Cutlery Reviews

The knives are sturdy and aren't too heavy for someone with small hands. They are a great buy for the beginning cook.

I own this set with the walnut handles. I love it. It so much easier to cook when you have the proper tools. I have been using these for about 9 months and so far nothing has needed to be sharpened. The only downside is that the walnut handles don't do so great in the dishwasher or the sink. Don't soak them in water.

I bought these as a Christmas present for my parents and have never heard the end of it since! How sharp they are! How complete the set is! How nice and simple the style is... etc., etc.

these are the best steake knives i have ever bought.

I bought this set about 3 years ago from the Farberware Outlet store Long Island NY. I remodeled my kitchen with oak cabinets and sand stone finish counter so the wood went better than the black series. I found by accident while washing a knife that they are very sharp. It slipped out of my hand and really just bounced on my other hand but that was enough to slice it. For being a straight handle the are quite nice to hold and work with. You can't put them in the dishwasher cause of the wood handles and I was told no knife should go into the dishwasher or sit in water cause they will get surface rust form the carbon used to strengthen the stainless steal. Dishwasher safe knives rally only apples to the handles.

The millennium series is a set of great quality knives! They are heaver than the professional series, but otherwise similar. The set does not come with a carving knife or cleaver, but is a good deal for the money. Although they are dishwasher safe, I would hand wash.

The blades on these knifes are effective, and it's nice that they can go in the dishwasher. The shears are great. However, the knifes are heavy and the handles don't feel good in your hand. If you're going to do daily cutting, go for more expensive knifes.

We bought this set about a month ago and we have been really happy with it since the day we got it. I was looking for a nice set and was willing to spend the extra money on nice knives, but when I came upon the reviews of this set and how everyone loved them, I decided to give them a try. The handles are nice and easy to grip. They are somewhat heavy, but I like that to guide me in cutting. You won't be disappointed with this set.

I bought this set based on CR's review fo them as a "Best buy." For comparison I also bought one of the Wusthof Grand Prix knives, which were rated the best overall. I would say that the Wusthof is a slightly better knife, but I fully agree with CR that the price difference is not worth paying. The Farberware set is very good and cuts really well. It stays sharp and does everything you might ask a knife set to do. After pondering the issue a while, I have decided I would be foolish to spend the extra money for the higher end knives. This set is really a great deal -- you get a very good set of knives at a very reasonable price.

I spent a couple weeks researching knives before taking the plunge on this set. Overall, I love these knives but please read on for full details before purchasing...

Pro's
Every Possible Knife You Could Ever Need
Great Weight/Feel
Quality Construction on Most
Great Edge (but not out of the box)
Serrated Bread Knife is Fabulous

Con's
*Too Dull Out of the Box*
Wood Block only Fair
No User Instructions of Any Kind
Steak Knives & Shears Not as Nice as the Rest

Review
I probably would not have given this set so much consideration had it not been for Consumer Reports giving it a great review. They actually tested the smaller set but I believe the are the same pro-forged knives. They ranked them just below some of the much more expensive high end name brands. It was a little hard for me to justify spending 40-50% more on this bigger set than the smaller sets just to get a few more knives but now that I did it I'm glad I did. I'll probably keep them close to forever so why cheap out on it. The meat fork will be a classy touch when carving a roast or turkey and I really like the birds beak knife in this set as well. The set is big and has quite a presence to it so if you have a tiny kitchen this could look like overkill sitting on your counter (go for the smaller set).

I was unimpressed with the packaging they came in. It could have all been packed better. The wood block had some minor scuffs/scratches on it because everything else in there could rub up against it. If I bought them in a retail store it would have been brought back and exchanged for a perfect block but it's not horrible by any means and I don't feel like dealing with a mail order exchange. Now that I have it I've never notice the marks on it again.

There were zero directions in the box. Not that you need directions for knives but there wasn't even a warranty form or anything so I'm thinking maybe it was left out. There were no directions at all to tell you which knife goes in which hole in the block so you kind of have to guess on the smaller ones. The UPS label was stuck over the picture on the box so I couldn't even use the picture as a guide. Not a big deal though. The only sharpening directions I got on how to use the sharpening steel were printed on the box. It's not rocket science but there's no way to fully understand the motion with just one picture. There are plenty of places to find it online though if you look (not Farberware's site though which is pathetic).

Ok, now to my biggest complaint. The knives are dull by any 'qualty knife' standard out of the box. Our first set of knives when we got married were the... Farberware cheapo serrated ones you can't sharpen anyway so I had to kind of figure out for myself how to deal with this to avoid returning them. Out of the box I could run my finger down the length of them with no fear of cutting myself (not sharp!). So I thought to myself 'break out the sharpening steel'! Well don't bother with that yet because the angle on the factory edge is way too blunt to be sharpened with just the steel. I tried, A LOT!

But don't panic because a little elbow grease will pay big and get these knives on par with many of those costing much much more. The edge needs to be redone. You should be able to do it with any sharpener. I was all set to buy the Chefs Choice thirty dollar manual sharpener which would have been fine when I remembered I had a cheap sharpener (under ten bucks) I had bought to sharpen archery broadheads which also works on knives . I decided to try one of the Farberwares with it and it took at least 50 passes but the edge was redone (you'll lose some of the metal but it should have been done at the factory anyhow) and Pay Dirt... SHARP!!!! After this was done I could then finish them up with the steel as needed and will continue to do so from time to time. I did them all and they can all cut paper no problem. **No need to sharpen the two serrated knives in the set, they are super sharp and just all around awesome right out of the box. Cutting bread is now a true pleasure, just be sure to put it on a board to protect your counter!**

Another small complaint is with the quality of the steak knives and the scissors included. The steak knives aren't as nice a blade as the others in the set. They are still better than my last set but just ok. Half the blade is normal and the other half is serrated. Probably good for cutting meat but won't be the easiest combination to keep sharp. We'll see. The scissors are the exact same scissors as the ones in my...set. Granted they are great scissors in function but the plastic looks cheap and doesn't really fit the character of the rest of the set. These two gripes probably help keep the price where it is so sometimes you have to accept a couple compromises to get a good deal.

