Chicago Cutlery Insignia2 18-Piece Knife Block Set with In-Block Knife Sharpener

I’ll start by saying that I am a knife guy. I love blades, any and all blades (except the ridiculous fantasy stuff). I collect knives. I have several hand made knives, dozens of quality pocket knives etc, so I’d like to think I know a thing or two on knives…

So, the wife and I have always had a crap Farbeware set we received as a gift 16 years ago on our wedding day. The blades were all serrated, cheap plastic handles, 3/4 tang, all in all, useless. Lately all the steak knives have been breaking off so we decided it’s time to get a NICE matching set instead of the hodge-podge of Rada,Kershaw, Henkles, tramontina,Calaphon we have now.
As with anything, buying as a set is risky, as you often get more than you want and never what you need. I hit Amazon,Ebay, and google and commenced a week long search. I read review after review on make after make, on blade after blade.
Of course Wusthoff and J.A. Henkles are mentioned as top choices, but I am not ready to set down $400 in a house with 4 kids who may use a knife as a hatchet.
I have never prided myself in buying Chinese anything, but It’s very hard to avoid this problem at times, and fact is not everything they make is garbage (contrary to popular belief) and it just so happens this knife set is one.

These arrived well packed, individually with tip protectors and cardboard sleeves in a plastic wrap. I love the classic styling. many knives now-a-days have focused on handle/blade design and less on quality. This may be a classic case of function-over-form, and the timeless styling kills it here. Every blade passed the slice newspaper slice test. Every blade balances well when grasped with two fingers at the bolster (where handle and blade meet). Each handle fits the tang beautifully. No overhang, no gaps, and they are matched perfectly. The handle contour is great, feels natural in the hand. No knife seems to front or rear heavy. Even the sheers are SHARP (yes, they come apart for cleaning). The steel is a carbon steel so rust staining is a possibility, which can happen with any blade if you do not take care of it.
Did I mention the blades are sharp? Not sure on edge life yet, but I sharpen or hone my blades with every use and the built in block sharpner makes it that much easier (I used it on other knives, it works well)
The kit includes 1 8″ Chef’s knife which every kitchen needs, 1 8″ Santoku which is a personal favorite, 1 8″ slicing/carving knife (which is great if you butcher your own meat. The long narrow sharp blade is perfect for brisket slicing). 1 5″ utility knife, 1 bread knife, 2 small pairing knives (3, 3.5″ when has a contour blade for peeling, one is great for slicing in hand like celery and such), 1 boning/filet knife (great for working in meat around bone with it’s narrow blade profile) and EIGHT steak knives. The steak knives are a personal favorite. They are non-serrated (huge bonus) and just feel so natural in hand. They use a drop/spear point style blade so working around bone,fat, and gristle is easy, very easy. The blades are sharp so little effort is required to slice through tough cuts of meat. Then we have the shears. I rarely use kitchen sheers but these are actually sharp enough to be useful, lol. Plus they have a screwdriver on one hand, bottle opener on the other. The knife block is a nice looking addition to any kitchen and the built in sharpener really removes any excuse for a dull knife. No hone/stone is included but not a deal breaker.
So, while this is not a $500 set, I will guarantee it will easily run with those sets, time will only tell. If these could be used FAIRLY and have the name blocked out, knife for knife I think most pros would be VERY IMPRESSED.
In shor, this is not some cheap set to be glanced over on name alone. (stock photo included for reference.)

UPDATED BELOW
I just received this knife set today and at first glance they are really nice looking, sturdy, full tang, super sharp knives. I was really impressed at first but on closer inspection, I noticed that the small paring knife has a small rust spot on the handle as well as several small nicks on the plastic part of the handle. The shears also have a small amount of rust in between the blades. I realize these are small spots but these are brand new out of the box today! What will they look like after some use? Will the rest of the knives also develop rust spots pretty quickly? Was this just overlooked by the QC folks? These knives have a lifetime warranty so hopefully this will get sorted out but for now I’m not a happy customer.

UPDATE: A few minutes after posting the above review, I was again inspecting these knives and found a rather large rust spot on the spine of the 3.5 inch paring knive as well (comes with two paring knives, both arrived with rust spots). I attached photos of both paring knives and the shears.

UPDATE #2 11/22/17: I contacted Chicago Cutlery directly, told them about the issues above, and provided them the photos. Chicago Cutlery is sending me a replacement set of knives!! As I stated initially, the knives appear sturdy and are very sharp. I have been using the rest of the knives (without the rust spots) for a couple of weeks now and they are very nice. I am really impressed that this company is backing up their claim of a lifetime warranty. Not all companies do that these days. Making good on their warranty has earned some additional stars and my future business.

64 and never had a full set of quality knives. Got by fine before, and make great food, but these knives are spoiling me. Sharp, easy to the hand. Used them for a while now, and no problems! I love the in block sharpener. Good quality knives for the money! My old knives are sitting by the door ready to go to goodwill!

These knives are GREAT! They cut through everything like butter. I did a lot of research before buying these, and I’m glad I chose them. I have a set of CUTCO, and these are so much better. Plus they come with a sharpener, so they can be kept sharp. I can cut through frozen chicken with these, and it is as if I were cutting through non frozen chicken. Highly recommend.

These are a big jump from the $25 block we have used for years. The wife kept commenting on how nice they looked, this is her way of giving her approval. But can she resist throwing them in the dishwasher, or using them as box openers? Only time will tell. These are very sharp, I mean if you are not used to very very sharp knives, be very careful with these. I cut a finger open just taking them out the box. I am afraid to use soapy water while cleaning them, because I want to know where these bad boys are at ALL times. I MUST again caution you, these split my finger open in a nanosecond and I did NOT FEEL A THING!!! We looked at the knife sharpener with optimism hoping that it too will pan-out. I mean, we never needed to use one before, and if we did there was always one located on the back of the electric can opener, RIGHT? You guys never used that one either?