Designed to never need sharpening, the knives in this block set from Chicago Cutlery feature thick stamped high carbon stainless steel blades with serrated edges. The set is a tempting mix of good values and troublesome ideas.

The Basics 25-piece Wood Block Set, made in China to Chicago Cutlery's specifications, includes ...

This eight-piece bamboo block set from Shun offers knives from the Shun Classic series, with the focus on chef's knives rather than santoku. If you prefer the traditional European cook's knife style but also want the superior steel and cutting ability of Shun's Damascus blades, this set was designed ...

This 12 by 9 by 5-inch beechwood knife block from Wusthof of Solingen, Germany, takes up little counter space and provides convenient storage for seven knives, a honing steel, and kitchen shears. With an assortment of slot sizes, the block holds a chef's knife or santoku, carving, and pastry knives ...

Wood, brass, and steel combine to form this six-piece Walnut Tradition Knife Block Set from Chicago Cutlery. Full tang high carbon stainless steel knives with simple walnut hardwood handle slabs have a frontier look and basic serviceability. The brass rivets holding handles to tangs are the only decoration.

How good ...

The J.A. Henckels Twin Pro S nine-piece block set offers a nearly complete set of chef's cutlery ranging from the most basic paring blades to a full-sized santoku and chef's knife. The Twin Pro series combines many of the best features of forged patterns with stock removal methods ...

The four knives in this Shun Classic 7-Piece Bamboo Block Asian Knife set all feature the Damascus style steel that gives Shun's VG-10 blades their superior edge-holding ability and strength. A central VG-10 layer forms the cutting edge and is hardened to Rockwell 61 -- excellent for sharpness, but ...

This eight-piece Metropolitan Knife Block set from Chicago Cutlery offers no-nonsense practical quality. Rated as a "Best Buy" by Consumer Reports Magazine in 2007, this Metropolitan set includes only the most basic knives. Many owners will choose to expand it, but the knife set is still a good start for a small ...

Most knife blocks provide space for mid-sized and smaller knives but no place for cleavers. This massive birch hardwood knife block from Fernanda has room for a full-sized meat cleaver and also three large chef's knives or santokus. With 22 slots in all, there's space here for everything but kitchen ...

The unusual tiered design of this distinctive laminated bamboo knife block fits the unique angled bolsters of one of Calphalon's best knife sets -- the Katana Damascus steel series. In an ordinary leveled block, the katana knives would seat with a portion of the cutting edge exposed. In these two-level slots, ...

This Wusthof Classic Santoku 6-Piece Block Set switches the classic European chef's knife for the classic Japanese santoku -- which more and more of us are discovering to be the real workhorse of the modern kitchen. More specialized than the versatile cook's or chef's knife, the slimmer and more efficient ...

With several wide slots for larger knives, the Emerilware Wüsthof 17 Slot Knife Storage Block offers very stable and convenient storage for nine kitchen knives, a honing steel, kitchen shears, and six steak knives. The prep knives lie flat for best edge care, and steak knives fill a row of vertical ...

Viking's 9-Slot Knife Block offers room for a wide selection of prep knives, with eight slots available for paring, slicing, and carving and six more base slots for a set of steak knives. The wood strips laminated together for this solid hardwood storage block are rock maple, one ...

The striking appearance of this 6-slot Knife Block with four steak knife slots from Viking -- makers of professional quality cutlery -- catches the eye and remains completely functional. The routed center bead separating the two main slot rows only decorates the block but gives it a clean modern ...

Chicago Cutlery's Insignia Stainless Steel twelve-piece block set offers a low cost alternative to all metal knives from top modern manufacturers. Made in China, the Insignia series includes taper ground plain cutting edges, gap-free construction, and weight-saving hollow steel handles.

What looks like a satin finish version of today's best knife construction ...

This 38 piece Knife Block set plus an assortment of kitchen tools won't match the quality of Wusthof, Victorinox or Henckels. Actually it won't match the usual offerings from Sabatier, the company which contracted the Chinese production of this full-scale kitchen tool assortment.

Handles of measuring cups and spoons are held on ...

From Tramontina of Brazil, this 7-piece professional cutlery block set will impress you with its solidly drop forged full tang blades. Many modern manufacturers use thinner blade stock that results in lighter knives. These old style blades could be more than you need for many prep and slicing tasks, but there's little chance ...

