Cutlery Reviews

My husband and I registered for these (at a department store) and now wish we hadn't. The serrated blades make it impossible to slice cleanly through anything, and the blade is too aligned with the handle making it hard to get a good grip. Our old knives are getting more use than these. I wouldn't recommend these to anyone who does even a moderate amount of cooking.

Those who want a knife that will cut well should avoid these knives. As Steve Bottorff says on his site sharpeningmadeeasy.com, "...serrated edges are desirable for three cutting tasks - slicing tomatoes, slicing bread, and cutting rope. All other tasks are done as well or better with a plain edge..." A serrated knife can only cut with a sawing action, not with a slicing or hacking action. These serrated knives are completely unsuitable for cutting raw chicken, for mincing herbs, and for cutting cheese without crumbling.

Because the paring knife can't be sharpened it is unsafe and unpleasant to use normally. The fillet knife is completely useless because it is not sharp; filleting is not a sawing type of cutting action. The chef's knife is too flimsy for the tip to be used effectively; the knife will bend. The knives are unsuitable for chopping or mincing almost anything on a wooden cutting board, because the serrations will grind into the wood and create a wood paste in your food. It is impossible to put a sharp edge on the knives. They can be damaged easily because of the thin stainless steel construction.

Henckels is doing tremendous damage to their reputation by selling these terrible K-Mart grade knives to people who don't know any better. The knives are made in Japan but they are closer to low grade Chinese products. They have nothing in common with Henckels' good and expensive German knives. I would not recommend buying them to impress your friends with your block of Henckels knives; anyone with any knife savvy will see that they are garbage.

These knives are a product for a very specific market: people with not much to spend, who never intend to sharpen or hone their knives, and for that matter who cannot be bothered to care for the knives. For those folks, the knives work about as well as anything else on the market. They are stainless, so they won't rust. All the knives in the set are serrated, so they will work just as well after ten years of use without sharpening. The knives are light weight because of their cheapness, so that could be a plus for some.

Read the Amazon[.com] article "How to Buy: Kitchen Knives". (When you read this article notice that the stainless steel in the Neversharps is not a recommended blade material, and serrated knives are recommended only for specialized purposes.) Then, if you need to keep the cost down, get a set of Sabatier high-carbon or high-carbon stainless knives for half the cost of these ones. If you take care of them they will perform far better than the International Neversharps.

These knives are an excellent starter kit for an upcoming cook. Cost to performance is medium to high. BUT! These knives are hard to clean if food is left on the blades. The micro serrations are hard to pick between and the micro fingers can be bent. Watch out when drying these knives as well. They WILL snag your favorite drying towel in addition to your dish rag or sponge. I usually rinse them in extrememly hot water and let them air dry. I received them as a gift.

I Purchased a set simply because they came close in design to our everyday flatware. They come in a nice pine box which has no lid so they do take up space on a drawer or shelf. The knives themselves are very light weight. Our set (black and steel) was fine with no obvious flaws. The handles are lightweight plastic and the rivets are small so there is a question of how long they will hold up. They would have done better to use resin impregnated wood. The tang does go the length of the grip. These seem as sharp as any steak knives I have used and are quite comfortable in the hand and do afford good control when triming a steak or a chop close to the bone! I would say they are of the same level of quality that you might find at a Woolworths (of sainted memory!) or a K-Mart. Not something to buy if you are really looking to even come close to the traditional high quality of either Sabatier or Laguiole. That said I am planning on buying a second set to match the number of place settings of our everyday flatware.

A grand surprise, these are much better looking and definitely better behaved than any I have bought over the years while paying much more. They are nicely balanced, cut well, and even look good as part of a place setting. The more slender shape, curved handle, and even the position of the Napoleonic bee come together in a nice design that is functional and a pleasure to use. (The little bee-shaped finger rest is a conversation starter too.) I've heard of another set by the same company with bone handles and a much higher price tag. These suit us just fine.

The bumble bee is a known sign for qaulity in France. These type of knives are the same ones used in the top restaurants in France and the rest of the world over. There is not a finer steak knife in the world. I have been to the factory and have seen these craftsmen at work. They create perfection.

I should have listened to the reviews. I bought the knives in hopes to match my kitchen decor. I was so excited when I saw these knives and there are so many! But a las', the handles are rough once washed. So that means you can only use these knives once. Plus they are somewhat flimsy. Stay away if you can.

