Henckels Kitchen Cutlery

Forging does nothing intrinsically to add value to a kitchen knife. The practical difference is greater weight, but usually at the cost of increased blade thickness (bad) and bolsters that get in the way of optimum sharpening. Whatever you do avoid Cutco. They are only mediocre knives and are stunningly overpriced. The advantage to Victorinox knives is that they are real 'users' at very reasonable prices. They have solid blades and handles and are well designed for their function. The handles are more hand-filling in size which may be better for a man's use than for some women. The blades are similar to 440A in composition and performance. They are reasonably tough and hold an edge reasonably long, but like common 440-series alloys they don't take the world's finest edge.

I like the design and the alloys used in the MAC Knives from Japan. You could do really well with a simple two knife starter set like this:
http://www.chefknivestogo.com/macbesestset.html

For heavy work you might want to supplement with a utility cleaver. This can be used for light dicing or serious chopping of bones or frozen food. I use a Joyce Chen All-In-One for that purpose:
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=160397
 
Now I'm eyeballing the Shun Classic 7" Santoku and a 3-1/2" or 4" paring knife.... You guys have turned me away from the block sets. I think the Santoku would be better for most tasks versus a chef knife, but I could be wrong.

My selection is limited to BBB, since I'll have about a $150 in gift cards to that place. I could spend elsewhere, but no reason.
 
i have a henckels 4 star set that i've used for over 15 years and its been more than fine in usage...i have since added a few key Global pieces only because i desired something more exclusive in my arsenal when i was in the biz doing some professional cooking...

on the one hand the advice of getting the best line that you can afford holds true; quality cutlery is something most will buy and use for 10+ years or more...on the other hand, you found a henckles deal that is a really great value...i say take that deal...buying a shun pro set (or similar hi end) won't get your meat cut any faster, only your pocket lighter; and for what?...

price/value vs. performance...upgrade your cutlery and save the cash; do the henckles deal and keep on cooking...
 
I agree with the others who threw their hats in for Victorinox/Forschner. VERY high performance for how little money you put into them. I have only two kitchen knives--a chef's and a paring--and they're both Victorinox.
 
Big_Red said:
Now I'm eyeballing the Shun Classic 7" Santoku and a 3-1/2" or 4" paring knife.... You guys have turned me away from the block sets. I think the Santoku would be better for most tasks versus a chef knife, but I could be wrong.

My selection is limited to BBB, since I'll have about a $150 in gift cards to that place. I could spend elsewhere, but no reason.
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You will be absolutely ecstatic over the Shuns. Kitchen knife of the year last year and nominated again this year. I sharpened about 10 kitchen knives for a guy recently. Among them were several Henckels, a few Wusthoffs and 2 Shuns. When he picked them up he said that he shouldn't have even bothered to get any of them sharpened besides the Shuns because that is all he ever uses!
 
If your putting out big bucks on metal in the kitchen Messermeister San Moritz is the best german steel imho, I used a 10" through Culinary school and still have both and use them every day...For Japanese I really love Tojiro Gyuto's and for a Bed Bath and Whatever type knife the Calphon Katana's are very nice.

Good luck!

Bang for the buck is mos def Forschner the 12" is a great chef knife as is the 12" scimitar.
 
If you can get the Shun Santoku and Paring knife at BBB with your gift cards jump on it! That is a great combination and a great brand.
 
^^^^Jeff, that may be the ticket... I'll have to go in and check them out. Although I just noticed from an online review that the 'D' shaped handles are pretty much made for right handed folks. I am a weirdo lefty.
 
Try it out first. It's really hard to know how the shape will fit your hands w/o trying them in person. I'm giving my wife a set of 3 Shun KO knives for Christmas. With her small hands, it should be a perfect match. :)
 
If you have the bills for the Shun stuff definitely go for it. Some of the best, for sure.
 
you are definetly on the right track now with the shun knives youve mentioned and yes imho the 7in santuko is a more versatile knife then the chef...again thats my opinion. i have the shun classic santuko 7inch as well as the henckels Miyabi 5000S santuko in 5inch and 7inch and i must say i couldnt easily choose between the 2 brands if i had too. the henckels santuko is a quite a bit higher end then the other henckels you were looking @ as in the 1 santuko is about the same price as the 8 piece block set but then again its worth every penny of it. ive been more impressed with edge holding and ease of getting the fine edge with the henckels but the shun was no slouch either by any means. if the d shaped handles a problem with either the shun also has the ken onion shun santuko with a more ergonomic looking handle. hope this helps....
 
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