These stamped knives from Henckels aren't of the same quality as their "forged" lines. They're lighter and thinner, which as a rule makes for a more efficient knife, but they're definitely not as robust as the forged knives from Henckels -- so I'd suggest they're a bit more appropriate for ...

I'm always skeptical when the knife gets reinvented -- knives have been around a very long time, and fundamental changes to the design are usually bad ideas. The Ginsu, represented here by the 8 Piece Stainless Steel Block Set, is marginally different, a product more famous for its flamboyant ...

This Wusthof Grand Prix II 8-piece Block Set is a practical assortment of knives that will cover most ordinary kitchen chores -- it's a good choice for starting out, and the block has room for expansion with three extra kitchen knife slots and six steak knife slots.

The Grand Prix ...

This 22-slot knife block plus paring knife from Wusthof of Solingen, Germany, is hardly enough to equip a kitchen, but if you have a set of good knives already or need a storage system for new ones, it's a wonderful way to organize your kitchen.

The paring knife is an afterthought, ...

Wusthof's Grand Prix II six-piece Knife Block Set is a good starter block that's a little short of essential tools. The knives are high
quality and built in a well-tested pattern, but the set is missing both favorites and necessities.

If you start out with this set you'll soon ...

This black graphite finish wooden storage block from J. A. Henckels was designed for the TWIN Select series but will fit many other brands as well. The space age styling will go well with modern kitchen decor, but consider whether the block has the capacity for the knives you use daily.

This ...

Henckels's Twin Five Star 9-Piece Knife Block Set combines the blade of the Four Star series with a new ergonomic molded handle design engineered to fit any size hand comfortably. Full tang construction is fully concealed by the smooth molded polymer handles but still provides the leverage and strength ...

Five high quality chef's tools and a sharpening steel, plus a fine hardwood 10 slot knife block--with this set from J. A. Henckels you get all the essentials and room for more. The assortment includes a 4" paring knife, 5" serrated utility knife, 7" Santoku knife, 8" Chef's knife and a ...

In nearly any home kitchen counter space is at a premium. The Wusthof Under Cabinet Swinger Knife Block tackles that problem by stowing knives safely under a cabinet or counter in a beautiful oak hardwood knife block. The nine slot swinger safely stores eight chef's knives in an assortment ...

J.A. Henckels International - a major name in cutlery - has mixed and matched blades of multiple cuisines into a 16-piece "East meets West" set of high-quality, fully forged synergy, stainless steel knives that will tackle a wide variety of cutting/slicing tasks.

The set includes an 8" chef's knife, 8" carving knife, 8" ...

Here's another set of products that are known for their "as-seen-on-TV" claim to fame. Ever since 1989, the Miracle Blade knives have been showcased on shopping channels and demonstration fairs to try and prove just how sharp the blades really are. But as always, the truth is a ...

It slices! It dices! It cuts through tin cans and still effortlessly cuts a tomato! If that sounds at all familiar, you must have been watching TV back in the seventies when the Ginsu knives first hit the market.

Although no one will ever mistake these for ...

This line from Henckels appears to be their answer to the Wusthof Gourmet line. Like the Wusthof Gourmet knives, they're constructed from simple thin blades stamped from average quality German steel appointed with riveted synthetic handles. By virtue of the geometry, thin blades of average quality steel, even if ...

Along with the Five Star and Pro-S lines, the Four Star line is amongst the top tier of Henckels' offerings. The Four Star line features moulded synthetic "ergonomic" handles in lieu of the traditional riveted handles and traditionally styled German blades with full bolster.

Although I'm generally philosophically opposed to knife sets, ...

Of the many "block sets" on the market, this is one of the few which comes close to getting it right. Refreshingly, it offers only a few of the essentials and very little filler.

This isn't a professional grade set, nor even a set aimed at the accomplished home cook. This ...

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 ...

Few things make a kitchen look like the home to a serious cook more than a big block of knives. If a big block of knives is what you're looking for, then this set will certainly fit the bill, albeit at a steep price.

Wusthof, along with Henckels, make the ...

