Henckels or Wusthof?

[Anonymous]

Wusthof for traditional high quality knives. I adore my 6" chef's knife -- perfect for smaller hands

That said, I have some Victorinox steak knives that I use for almost anything, and a Cutco bread knife that's awesome

[Anonymous]

Agree with 12:52, about buying individual knives based on what feels good for the type of knife. I *love* my Wusthoff chef's knife and my Shun paring knife, and have a couple others mixed in, too. You don't really need a whole set, anyway.

Cutco knives are essentially serrated--that's they they never need to be sharpened. Dreadful, in my opinion.

You should also consider taking a knife skills class. I think Sur La Table offers them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Neither. I like Global knives. I store my knives in a drawer using a maple knife tray.

We like our Global better than our Wusthof.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks everyone, good idea about trying them individually. I'll check out a store that carries both.

[Anonymous]

I get a lot of use out of this one at home:

http://www.amazon.com/Dexter-Russell-9-Inch-Carbon-Scalloped-Sandwich/dp/B0015HFTJY/ref=sr_1_37?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1354676711&sr=1-37

Not for chopping--I still use my big chef's knife for that. But for bread, meat, sandwiches--this is light, easy to handle, easy to clean, generally great.

[Anonymous]

I love our 8" Wusthof Classic chef's knife. The Cuisinart one that my mom has is similar enough and a better price. Henckels feel lighter to me, but that could be my imagination, or just a particular line.

I wouldn't recommend buying a set, as it might not contain the exact pieces you want. If we were to have just three knifes, they would be:
8" chef
utility or sandwich knife (5", maybe smaller if foregoing a paring knife)
bread knife (also great for slicing tomatoes)

Plus a straightening steel and a sharpener.

[Anonymous]

I got my Henckels 4 Star knives when I was living in Germany and the dept store let me mess around with both Henckels and Wuestof and some Sabatier knives they had. They were various weights and that made somewhat of a difference, but the biggest difference was size and grip. I didn't bother with the 5 star set because the "ergonomic" handles weren't as great for my hand size and I found that I preferred a somewhat small chef's knife. I had Justinus knives for a while in Germany which are also, I think, made in Solingen and were quite good. The Henckels knives are better but probably not as much better as the cost difference. That said, I just waited for a sale, got a good price and figured the point of any of these is that you don't really have to replace them, ever.