Cutco — you either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. Their Amway approach to selling knives rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Others swear by them. Or maybe they just drank the kool-aid!
I do hear a lot of comments about them, though, so it’s worth a quick review.
Truth be told, these are not good knives. The steel is 440A, an inexpensive blend only used in low-end knives. It’s not that these knives can’t get sharp, it’s just that for the price you really ought to be getting better materials. Especially at these prices.
The popular gift set pictured here features a set of ten “indispensable” kitchen utensils. It includes a “forever” guarantee, which is nice to have but you’ll likely discover better knives before wanting to take advantage of it.
The set includes a sharpening steel and cutting board, as well as a wooden storage block for the knives and other accessories. Included are two sizes of carving knives, a carving fork and turning fork, and a spatula. This set also features a slicer, paring knife and trimming knife, a spreader knife, and a butcher knife.
You can do better than these for sure. Read our extensive Guide to Kitchen Knives if you’ve got a moment. Or, if you don’t, just go check out a set of Shun Classic Knives.
Now you know.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Wow, that’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard, 440a is a higher quality steel than other knife manufacturers like Wusthoff use, plus they stay sharp for over 15 years, Modern Marvels did an episode called the “World’s Sharpest” and wouldn’t you know it, it wasn’t Shun or Wusthoff, it was Cutco. I bought a set 8 years ago and it was the best investment I’ve ever made, they have never been sharpened, and when I want them to it will be easy, and they always work.
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Thanks for stopping by, Jeff. Nothing gets people quite so riled up as Cutco knives.
No question they’re sharp out of the box, but that 440A is not generally considered a high-end material.
See this excellent guide to steels. It describes 440A as “barely acceptable”.
Here’s another guide to steels. It describes the various grades of 440 steels, from 440A (low-end) to 440C.
And, of course, you can always check out our article on steel here.
Regards,
Ken
August 18th, 2008 at 8:08 am
I know nothing of steel quality, and don’t care to. All I know for sure is I bought a set of Cutco knives 14 years ago, and they are fantastic. They have stayed sharp and I have never needed anyone to come to my home to sharpen them, as they will do…..for free.