Cutlery Reviews

I received this knife the other day as a gift and immediately noticed how fantastic it was. It absolutely out-performs any knife that I've seen or with which I've had contact. I had to scramble to find an immediate use for it and found myself cutting up oranges. I was shocked when I noticed that the knife practically fell through the fruit. It was absolutely like a searing knife through butter. In one word: amazing. If you only have one knife, this should be it.

I have a whole set of these blades, so I'm breaking down my review to two parts: Review of the Shun Classic Blades, and the portion as it pertains to this knife in particular.

This knife comes in a scalloped and regular edge. Although the scalloped edge looks kind of cool, I don't know if it really offers any additional advantage. I would have bought this straight version instead, except, I bought my knives as a set and the scalloped version came in my set.

The 6-1/2 inch knife is a utilitarian knife with many uses. It's definitely one of the steady work horse knives that you'll be reaching for all the time. It's a little on the small side, but perfectly in the middle between the real work horse (an 8" blade) and the smaller utility or paring knife.

Shun knives are beautiful creations period. Since I'm Asian, I love the tradition look and feel of this Japanese knife. I love the beauty of the blade and the dark, polished, Pakkawood handle. The unique "D"-shaped, Wood handles are preferable. The shape fits my hand perfectly, and the wood does not get slippery when wet - providing a very secure hold. The steel is of utmost quality and sharpness. Do not put this blade into any old electric knife sharpener! Electric knife sharpeners are made to put one angle on any blade. These blades come with a 16 degree angle and you don't want to be changing that angle. There are electric knife sharpeners that can sharpen these knives, but you'll have to do some research and find out which ones can be a fit with these knives. I prefer to hone with a sharpening steel and manually sharpen with a stone if necessary (and I don't see it being necessary to touch it to a stone any time soon). The blade is sharp straight off the factory and as Alton Brown says - it's the sharpest straight out of the factory edge as he's ever seen.

These knives are more expensive than most, but I think it's definitely worth it. To have the sharpest, most beautiful knife around - it's no contest. If you are on a budget, build your collection slowly. It's been said that there are only 3 knives that are the absolute basics for any kitchen: A 8" Chef's Knife, a Paring Knife, and a Long Serrated blade for cutting bread and larger items. I would add a thin utility knife and a boning knife to that list next. Then I would add those "in-between" sizes as I get more money flow in. =)

If you plan on spending any time in the kitchen, good kitchen knives are a definite must. Preparation is the bulk of cooking and when you have good knives, it cuts down on the danger of cutting yourself, it adds pleasure to the work, and it cuts down on prep time. Knives are also a very personal choice and it's best to at least go to a store and try it out for yourself first. Shun Knives are designed by the Japanese, so remember - it's designed for small hands. This makes it fit most women's hands perfectly, but I've heard of guys with larger hands not like it so much and going back to the German knives. So definitely try it out. It's a personal thing, it needs to fit you.

Why spend so much money on a knife? Well, if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and you almost always have to bust out a knife to prep a meal from scratch - why not use the best? Why spend that time with items that you love and brings you pleasure to use? Many times, it's the small things that brings us the most pleasure in life, and I consider my Shun knives as one of those things. Having something so beautiful and yet so sharp and perfect - it makes my time cooking just that much more enjoyable.

Another good thing to know is that although the Shun Knives are usually offered for right-handers, you can get these knives for left-handers. You just need to find the guys who stock and sell those ones as they are less known, and less common.

I've been reading a lot about Santoku granton edge knives lately and decided to get one. All my knives are from Kershaw Shun line and I'm very happy with them, so I bought this one to add to my collection. First impression on opening the box "WOW this thing is BIG." I didn't think I'd be able to use this knife because I have small hands and the balance felt off. So it sat in its nice presentation box for a while. I finally decided to use it and almost took couple of fingers off. It's an extremely sharp knife and my other Kershaws weren't this sharp. It did take some getting used to, but now I love this knife. I don't use it every day, but if I need to do a lot of slicing and chopping I take it out. It gets the job done much quicker than my other knives and is a pleasure to use. Almost no pressure is required to cut, just let the knife fall and it cuts all the way down to your board. This knife requires all of your attention on it, otherwise you'll seriously hurt yourself. I wash it as soon as I'm done with it and put away immediately. Overall, after initial fears about size, heft and self-mutulation subsided, I'm very happy with it.

Firstly, you don't get a 12"x12" surface to cut on - the grooves in the board reduce the area usable for chopping. However, the board is still a decent size for chopping jobs when you are cooking for two people. And the groove is actually a good idea - I make a lot less mess with this chopping board than I did with the earlier grooveless one. The product description says that it is gentle on knife blades; while this may be true, I'm afraid knife blades are not equally gentle to the surface of the board. I've been using it just over a week and already I can see some scratches.

I love my microplane. I use it to grate citrus peel, chocolate, hard cheeses (note: it yields a very fine grate. If you like a coarser grate, use a traditional grater. The micro plane coarse and extra coarse graters still grate way more finely than a normal grater). Unlike other reviewers, I like the fact that it doesn't have a handle. It gives you more surface area to do your grating and it doesn't feel uncomfortable in the least in my hands. I honestly don't know what they are talking about! I've never came even close to shaving my knuckles. I love the fact that it's dishwasher safe, too. Very convenient. This particular grater is not sharp enough to grate things like ginger and nutmeg, however, so I have a different microplane for that. If it weren't for that, this would be a perfect gadget.

With sharp teeth you will find this tool indispensable for grating hard cheese, chocolate, shallots, garlic, ginger, onion, radishes, horseradish as well as zesting limes, lemons and oranges. I have not noticed any dulling, and I do use it for nutmeg which can dull the blade. You may want to own a separate grater if you grate a lot of whole spices.

