructions of Any Kind
Steak Knives & Shears Not as Nice as the Rest

Review
I probably would not have given this set so much consideration had it not been for Consumer Reports giving it a great review. They actually tested the smaller set but I believe the are the same pro-forged knives. They ranked them just below some of the much more expensive high end name brands. It was a little hard for me to justify spending 40-50% more on this bigger set than the smaller sets just to get a few more knives but now that I did it I'm glad I did. I'll probably keep them close to forever so why cheap out on it. The meat fork will be a classy touch when carving a roast or turkey and I really like the birds beak knife in this set as well. The set is big and has quite a presence to it so if you have a tiny kitchen this could look like overkill sitting on your counter (go for the smaller set).

I was unimpressed with the packaging they came in. It could have all been packed better. The wood block had some minor scuffs/scratches on it because everything else in there could rub up against it. If I bought them in a retail store it would have been brought back and exchanged for a perfect block but it's not horrible by any means and I don't feel like dealing with a mail order exchange. Now that I have it I've never notice the marks on it again.

There were zero directions in the box. Not that you need directions for knives but there wasn't even a warranty form or anything so I'm thinking maybe it was left out. There were no directions at all to tell you which knife goes in which hole in the block so you kind of have to guess on the smaller ones. The UPS label was stuck over the picture on the box so I couldn't even use the picture as a guide. Not a big deal though. The only sharpening directions I got on how to use the sharpening steel were printed on the box. It's not rocket science but there's no way to fully understand the motion with just one picture. There are plenty of places to find it online though if you look (not Farberware's site though which is pathetic).

Ok, now to my biggest complaint. The knives are dull by any 'qualty knife' standard out of the box. Our first set of knives when we got married were the... Farberware cheapo serrated ones you can't sharpen anyway so I had to kind of figure out for myself how to deal with this to avoid returning them. Out of the box I could run my finger down the length of them with no fear of cutting myself (not sharp!). So I thought to myself 'break out the sharpening steel'! Well don't bother with that yet because the angle on the factory edge is way too blunt to be sharpened with just the steel. I tried, A LOT!

But don't panic because a little elbow grease will pay big and get these knives on par with many of those costing much much more. The edge needs to be redone. You should be able to do it with any sharpener. I was all set to buy the Chefs Choice thirty dollar manual sharpener which would have been fine when I remembered I had a cheap sharpener (under ten bucks) I had bought to sharpen archery broadheads which also works on knives . I decided to try one of the Farberwares with it and it took at least 50 passes but the edge was redone (you'll lose some of the metal but it should have been done at the factory anyhow) and Pay Dirt... SHARP!!!! After this was done I could then finish them up with the steel as needed and will continue to do so from time to time. I did them all and they can all cut paper no problem. **No need to sharpen the two serrated knives in the set, they are super sharp and just all around awesome right out of the box. Cutting bread is now a true pleasure, just be sure to put it on a board to protect your counter!**

Another small complaint is with the quality of the steak knives and the scissors included. The steak knives aren't as nice a blade as the others in the set. They are still better than my last set but just ok. Half the blade is normal and the other half is serrated. Probably good for cutting meat but won't be the easiest combination to keep sharp. We'll see. The scissors are the exact same scissors as the ones in my...set. Granted they are great scissors in function but the plastic looks cheap and doesn't really fit the character of the rest of the set. These two gripes probably help keep the price where it is so sometimes you have to accept a couple compromises to get a good deal.

We just had our first major party since getting them and we gots LOTS of compliments on them. People couldn't believe how sharp they were and how nice they felt. My sister actually scratched our counter with them because she, like most of us out there, are just used to using dull knives. Well not me anymore, I've seen the light and will never go back. I love these things.

Although I've listed some complaints, it wouldn't stop me from buying them again. The smaller set that comes with only 6 steaks and several less of the other knives would be a great set for anyone wanting to spend about half of this set. If you don't have any interest in sharpening these out of the box to get them to their potential, then I would look at a different set.

Hey they're not Henkels, Wusthoff, or Global, but they're very good for the price. Consumer Reports rates the Farberware Pro Forged a best buy. If you're looking for cheap knives but don't want ...., this is a good choice.