Customer Reviews

J.A. Henckels Twin Gourmet 18-Piece Block Set with Instructional Knife Skills Video

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have owned the 18-Piece Henckels Gourmet Knife Set for about 1 year now. I purchased these with some wedding gift certificates that we got when I got married last year. This was an upgrade from a decent Faberware set that I had been using for the 4 years prior. Anyway, this set comes with 18 pieces:

8-inch chef's knife
8-inch carving knife
8-inch bread knife
6-inch chef's knife
6-inch boning/utility knife
5-inch serrated utility knife
3-inch paring knife
eight (8) 4 1/4-inch steak knives
9-inch sharpening steel
8-inch kitchen shears
hardwood storage block

Let me clear up the confusion for the people that don't know...there are actually two Henckels brands. "Henckels International" is the more economical brand, not to be confused with the "Zwilling JA Henckels" brand which is the premium brand. Same manufacturer, different grades of metal, location of construction and quality. You can tell the difference by the look of the logo...the cheaper "International" brand has the one tribal man on the logo, whereas the "Zwilling" brand has twin tribal men on the logo.

The "Gourmet" line is the least expensive of the higher premium sets from the Zwilling JA Henckels brand. It is not forged steel. The blade is stamped. However, the quality is much better than the Henckels International brand of stamped knives. The blade stays sharp for longer periods of use. However, it is probably comparable to the top of the line Henckels International Classic FORGED set. That being said, the price point is about the same for the same number of knives, so it makes sense. The highest end Henckels forged set is the "Professional S" or "Pro S" which costs $200 more than the "Gourmet" for an 18-piece set. Keep in mind that the 8 steak knives from the Pro S line are the same ones that come with the Gourmet line, so you know they are a great quality set.

As a relatively affordable premium set of knives, I have used these knives almost every day since their arrival. I've had to sharpen on occassion, but that's normal. All non-serated knives, you will need to sharpen and hone fairly frequently. (Or at least more frequently than a lot more expensive forged sets.) I do it once every few months with the knives that I use frequently and about once a year for the ones that only get used on occasion. But I also do a lot of cutting with them, so the frequency will depend on how often you use them for cutting tough foods. I cook a lot of meats, including cutting up my own chicken, so that dulls the knives rather quickly. If all you cut are veggies, then your knives won't dull as quickly. That being said, my knives still look and feel as if they are brand new. They are great!!!

They are dishwasher safe, but I don't recommend it because the dishwasher will dull all knives. However, occasionally I toss them in the dishwasher if I have a million things to wash after a dinner party and haven't had any problems.

P.S. I wanted a Santoku knife to add to this collection because I cut a lot of fish for sashimi and sushi. After a lot of examination, I decided to NOT get the Gourmet santoku because it did not have a hollow edge and I wanted a forged knife. I ended up splurging and purchased a Wusthof Classic Hollow Edge Santoku to complete this set. Yes, I know I'm supposed to buy the same Henckels brand for loyalty reasons, but as far as Santoku knives were concerned, I liked the feel and style of the Wustof better. It was a debate between the Henckels Pro S Hollow Edge or the Wusthof Classic Hollow Edge because they were in the same price range and the Wusthof knife won by a hair.

This is hands down the best set of knives I have ever owned. This is my second set of Henckel Knives, the first having walked out of my house one afternoon.

Nearly any new knife will seem very sharp. The real question is how long will they keep an edge? These knives retain their sharpness quite well. The carbon steel used is quite good and utterly smooth. The body of the blade is the appropriate thickness for the task. That is some are thinner and more flexible, like the boning knife while others are thicker and more solid, like the chef's knife.

Of course you will need to sharpen knives periodically. I recommend sending them to a professional knife sharpener or, if you are so inclined and skilled, use a specially designed kitchen knife sharpening jig. Remember, dull knives are more dangerous than sharp ones because you use more force and thus are more likely to slip. A chef's knife is sharp enough when it can cut well into meat by simply drawing it across using only the weight of the knife (it should not catch). The "cutting a sheet of paper" trick is just that, a trick and not a good indicator of sharpness.

While the set does include a sharpening bar, I find these require some skill and practice in order to get a both good edge and keep your own blood inside your body.

All knives, including the steak knives have a wonderful balance and handle shape. I have had no trouble with my hand slipping onto the blade. I have medium sized hands and fit well. I also find the handle design to be handsome.

The variety of knives in this set is good, something for nearly every task. I particularly like the large chef's knife and extra small paring knife.

The steak knives are nice in that the upper half and tip have small serrations while the lower half is a smooth blade.

I like the fact that you get both long and short serrated bread knives.

The video that came with my set was well done and quite helpful.

Like any knife set, for long life you should not put these in the dishwasher. It is not that the knives cannot somehow tolerate being immersed in hot water, no. Rather it is simply impossible to prevent something else from hitting blades. That would result in premature wear and harm the actual razor-thin cutting edge. But then this caution applies to all knives so this is not really a limitation of this set.

Though you may be tempted, you should not try to chop firewood with these knives as this will lead to premature wear.

I was lucky enough to get these on sale for 199 and then get 25 dollars off because of an amazon special being run at the time. I actually was just educated by the second review I read here. That review is definitely from a knowledgable knife person, I just knew that I needed real knives and I knew Henkels were the ones to get, I had no idea about the rest, but the knives normally go for over 500 here and after getting them I can see why. I haven't played with all of them yet, and although it's a small feature, I like that Henkels left some empty spaces in the block if you wanted to order a knife separately and I also love that they sit sideways instead of up and down. I no longer have to tell my friends when they help me with dishes to put the knives in with the blades up so they wont dull. Great great buy and wonderful knives!

