Henckels International Knife Set

After much thinking, I picked up a J.A. Henckels International 10-piece Forged Knife Set at Costco. Again, with Costco, the online price is not necessarily cheaper. I purchased the knife set in store for $139.99 after an instant $30.00 rebate. Costco took $30.00 off the price at the register. No mail-in rebate forms or other hassles.

So far, I haven’t experienced the rust problem that others have complained about. Out of the box, the knives were extremely sharp. In fact, I got nicked on the finger by the 8″ chef’s knife while trying to slice through ham, which wasn’t an all-too-pleasant experience. Sharp! After another close call, I finally put away the chef’s knife. Something about it just didn’t agree with the way I was working in the kitchen.

Since then, I’ve turned to the 7″ hollow edge santoku knife, which just feels better in my hand. No more close calls.

So, what prompted the purchase? Well, Thanksgiving is around the corner again and memories of last year’s attempt to carve a turkey with a dull chef’s knife still haunt me. A few months ago, I purchased a sharpening steel, which restored some zing to the chef’s knife I was using. However, lately, I’ve noticed that the chef’s knife was getting a lot duller a lot faster. So, I was looking for a paring knife, which my existing set did not include. I was also missing a bread knife, though that was not such a big deal since I only occasionally buy unsliced bread. I was looking for a better chef’s knife and a carving knife for Thanksgiving. With so many needs, paying $139.99 for a second set didn’t seem too crazy, especially since my back-up choice, the Shun Classic 3-Piece Boxed Flat Set, was running for $249.95 on Amazon.

After a week of use, here’s the quick round-up. So far, the 3″ vegetable knife, 4″ paring/utility knife and the 5″ utility/serrated knife seem a bit much. Not sure I really need 3 small knives. The 7″ hollow edge santoku knife is golden. That’s my favorite knife out of the bunch so far. I’ll see how the 8″ carving knife performs tomorrow during Thanksgiving dinner. The 8″ chef’s knife has already made a few attempts at my fingers. Since I’m so comfortable using the santoku, I don’t know if the chef’s knife will ever come out of the block again. I haven’t used the 8″ bread knife yet. I already have a sharpening steel and kitchen shears, so those items are duplicative. Also, while the block offers extra slots, it is missing a wide slot for a cleaver, just in case I ever get the Shun 7-3/4-Inch Stainless Steel Chinese Chef’s Knife, which incidentally costs more than the Henckels set.