I bought these knives 3 years ago for my new house. I went by the Chicago Cutlery name and great price. The knives are great, but when you're ready to wash them, you can not (and I mean can not) let the handles touch the water. The handles get very dry and start cracking. I'm afraid that I will get a splinter one of these days. I'm actually in the market for new knives. These knives look great in my kitchen, but I think I need something with more comfortable handles.

I have had a set of Chicago Cutlery knives for over 10 years now (not these, though) and I still love them. I'm a professional chef so I use them every day and they get washed over and over. The thing about wood handles that you have to remember is OIL. In my kitchen the wood is always coming in contact with butter and oils so it's not a problem, but definately try one of the wood oils or waxes, even vegetable oil works. The wood actually gets "softer" as you go on. This should take care of the rough feel on the handles. I don't recommend placing knives in the dishwasher every day, but a good knife can take it.

After I used them ONCE and washed them in the dishwasher the blades rusted! That's unacceptable. I have cheap stainless steal steak knifes I've had for 25 years that have NEVER rusted in the dishwasher. The box says dishwasher safe although in small print it says not recommended. Now I know why. They are inferior.
I purchased these knifes thinking I was going to get something a cut above. They are not as good as a $10 set of Steak Knifes from a discount store. Save your money!
I am returning mine.

I had a set of steak knives that didn't cut very well. I was so sick of them I decided to spend what I thought was a considerable sum to get "good" knives. Unfortunately, I did not see the editor's comments on this site before buying--they do tear meat, rather than cut it. Frankly, they are only marginally better than those they replaced. [The block is also fairly useless. Who wants their steak knives sitting on the counter top all by themselves? I have my kitchen knives in a block and do not need or want two blocks sitting out.]

I bought a set of 4 of these knives about 7 years ago. I use them for all my slicing! I have small hands and they are very comfortable to use when cutting vegetables. They are just now showing signs of needing sharpening.. but they are used a few times everyday in my home. My next purchase will be a set with a block so they don't get bumped around in the silverware drawer.

It is preposterous that they would even call this thing an oyster knife. This piece of garbage was literally destroyed after opening one raw oyster. I could see that was going to happen before I even tried it. It's just a flimsy thin piece of sheet metal. Anyone who has shucked raw oysters knows how much torque it takes and how rigid the blade needs to be. Apparently these guys don't know anything about that. Shame on "OXO/Good Grips" for calling this thing an oyster knife.

the first time this oyster knife was used it bent itself silly within 6 oysters, and it was in the hands of a 4 star chef who knew what they were doing.
dont waste your time and money...

I've used this knife for a couple of years now with GREAT success. I use it on little old Willapas and big ol' Pacifics. I probably only buy a few dozen oysters a year so this is not by any means a professional's point of view but I have yet to bend the blade which is a whole heckuva lot more than I can say about the other two knifes I used before buying this one. Here's why I think you will be happy with this knife: 1) Large, soft, comfortable handle fills the palm and gives Excellent leverage; 2) Short, stout stainless steel blade is non-threatening (nicely rounded end) and stays clean. I will give this knife only three stars because it is possible that the complaints below are valid because often objects that are 'Made In China' have quality deficiencies. Also, I have seen some OXO brand oyster shuckers in the supermarket recently that are made with a very thing, spring-like blade which is a definite No No and may explain why the reviews below are so negative. Only one specification should be used for such a product. The variance tells me that OXO needs to get its act together. I gotta say, though, my knife is a truly excellent tool that I'm sorry I didn't own sooner.

These are terrible, terrible knives. I returned both sets the day after I tried them. The serrations shred your food instead of cutting it. The handles are very cheap feeling and are not comfortable to use. The tiny serrations also make the knives very difficult to clean and considering the name "Eversharp" they sure didn't seem very sharp. You will be better off keeping that cheapo set you bought at walmart years ago.

These knives have a finely serrated edge that tears at the steak leaving pieces of meat hanging on the edge. They rip the meat rather than slicing. I expected more from Henckels. A waste of money!

These knives are terrible! The eversharp edge is finely serrated and tears the steak leaving pieces of meat hanging on the edges. It rips the food instead of cutting it. I thought the Henckels name would be better than this. Don't waste your money!

