Calphalon 1808008 Contemporary Cutlery 17 Piece Cutlery Knives Set

These are some of the most comfortable knives in the market. Clever ergonomic handle design and well balanced. The lables on the back are genius, prevent extra wear on the edges and speed up your food prep times by letting you find the right tool; makes you wonder why others don't do the same. The steel type is not indicated, only that is of "German" origin. Is good enough to get a workable edge; no it does not last as long or is a sharp as a high end knife, but it is better than most other budget knifes and it gives you a taste of a "real" knife. The design problem is at the "neck" of the handle. While the tang runs full length, it is not "full width". The steel narrows down quite a bit in the bolster, the area between the handle and the heel. Combine that with a less than perfect stainless steel, and closed handle that collects moisture, and you have a knife with a shorter life. My worse ofender is my favorite, the 7" Santoku. It's already cracking at the center of the handle, the syntheric being pushed outside it's grooves. The 5" Santoku andt the 8" Chef's will be next, I can already feel the separation and lift at the handle. It is a real shame, if these knifes were durable they would be an almost ideal knife for a home Chef on a budget.

I recieved these as a wedding present in April, I was so excited to have a "nice" set, just about every single one of my knives are rusted, they do not sit in water or go on the dishwasher , hand wash everything , I thought it was just this set so I returned it and bought another set....and this set rust even worst than the first one!

These were a Christmas present and we made sure to be extremely careful with the handling of them. We hand wash them and never let them sit in the sink or in water. However, 10 of the knives already have several rust spots on them! The low quality knife set we had prior never rusted but this "high quality" knife set didn't even last 3 months!

I haven't had the opportunity to use every single knife in this set yet but WOW! The bread knife is amazing, the Santoku knife is great for slicing, the steak knives are excellent, and the utility knife and paring knife are great!! Okay, okay, so maybe I have used every knife. This block looks beautiful on our kitchen counter as well!

We bought this to replace a set that was over 20 years old and love the knifes.  There are only one thing I wish was different about the set; the scissors stick out a bit too far and make it a little difficult to replace the steak knifes.  Have been enjoying the set ever since we purchased it.