Cutlery Reviews

The best available at any price. If you want uncompromising quality, these are the knives to buy.

As a proffesional chef, the only knives I use are Henckels. I've had the same 4 star 8 inch chefs knife for over 6 years. If you multiply those 6 years by about 200 meals a night 5 days a week you get roughly 312,000 meals prepared with that knife. I've got to say it's still going strong and it's still my favorite knife to use. I'm purchasing this set for my sister who is getting married this August, and it will definately be the only set she ever needs to buy.

To the gentleman who wrote about wustof being the superior brand, I have to say I'm sorry. The only way that it will ever be superior to Henckels is if you are a Wustof salesman. Try cooking over 312,000 meals with a Wustof and call me later. The just don't last as long.

The henckels 4 star knife is perfectly balanced and has excellent hand feel. From someone who uses it everyday, trust me. I will never buy another brand of knife again.

In reading two of the reviews below, it appears that these reviewers are biased against Henckels (don't know why?). Well I can tell you that we bought a Four Star, 9 piece set (a bit different from this one being offered) 16 years ago. My wife does quite a bit of cooking and one of my daughters also cooks. They use these knives daily and we can testify to their overall excellent quality and ability to keep a sharp edge. We have never experienced the previous reviewer's complaint of corrosion in fact, the physical appearance of these knives is identical as when we purchased them in 1988. We have compared other knives but so far have not found anything equal in quality and utility to the Four Star.
I am looking to buy another set as a house warming gift for my daughter-in-law and son and have no reservation in the purchase price.
Quality speaks for itself.

This knife is very high quality and is especially good for slicing through ham, etc... I would highly recommend it.

This knife is by far my favorite knife. I have used many other knives (chicago, farberware, cuisine...), but this knife has better balance and stays sharp much longer. Going to get the chef's knife next.

This mid-priced line of Henckel knives, called "Classic" by the company, is a full-tang, single-piece, three-rivet line with sturdy black plastic handles. The handles are notched at the end to prevent the hand from sliding off during use. Although they are not razor sharp right from the package, their edges are sharp enough for the average cook. According to Henckel, all knives in this line are dishwasher safe, but you should expect more rapid dulling under the harsh conditions.

The slicer has a long straight blade that curves up gently two-thirds of the way toward the tip. The tip is extremely sharp, allowing for an exact and easy puncture to begin cutting. This knife is balanced evenly between blade and handle to make straight slicing more comfortable.

This is a useful blade to have in the kitchen, as it is great both for slicing melon and carving meat.

This is the BEST cutting board you can buy. I've been a professional chef for over 18 years and I swear by John Boos' boards.

The same as you see on many of the "Food Network" shows. It is very stable and heavy. Funny that a block of wood was one of the best packed items that I've ordered from Amazon (Cooking.com)! It's not something that you put away until you need it. Plan on leaving it out and using it all of the time!

I absolutely LOVE this cutting board! It makes cutting a lot easier. It is big enough to cut many differnt things and keep them all on the board. The board is very sturdy and heavy, but clean up was not bad at all. I had no problem handling it. It is not for someone with a small sink and not a lot of kitchen space. I also ordered the mystery (mineral) oil to preserve it. I know that this board will be around for a long time.

I have always been a bit skeptical of the Calphalon Contemporary line due to the thickness of the blade on the chef's knives. However, as I've used some of the specialty pieces, I have had to re-evalulate my position somewhat. This knife is such a case.

First, the blade is what I would call "semi-flexible", meaning that on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 being flexible and 4 being stiff, this would be a 3. It is certainly stiffer than the 5 1/2" boning knife from Henckels International Classic. I like this degree of rigidity; it has just a bit of flex to work through chicken joints while still being stiff enough to feel that you have control over the blade. The blade is also well-shaped, being narrow enough to do its job well.

The handle makes this knife shine for me. I have long fingers and this knife has a much roomier handle than comparable competitors. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of a bit of additional weight and the balance being thrown slightly toward the handle. These are not serious complaints, though, for a knife that is not going to be doing the brunt of your kitchen work. I have not found the additional weight to be a problem in trying to navigate the knife into crevices while boning chicken breasts.

The edge is pretty good. It did its task well the first night without a trip to the waterstone for a touch-up. I don't plan to sharpen it for a while. It also hones up well. Overall, I would say that the steel is about right in terms of hardness: it takes a sharp edge and seems to hold it well.

Where I do have to criticize this knife is in the area of consistency. I bought mine at a store where I could compare brands and different instances of this model. It may have been a trick of lighting, but it seemed that some of these knives have slightly different tips. Some were more rounded, while others were a bit pointier (I opted for the latter). It might be good to actually look at the knife before making a decision. These differences were particularly apparent in comparing this with the Calphalon Traditional boning kife, which had an almost blunted tip.

Price is where it shines: about $10 cheaper than the Henckels International Classic, which I would say is its closest competitor and still a great knife. While it's also 1/2" shorter, it's still plenty long enough.