I bought this item because it said it was stainless steel. Well I have rust everywhere on them I cannot put them in the dishwasher or let them sit in the sink to long. Can I return these? I am very unsatisfied. Can you e-mail an address so I can send photos of these awful knives.

signed a very disappointed customer

I have spent alot of time looking for inexpensive good quality knives and with these I found them. I never put knives in a dishwasher so I don't have the rust problem, dishwashers aren't good for washing knives anyways, they dull them. I cut up alot of veggies and meats and these knives hold up pretty good. I don't know how to use a sharpener, as the set comes with one, but haven't had to with these. I would recommend.

I am a collector of quality pocket and hunting knives but also I appreciate quality kitchen knives.
I am a very busy person and therefore I don't like to write reviews. However, I read a naive nonsense review about this set and I have no choice but to say the truth for the sake of justice and truth. The knives are sharpened from both sides and of very good quality. Actually the knives except the serrated ones are thin up to an inch from the edge. This will make it easy to sharpen them. I saw this feature in high quality knives such as "BUCK" hunting knives. What the reviewer said is simply wrong. The only knives sharpened from one side are the serrated knives (only 2 knives out of five knives). All serrated knives on earth from very expensive to cheap ones are serrated from one side. Why? There is no need to sharpen it from the other side and it is technically impossible. Check this for yourself. The reviewer used the wrong knife for the wrong job. This set worths more than [money] and if you take care of it, it will last forever.

This is the absolute WORST thing I have ever purchaced for my kitchen! The knives are rusted at best if not totally broken! One steak knife actually broke while I was cutting BUTTER! The "block" is total garbage too. The cheap plastic handles on the knives look and work terrible and are dangerous. I used some common sense and bought a decent set of Sabatier knives for $... on sale that will last forever. I will never buy cheap Faberware again.

Where do I start? The knives became discolored after running them through the dishwasher, the utensils don't hold up well to heat, many of the utensils handles broke, and I can't get the carousel to come clean (the grease just will NOT come off). Yes, it's inexpensive, which is why I bought it in the first place - but it's not worth it. Spend the extra money and buy another brand - any other brand.

You get what you pay for when it comes to this set of knives -- not much. After a few years of use we've thrown away more than half of the utensils (although we do use the ladle to scoop out fresh kitty litter). The knives have started to develop rust spots after a couple of runs through the dishwasher, and the ones that aren't getting rusty are so dull, we might as well throw them away.

I used this set as a college student and now that I'm a graduate I got a Henkel's Eversharp Pro set on sale for just a bit more than what was paid for this set. Do yourself a favor and do the same.

I recently purchased a 10 pc set of Chicago Cutlery, Insignia set. Less than a week later the printing on the knives started disappearing. Now, less than a month later the knives are seeping with rust. There are fine pits and cracks that seep rust and I am very upset as I cannot return, exchange or get a refund for them.

For the price, these are fantastic knives. I've had no problems with them at all - and they're quite sharp. Best not to put in the dishwasher. They will rust if water stands on them, and the handles don't respond well to the dishwasher. The blades are thick and sturdy, unlike many steak knives in this price range. Treat them right and they will last! I'd buy them again.

Good knives should NEVER be put through the dishwasher. Also, good knives should be DRIED immediately. Since good knives are made out of STEEL, they can rust if abused.

these knives have some sort of ceramic coating that keeps them from ever needing sharpening... nonsense; the coating means that they cannot be sharpened, yes, but is also wears off with normal use, rendering the knives dull and useless..

I gave one of these knives to a friend for Christmas...my bad. The coating is Teflon and the blades are thin. She used it one week and brought it back to me for sharpening. I used a steel and it honed up really quick but...I was embarrassed. Live 'n learn.

We pass on these overpriced bimbos and generously slip 'em 2 mojo*z because of lady who returned hers and Henckels replaced 'em. Good Henckels.

Just to let you guys know, Cutco hires what they call "web solicitors" to hype up their products on sites like this. Also, Cutco is sold through demonstrations by Cutco salespeople only and these salespeople have an interest in bashing other knives on the net. Master Chef Wylie Dufresne told GQ magazine "I have plenty of friends whose parents have Cutco in a knife block. You pull them out and they're all as dull as can be." Norman Weinstein, a nationally recognized kitchen knife skills instructor was quoted by the Baltimore Sun newspaper as saying this about Cutco: "Why, why, would you buy such a knife?"