First thing to keep in mind is that this is the 2nd LOWEST quality knife set in the J.A. Henckels catalog - which is the made in Germany line. There are lower cost sets in the International line, which are all made in Asia (various places). I assume that some of those sets are also lower quality, so things can get worse.

If you want a really good quality Henckels knife set, be prepared to shell out $600-1000 or more. With this set, you're paying as much for the name as the quality. They've made sacrifices with this set to lower the price, in the amount of steel used.

The weight of these knives is half what you'd see in a higher quality set. In fact, I have another set that we paid 1/4 the price of this set, which has twice the weight. Less weight in the blade means more pressure you have to put on it when slicing, which makes them more dangerous to use. You need to make sure to keep these guys RAZOR sharp all the time, which actually makes them safer to use. This is true with any knife set, but doubly so with lighter blades. Good thing I ordered a new knife sharpener along with the set.

The construction of the knives is what you'd expect from J.A. Henckels - very good. The lines are clean, and the handles are super tight and nicely trimmed. Block is well constructed and looks like it will take a beating, which I expect to give it.

Haven't had this set long enough to determine how good the quality of steel is, but if I find it to be inferior I'll update this review.

Overall, I am only moderately impressed, considering these knives are from the J.A. Henckels German product line. If I could go back and do it again, I'd probably select the high end set from the International line instead.

12/2009 update; Well, we've had these knives for about 8 months. After continuous daily use (sometimes more than once daily), and being run through the dishwasher at least a hundred times, these knives have stood up well. There is no sign of corrosion in the steel, and no wear at all on the handles. Even though we always wash them in the dishwasher, they really hold their edge well. I've only had to touch up a couple of the knives with the sharpener, which is far less than I expected after this long. In fact, these Henckels knives need touching up far less often than the less expensive knives mentioned above, under the same frequency of use. So, I'm really impressed with the quality of the steel.

One other con though: High quality knives almost always have a thicker plate at the base of the blade, right next to the handle. This plate usually has a flat end that is perpendicular to the handle. Its purpose is to protect the user's hand from being cut on the butt end of the blade, if the knife slips while you're cutting something. Our cheaper knives have them, but these Twin Gourmet knives don't. It's a pretty big miss in the design, because it really is a standard of a good knife, and all the other Henckels knife sets have them, except the cheapest ones. My wife has scraped her fingers a couple of times this way.

Bottom line: This is a good quality knife set that has a couple of design flaws. For a few bucks more, Henckels could've made a really good product. But, of course, then we wouldn't have any incentive to drop $1000 on their higher end models. So, now I have a knife set that I'm not 100% happy with, but will probably last me a lifetime. Hmmm, is the glass half full or half empty?

I love these knives. The block leaves a lot to be desired. The slots are cut all the way through the bottom of the block. Not a problem, except with the first row of steak knives - they poke out of the bottom of the block scratching your counter top surface. This set is a great deal, but be prepared to find alternative storage methods if you like your counter top.

I too have seached the web for great prices on Henckels knives and finally found the set I was looking for. Henckels Gourmet, while stamped and not forged, still offer wonderful mid- to high-level performance at an amazing price. Using these knives make my cooking experience all the more enjoyable.

I was able to pick up this set for $189 due to a lucky Goldbox find while it was on a Friday Sale. Never would I imagine a deal like this on such a quality set of knives. Thanks Amazon.com!

You never know just how much a good set of knives will make cooking easier until you try them. These knives were shipped very sharp and have been great ever since.

I was looking for nice quality knife set to replace a cheap Farberware set I've had for a few years. I've read about the quality of the Henckel's knives but knew that if I wanted a decent set, I'd have to spend some money. I checked the reviews on a lot of different sets and found that this set was the most highly rated and wouldn't break the bank like the Pro-S block set. I was able to pick up two $50 Amazon gift cards and bring the price down to $199. I have to say, I'm very impressed with the quality of the knives and how sharp they were right out of the box. The instructional video was a bonus. However, the block that is supplied with this quality set is unbelievably cheap. Why they would allow the lower row of the steak knives to protrude over a half inch below the block is beyond me. They will scratch and gouge any countertop within a very short time. I did not want to go out and spend another $40+ on another block, so I simply went to my local hardware store and purchased the nail on rubber feet you use for furniture and placed them on the front of the block set. It looks great and now the front row of steak knives don't drag. I would have given this set a 5 star rating if it wasn't for this poor design and flaw.

I absolutely love these knifes. They are steady, balanced and the blade can cut anything you desire. I ussually test knifes by cutting ripe tomatos, it slice's them without making a puree, then I can guarantee they are great! I truly love them. However, I do not like the wooden block, it has holes on the bottom and some knifes go through marking your granite or any counter top.

These are hands down the best knives I have ever used. They are balanced perfectly and feel great in your hand. Apparently, the utensils I had before that I called "knives", were actually just dull pieces of metal that crushed food apart. The knives will cut through anything with ease. The kitchen shears are very handy for cutting open packages or cutting chicken into pieces. The video is very informative about proper cutting techniques and safety. The set is well worth the price.