Henckels Kitchen Cutlery

Big_Red

Big_Red

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Feb 23, 2009
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For those that know their kitchen knives, I wanted to run this by you and get an opinion. I'm looking for either a set or a couple of decent kitchen knives for myself; not a chef or pretend to be, just want some better quality knives.

After being educated by the BedBathBeyond manager; it seems the best value is the Henckels Four Star (not Four Star II) eight piece block set for $149. From what I know, these are on the lower end of forged German made Henckels. With the 20% coupon BBB stuffs in my mailbox weekly it'd be a deal. Link to cutleryandmore listing:

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=15222

The other option I considered was getting the next step up, Four Star II. There is a two piece set at basically the same price as the eight piece Four Star mentioned above, which is probably the only two knives I'd need anyway. I'd fill the block out with my current cheap steak knives, but have the option to add on to my set in the future. I just don't see me utilizing a seven piece set at the moment, when I typically just need a large and small knife.

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=11268

Any thing else I need to consider or suggestion you guys have?
 
I recomend the 8 piece. My parents have an older 8 piece Four Star set. You'd be surprised just how often you use the other pieces, especially the scissors for some reason, haha.

I say. . . buy the Four Stars now. And maybe down the line supplement some of the Four Star II's into your set.
 
I'm chary of the 8 piece set. It includes a serrated blade (useless, IMHO), a knife block ($2 and plentiful at yardsales and charity stores), kitchen shears (useful, but you don't need high dollar shears), and it lacks a 10-12" slicer I consider essential. It would make a decent wedding or first home gift, but a person who likes knives and cooking could do a lot better building up a piece at a time.
 
^^^^so would you recommend the two piece set for now and then filling it out down the road? or do you have other options I should be looking at?
 
The two pieces look like excellent useful knives. You may well own knives that will do very well for the other roles. The AG Russell Woodswalker is a super paring knife. The Mora 760 does very well as a general kitchen knife. Sort through what you have with an eye to what you can do with them in the kitchen. Upgrade as you have need and money.

You might even consider buying a cheap set as a fill in. A few years back, I paid about $30 for a Chinese block set to have in a girlfriend's kitchen, and found them surprising good. Handles cracked in a few years, and I need to steel them more frequently than my better knives, but they do the job, and have lasted longer than the girlfriend.
 
I usually recommend going with Japanese made kitchen knives because of the incredible increase in overall performance.
But, since your Q is specific, I'd go with a 7-8" chef's knife and a smaller paring type knife. With the block set, your saddled with it. With the two piece, you can branch out a little and try others when the desire hits. And, if your a real knife person, ohhhh, it will hit, believe me.
When it does, try some lower price Japanese stuff like Tojiro Pro. Kershaw has some really inexpensive Japanese type kitchen knives that look like a steal you may want to try in the future. I tried Tojirio Pro and subsequently retired all my Henckels stuff or gave it away.

Good luck!
 
I would say go with Cutco. Their knives are superior to Henckels and have a forever guarantee, meaning neither you nor anyoneyou give them to will have to pay for maintenance or replacement. Better ergonomics, steel, design and price. Got a set with my name on it 3 years ago and they still look brand new.
 
I've had a set of Henckels Pro S knives for seven years. I've since added a few globals as well. I use them daily and have no complaints. As you hint in your own post, I would suggest you start with the highest quality 7-8" chef's knife you can afford. Supplement with a inexpensive french made paring knife then build up your set over time. I do 90% of my cooking with just a chef's knife.
 
I wouldn't go for Henckels at all.
The current series are almost all being made in China (some expensive ones in Japan) and are constructed of different pieces instead of one piece of steel like for instance the knives of the Wusthoff brand.
You wouldn't believe how many were returned by customers because of breakage.
I've sold kitchen knives for years, and the current Henckels knives are in no way comparable to the ones that were made 20 or more years ago.
 