If you have used the model 40020 Microplane Zester-Grater with the black plastic handle, this handle-less version can take some getting used to. The 40020 has rounded edges and I found that some foods tend to collect in the underside edges, which is why I recently purchased this model. The edges are squared and do not trap food.

Important Note: the Microplane breaks down hard cheese into very light, feathery shards that weigh less than cheese grated on a box or rotary graters when measured by volume. One ounce of parmesan grated on the fine holes of a box grater yield ½ cup of grated cheese; one ounce grated on a Microplane yields ¾ cup of grated cheese. So when following a recipe use the recommended weight of the hard cheese. If the amount is given by volume, increase it by half using a Microplane.

No problems with lack of a handle. Never come close to grating knuckles. Stores in a protective hard plastic case to prevent damage in the drawer. Much more versatile than originally planned; use it for lemongrass, ginger and cheese for a VERY fine grate. Zesting is so simple and has been mentioned elsewhere produces very fine pith free zest. Could not recomend this product more!

All I can say is this knife is SHARP right out of the box. The Wusthof and Henkels (high end models e.g. Classic and Five Star) knives cut like butter, but I prefer the Wusthof's look and feel. The only problem is I am too scared to used these fancy knives, because I slightly cut myself when I was cleaning them since everyone says not to put them in the dishwasher.

I have the 8 inch cooks knife as well but find myself using the 6 inch more frequently.
It is extremely versatile and very easy to handle. They both stay sharp longer than
my other knives.

This is a terrific knife - chops well, great feel, I like everything about it. My only complaint is that I should have bought the 8" blade instead of the 6" blade. While this knife is more maneuverable than the larger 8" or 10" blades in this series, this blade overlaps in utility with most Santoku blades which are usually only available in sizes up to about 7" or so, and which I also have. Not a knock on the knife, but if you're building a set, I recommend going for the larger blade if you have a decent utility knife in the collection already or something else in the sub-8" range.

As a chef's style knife, this blade has a nice bolster and a thicker tang, giving it a good heft for its size. This helps it work well for slicing and chopping, making it feel more like a larger knife to me on these tasks.

I own an 8-inch Wusthof Classic Chef's knife and a 6-inch Cook's knife, but I reach for this smaller, lightweight, serrated knife for many tasks. It's easier to wash, and I do wash it by hand and never put it in the dishwasher. It's terrific for cutting citrus fruit. The label does call it a sausage knife, so the reviewer who mentioned that is correct. I haven't tried it yet on sausage, but I'm sure it will work great for sausage, tomatoes, and narrow bread loaves. I even use it to dice onions. I have no regrets about adding this knife to my collection.

This is one of my kitchen workhorses. Gets almost as much use as my chef's knife and paring knife. I use this for tomatoes, sandwiches, rolls, bagels, slicing oranges, etc. Performs perfectly. It's very sharp and well made. You really only need 3 to 5 knives, even for the most well-equiped kitchen, and in my kitchen this is one of my 5.

I have only a few knives in my single-person kitchen, and this knife is by far the most useful of the lot. It's wicked sharp and the serrated edge is especially good for tomatoes and sausage. It's good for slicing bread, rolls, and bagels. But it also does fine with cheese and vegetables and I even find it useful for chopping chocolate when baking (the serrated edge keeps the chocolate from flying everywhere).

I love these knives, and you can get the set of 3 for less than the chef's knife by Wusthof or Henkels, but they are super high quality.

They stay super sharp, easy to resharpen, and the molded handle is *way* more comfortable and non-slip than the normal chef-knife handles.

This knife is a superstar! I cannot express how much more enjoyable food preperation has become since I purchased it. After two years of almost daily use, it looks and performs like it just came out of the box. Of course, I only hand wash and dry it, and I never allow food or anything else to dry on this gem! Though seemingly expensive, it is well worth every penny!

About 5 years ago I got into cooking stir fry a little bit and found that cutting carrots, onions and many other vegitables was quite a chore with the cheap selection of knives that my kitchen was stocked with. I had to get sometimes near paper thin slices of various ingredients and there was no way even the best knife sold by Target could stack up to the task. I went to a real cookware store and purchased this knife and the 14" sword like knife for starters.

The first slice through an onion I knew where the extra money goes, some of it is for the name, but the rest is all quality. These knives will amaze you with how well they feel with their perfect balance and with a little work, you can get the blade sharp enough to shave with. When I held the 14" knife balanced on a tomato and just pulled, the weight of the knife sliced through it with a clean stroke. The 10" chefs knife I picked up as my 3rd addition and find it excellent for slicing, for dicing I prefer the heavier knife though.

Cut all the coke cans you want with your Ginsu, but leave the real jobs to a real knife.

This 10" chef's knife would impress Crocodile Dundee. It features fine balance and a comfortable handle (like all 4-Star knives) and an incredibly sharp edge. Just be sure to wash and dry by hand.

I used to sell cutlery and own a range of knives myself, so I have tried many cutlery products from many different brands. In 2003, I bought these Calphalon Contemporary shears since I did not own a pair of shears. Before I purchased these, I tried a pair of Henckels Twinshear kitchen shears, and felt that they were not as strong and sharp as I would have liked. I was a little worried about the quality of these shears since they were made in China rather than in Germany or Japan, even though newer brands such as Calphalon and Furi are now making far better cutlery than has ever before been made in China. After over a year of using these, I am quite impressed with them. The handles are very comfortable, and the blades are stronger and sharper than the aforementioned Henckels shears. Most impressively, the blades show very little wear, despite the fact I have certainly used them quite often. Also, the handles on these are far better compared to those on the Calphalon Traditional and Stainless shears. In conclusion, I would definitely recommend these to anyone looking for a top-quality, reasonably priced set of kitchen shears.