Chicago Cutlery Insignia Steel High-Carbon Stainless Steel Knife Block Set with Cutting Board (19-Piece)

Naturally they are very sharp, and the built-in sharpener seems to work fairly well. One of the blades did have a little sand sized piece of metal on it but I pulled it through the sharpener and it came right off. Some people have complained that the steak knife holes are misaligned, and I did find this to be somewhat the case. They are slightly lower on the left than on the right which makes the knives sit not quite in a straight row. I would say the far right steak knife is a few millimeters higher than the far left. Given the relatively modest cost of the set I really have no problem with this. The cutting board which came with the set was a nice surprise, good quality, with a very smooth finish.

Some people have complained about the scissors coming apart. I have not had this issue. They come apart for cleaning but I’ve never had them come apart accidentally or not when intended.

My rating is based on the knives above because ultimately that’s why I bought the product but there are some downsides to the total purchase

Inserts on the block where the knives are stored are way to big for the knives. They do not fit snug. There were some imperfections in the block. They were not pet of the wood. You can tell they were done with epoxy during manufacturing. There were slight scratches on the knife handles. Also the scissors fell apart. I can fix this so I’m not so concerned about it. But it’s one more thing on the list.

All in all I bought the product for the knives and the price. I got what I wanted, very good knives for under $200+. If you want the glamorous knife block and scissors that work you may want to keep searching.