We just had our first major party since getting them and we gots LOTS of compliments on them. People couldn't believe how sharp they were and how nice they felt. My sister actually scratched our counter with them because she, like most of us out there, are just used to using dull knives. Well not me anymore, I've seen the light and will never go back. I love these things.

Although I've listed some complaints, it wouldn't stop me from buying them again. The smaller set that comes with only 6 steaks and several less of the other knives would be a great set for anyone wanting to spend about half of this set. If you don't have any interest in sharpening these out of the box to get them to their potential, then I would look at a different set.

Hey they're not Henkels, Wusthoff, or Global, but they're very good for the price. Consumer Reports rates the Farberware Pro Forged a best buy. If you're looking for cheap knives but don't want ...., this is a good choice.

My husband and I bought this cutlery block in the month of Jan-2004 and to our shock the knives which were available in the grocery store are much better than this, I feel a brand like farberware should have done much better job than this, also I am using just the bread knife for cutting everything also the scissors is good.You can trash all of the knives and may me hang on to the wodden block to decorate other knives with the block.
I spent so much on the Cutlery Block Set that I am using only bread knife . please don't buy this.

I collect kitchen knives. I give away extras as presents and keep my favorites. I bought this set because it was the cheapest list price forged set available and I was curious about the quality.

The balance is very good for the price. Better than Calphylon knives, but not close to the feel of a top of the line French/German/Japanese knives. This is particularly noticeable in the paring knife and utility knife. These knives are NOT heavy for forged knives. They are heavy compared to the stamped knives common in most kitchens, but are of average weight for forged knives.

The knives all have a number of detailing errors where the handles mold to the knife and bolster and a few minor errors in the stainless. And, they don't hold an edge quite as long as top of the line European/Japanese knives (or Calpylon)

The bread knife is just great and is the best knife in the set. It's as good a bread knife as you'd get in a top of the line German set. It's worth the price of the set. The 8" slicer is very good too. The 8" Chef is good but the width is more typical of an 8" stamped Cook's knife.

The scissors are very good. Better than the scissors you'd get with MUCH more expensive sets. I replaced a pair of Henkels scissors in one of my blocks with these scissors. And you can take them apart to sharpen.

The block is cheap (and that makes sense since this whole set is cheaper than a single good knife typically costs) and the steel is substandard but better than the steel you'd get with a cheap stamped set. The steel handle looks exactly like the Henkels "traditional/non diamond" steel with the same attractive chrome detailing but the steel portion is far lower quality than a German steel. IOW, it looks better than it sharpens but is still a pretty good steel.

In the end I liked these knives but I still gave most of them away (and the block and steel) to relatives who cook and needed decent knives. I kept the bread knife and the scissors.

If you have to pay list, this is a very good choice for value. However, I recommend looking at the Amazon "Friday Sale" and using Internet Shopping engines to find better European forged sets at deep discounts (they are out there if you are patient and have the time look). You'll probably have to spend between 1OO and 15O dollrs but the knives will be much nicer. If you dont' want to spend that cash this is among the best low cost options and far better than pressed knives including the pressed knives sold by Wustof, Sabatier and Henkels but made cheaply in China which sell in the same price range as this set.

If you have unlimited cash, buy the Wustof Classic Mega Set for 1.5K or so and be done with it! Dick, Henkels Global and Sabatier make excellent forged knives too.

These knives were rated by Consumer Reports as being a best buy. I used their recommendation when I made my decision to purchase them. The knives arrived and I am quite pleased with them. They are very study, have a fairly good grip, possibly a little heavy for me, but my husband thinks they are just fine. The blades seem to hold their edge well, and are quite an improvement to our old knives. This is the first time I actually own a matching set of knives and they look quite tidy, safely stored in the block. I would recommend these knives as they are priced reasonably and seem to do their job well.

I bought my wife a set of these last year for Christmas.... They won't cut carrots, potatoes, or anything fibrous. I have spent almost a year and at least [money] to try to sharpen them, and after buying the ... chef's choice 3 stage sharpener (excellent machine, by the way)they are now marginal. The problem is the thickness of the blade at the cutting edge. It does not taper to a fine point, but has a huge bevel which will not allow the knives to cut through firm foods. After I buy a good set of somehthing else, I am going to take these to my bench grinder and do some serious reshaping. I think I have become obsessed with these stupid knives!

It seems as though crafting a good knife at a fair price is a lost art. While these knives are forged as advertised (with the exception of the steak knives), I doubt that they are truly made of stainless steel. On the box it indicates that the knives are dishwasher safe, but after the first wash they have rusted. I am sorely disappointed, as I had expected more from Farberware.

There are better certainly knives available but, for the price, this set is more than adequate. The knives were not very sharp out of the box but that was cured by a few minutes with a stone. The blades seem to hold their edges well and that is an important consideration for me.

The sharpening steel is more coarse than I prefer but my old steel fits the knife block so it's not a problem.

These knives will rust if they are not dried after washing.

If you can afford to spend more, you'll probably be happier with a better set than this.