I've never been a big fan of "knife sets". Most cooks can get by quite comfortably with three or four well chosen knives. Most of the knives in these sets are what I would consider to be "filler" to allow the manufacturers to sell knives that they'd otherwise rarely sell individually.

Check ...

Since Shun knives are so well known for their quality and traditional craftsmanship, you shouldn't expect anything less from their storage block -- a product designed to store them carefully and keep them sharp for their next use. Fortunately, that's what it does.

Your entire cutlery collection will fit in this ...

There are many different ways to store your knives, but none top this one for conversation value.

They call this one "The Ex" for obvious reasons. Though you're free to rename it "The Boss", "The Mother-In-Law" or anyone else you want to take a stab at.

The Ex is a five ...

It slices, it dices, it can cut a rusty nail and then a tomato. You've heard that one before, but what's the real story?

First off, let's get this one out of the way: you can't get fourteen great knives for thirty-five bucks. Sure, they might be sharp out of the box, but ...

No doubt these are popular knives. Cuisinart is a household name and they've done the trendy thing by creating light, stainless steel, bolster-less knives.

And they're really not that bad. Cuisinart has paid good attention to detail here, providing an attractive set that will meet all of the needs of a hobbyist home ...

A set of knives from Emeril? Bam!

Okay, now that we've gotten the obligatory catchphrase quote out of the way, let's evaluate these knives.

Any time a celebrity chef gets together with a mainstream knife manufacturer to make a "value" line of knives, we get nervous. What will they skimp on? How ...

Calphalon files under the radar a bit when it comes to kitchen knives. Without the name-recognition of a Wusthof or the cachet of a Shun, people sometimes forget about them.

That's unfortunate, since they make good knives. The Calphalon Katana set, for example, is a high-end set that stacks up well against the ...

We gave the Forschner 3-piece Fibrox Knives our recommendation as the best $50 knife set around.

But what if you've got a bit more money and are looking for a more extensive set? Does Forschner continue to provide value at the $150 price point?

Indeed they do. This 8-piece set includes the same ...

If you're looking for a set of inexpensive knives, these ones from KitchenAid are a good, but not great choice.

If you've read our Guide to Buying Kitchen Knives, you know that we advocate buying a small set of high-quality knives instead of a larger set like this one.

You'll get fewer knives ...

Note that this is NOT the Henckels International Everedge 13 Piece Knife Set. No, this is the Henckels International Everedge PLUS 13 Piece Knife Set.

So what's the "Plus" for? One word... Carbon. These knives are high-carbon, the set without the "Plus" is not. Carbon is nice to have in a ...

Nothing fancy here... Just a knife block with lots of slots.

Henckels knives have been taking a beating at the hands of their Japanese competitors lately, but this knife block shouldn't be punished as well.

It's inexpensive, made in Malaysia of hardwood and has an elegant look to it.

It has horizontal slots so ...

This knife set represents Henckels attempt to push into the low-end market. They've had the high-end market taken from them by Wusthof and Shun so it makes sense that they'd try to do this.

It's a difficult dance, though. How do you provide a low-end product that doesn't steal market from your high-end ...

Mundial Knives are the choice of many professional chefs, so you know they're high-quality. But don't just take their word for it; check out the details...

This set includes the essential kitchen knives and not too much else. This is a good thing -- you don't want to pay extra for knives ...

If you're looking for a basic set of sharp knives, and don't want to have to mess with the piecework of selecting particular knives over others, this Calphalon set is a darn good choice.

Calphalon is a trusted name in cutlery, though not as high-profile as Wusthof or Shun. This set attempts to combine ...

Shun knives are by no means budget knives. Some consider them synonymous with "expensive". But limit yourself to a small set of essential knives and you'll actually find them worth every penny.

Why? Because Shun has also become synonymous with "quality". All three of the major US cutlery retailers -- Williams Sonoma, Sur La ...

That the Kapoosh Universal Knife Block can hold anything is fascinating - it doesn't have any slots! It can hold any type of knife because it has hundreds of "freedom rods" that can hold almost any knife or kitchen utensil securely in place.

This knife block has two freedom rod compartments ...

People like OXO. There's no denying that. Check out other OXO products on Amazon and see how they've gained a great reputation as makers of reasonably-priced kitchen gadgets that perform well and feel good in your hands.

Their Good Grips line, of which this knife set is a part, is known for its ...