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kwackster said:
I wouldn't go for Henckels at all.
The current series are almost all being made in China (some expensive ones in Japan) and are constructed of different pieces instead of one piece of steel like for instance the knives of the Wusthoff brand.
You wouldn't believe how many were returned by customers because of breakage.
I've sold kitchen knives for years, and the current Henckels knives are in no way comparable to the ones that were made 20 years or more years ago.
Click to expand...

WOW! That is an incredible shame. Thanks for the head's up, kwackster.
 
jay2pointoh said:
I would say go with Cutco. Their knives are superior to Henckels and have a forever guarantee, meaning neither you nor anyoneyou give them to will have to pay for maintenance or replacement. Better ergonomics, steel, design and price. Got a set with my name on it 3 years ago and they still look brand new.
Click to expand...

Anybody else have experience with Cutco? I have a special dislike for the company because of their pyramid structure that preys on college kids. But I saw an episode of How It's Made once that was about cutlery and featured Cutco knives in production, from forging to cryo quenching. I was kind of impressed.
 
kwackster said:
I wouldn't go for Henckels at all.
The current series are almost all being made in China (some expensive ones in Japan) and are constructed of different pieces instead of one piece of steel like for instance the knives of the Wusthoff brand.
You wouldn't believe how many were returned by customers because of breakage.
I've sold kitchen knives for years, and the current Henckels knives are in no way comparable to the ones that were made 20 or more years ago.
Click to expand...

Both 'series' of knives I was asking about are both made in Germany.
 
Victorinox/Forschner- best value for the money IMO, and less expensive than Henckels. Look up refs on this forum and on outside testing, such as Cooks Illustrated testing of Chef's knives. Also, alot of folks here would suggest that you not buy a set regardless of brand, but rather a few of the ones you will use along with some spare paring knives.

I'm not a kitchen knife expert, but have heard that the issue with many name brand knives is that the steels are soft in order to primarily withstand repeated dishwasher usage (which btw one should NEVER subject a decent kitchen knife to). In any case, I have also heard that Henckels knives are not that good anymore.
 
I mainly use Japanese kitchen knives these days, specifically Tojiro Pro, but, I also own and have been very happy with Forschner/Victorinox knives. Still own several, BTW, and use them on occasion.
Forschner makes a very decent working knife for the money.
 
Many of you have mentioned Forschner/Victorinox as the best value...

Here is what I find:

Forschner by Victorinox - An eight piece set of what I assume are stamped, Fibrox handle, can't find any other info, for $169. Their Forged series are BIG money.

Four Star by Henckels - An eight piece set of forged, hand finished, German steel, German made, riveted POM handle, for $149.
 
Value includes quality (performance) of knife for the money. But by all means if you like the Henckels you should go for that set. I think Amazon has the Forschner set for $138, but these seem close enough in price you should just get the ones you want.
 
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Ok, here's what I say.

You DON'T need an 8 piece set. I get by nearly 100% of the time with just an 8" chef's knife.

While not a professional, I consider myself a proficient cook and I do a large amount of cooking.

If you really want to go nuts throw in a larger paring knife and maybe a flexible boning knife if you do alot of boning. Then a cheap offset handled serrated bread type knife.

These 4 knives will handle anything you need to do in the kitchen aside from crazy stuff that you might intend to do one day, but never will.

BBB carrys Global knives (they might not have them in store, but the chain carries them and can get them for you) IIRC you can use the 20 percent coupons on these.

I would get the g-2 Chef's, the utility/parer and a boning knife if you want one. Also get the mino-sharp sharpener. Then get some sort of stainless serrated slicing knife (quality is not as big an issue here, I spent 20 bucks on a lower tiered one from one of the german makers on closeout, mine is stainless). You can get 20% off each of the knives if you collect a few more coupons and you won't be unhappy.

(the above set up is what I have, I recently got a global vegetable cleaver as a gift and this has largely replaced my G-2, but anyway I'm not basing this of something I read, this is what I actually use) The globals will stay sharper longer than any sort of High Carbon German steel, and are popular among real chefs who use their blades every day.
 
kycolonel... Thanks for your reply. It's not that I'm sold on the Henckels - I'm just trying to get an idea of what makes the value line Victorinox a better performer than a set of forged Henckels?
 
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