I had some pretty worthless knives in my kitchen so when I decided to replace them, I looked at the big names in cutlery (Wusthof and Henckels). I also looked at this knife by Calphalon. After comparing the specs I figured I'd be remiss if I didn't give this knife a try, especially considering the cost savings. I'm really glad I did because it performs just as well as my Henckels. And isn't performance the bottom line? If you are looking for a good knife, give this line a try. I don't think you will be disappointed and you'll have some cash left over for more kitchen stuff!

Having heard about Santoku knives, I bought the Mac Superior on the basis of a review in a cooking magazine. Its performance has exceeded my expectations. I haven't had a chance to try any other makes. Despite the reservations in some reviews of the smallish blade size of Santoku knives, I've had no problem, possibly because my hands are somewhat smaller than average. I have the impression that the Mac Superior has a very hard edge, and probably requires special procedures and equipment to hone and sharpen it. Indeed, the manufacturer suggests its own product to do this. The same review did not think Santokus with granton blades to be worth the extra cost and maintenance effort.

Santoku knives have very thin blades beveled on only one side. Think of it as cutting with a large razor blade. I use mine to cut vegetables such as carrots, celery, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, etc. You would not use it on tough vegetables such as squash. Santokus are not meant to be general purpose knives.

If you've never used a Santoku knife, here's a sense of the tactile experience as compared to a conventional chef's knife. With a chef's knife as you cut through a vegetable you feel (and often hear) the resistance of the fibers being broken as the knife cleaves through it. The tactile feedback changes as the composition of the piece changes. Because of its thicker blade much of the effort is used in pushing the cut piece aside. The Mac Superior, much to my amazement, slices smoothly and soundlessly through every vegetable I've tried, and, partly because of its thin blade, requires much less effort. They all cut more or less the same. Try this. With a chef's knife held in your right hand, place the blade in the middle of a potato and cut by pressing down the blade with your left hand. You'll find yourself applying varying amounts of pressure, and you'll probably hear a crunching sound. Now cut through an equal thickness of peanut butter. The feeling of cutting most vegetables with a Mac Superior is more like the cutting through the peanut butter (although with more pressure).

A note of caution. It's obvious that in an instant, you can injure yourself badly with a knife like this. The ease of which a Santoku knife cuts was awesome to me, so much so as to be scary. You cannot let your mind wander from the task at hand. Definitely to be kept away from kids.

If the Mac Superior is representative of Santoku knives, the second knife that every serious cook should obtain is a Santoku, in my opinion.

Having done a little research I decided this was the santoku for me, and I am not disappointed.
The knife itself isnt much to look at, but it works fantastically, better than any knife I have ever used. After taking it out of its box and washing it, I tried it on potatoes; now normally i use my regular knife or cleaver and encounter some resistance from the flesh of the potato, but this slid through it as if it wasn't there; having done several potatoes, I had my wife try it - she was amazed, it cuts so much more easily and effortlessly than any other knife, especilally if you use the 'pull towards you' technique that you are supposed to. After telling several friends about the MAC Santoku, i had them try it out, and they too were speechless - its a knife that makes you want to cut things.
If you enjoy cooking, you will love this knife. One word of warning though, it is insanely sharp, so do be careful.

Great product and shipper. Premium Home and Garden was quick and easy to deal with on several purchases.

Had a back order on my second order and did not receive and e-mail, my fault I was using an AOL account and blocked their notification. Fast turn around on even the backordered item. Good shippeer

Just like cook's illustrated said, this Mac knife brand is the best I have used so far (including Wustoff, Henckels, Global, and others). From my research Mac Knives have been in the US since the 1960s but have not been very popular simply because no one knew about them that is until all the recent press they have received. The steel is a Chromium Vanadium based steel with additional carbon and tungsten added to increase hardness and edge holding. The knives are a very no non-sense design that performs perfectly. The blades are precise and thinner than traditional German knives, however if you cook at all you know that a thinner blade passes through food quite a bit easier than a thick blade.

I now have four of these knives and will be adding more very soon. Very, very sharp and holds and edge extremely well.

This is one of my most used knives in the kitchen. It's the best from cutting garlic to slicing up melons. You'll find that the deep blade is a real joy to control, and that you can make short work of major chopping and slicing jobs easily.

The blade keeps its edge for a long time, but eventually you will have to sharpen it. I invested in a good coarse stone, a good 1000 grit water stone, and the $5 clamps you slip over your blade to keep the sharpening angle constant. Good stones are expensive though. I think it's worth it for such a fine knife!

I use this knife more than any other in my kitchen. It holds an edge and it's light and balanced. Money well spent.

This light-weight and stunningly sharp knife is outstanding. As other reviewers of Global knives noted, the exceptionally acute angle of the edge makes them effective at cutting.

The size and balance of this knife are well suited to working with most vegetables, fruit etc. Cuts such as brunoise become much easier to accomplish using this knife.

As a first time user of a Global knife, it took me a few minutes to get used to how light it is. But once I got the feel of it, it became a real favorite.

Take the advice about care and sharpening this knife seriously. You can't just hone it on an average steel. Use the right stone and ceramic steel and you'll avoid ruining the edge.