I realize this set is aimed at the budget conscious home cook, but I can’t help but to think that Cuisinart would be doing their customers a service by making this set smaller and including a better mix of knives.
Granted, they’re nice looking knives and with their stamped construction, they should perform reasonably well, although the quality of the steel is somewhat questionable. Out of the entire set, there are only two knives which I would consider to be essential choices: the eight inch cooks knife and the three and a half inch parer. Although the seven inch santoku is a nice addition, given the stamped construction of these knives, it offers no particular advantage over the eight inch cooks knife.
Of the remaining knives, both the bread knife and slicer are undersized for their intended purposes and the remaining knives are simply filler.
At this price point, I think a value oriented home cook could do far better by picking up a Forschner 8-piece set and then getting a set of Forschner steak knives to round out the kit. Although the Forschner set is also a “budget” set, I think the value and performance delivered would be a much better choice.
