John Lewis Knife Set

[greenskin]

Hi guys,

Im considering this set of knives for the folks for christmas, and I was just wondering wether anyone would reccommend them, or perhaps point me in the direction of another decent set?

Thanks

http://www.johnlewis.com/230843672/Product.aspx

[Pothole]

How much is it?

[Pete Franklin]

How much are they and how much are you looking to spend

[greenskin]

They are £115 in-store I believe, and that is the upper limit of the budget.

[Pothole]

Presumably they're not particularly fussy or they'd already have some quality gear. They look fine for the price.

[greenskin]

No, theyre not fussy, but I thought I would treat them to a decent set of knives.

[Pete Franklin]

From the limited information available, it’s difficult to tell how good they are going to be. They have a rockwell hardness of 55/56 which is equivalent of the popular German brands but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are equivalent quality as it is only one factor.

For my tastes, in terms of the knives that are included: I would prefer to have a larger chefs knife (20-21cm). As that is the knife which will get the most use, it would be worth getting that right but that is personal preference. I would have thought a set that had a large chefs knife, medium chefs or santoku, bread and a pairing knife would cover most needs.

Ikea do a range of knives called slitbar some of which use VG10 steel with damascus cladding and they are supposed to be very good for the money, you would probably get the above 4 on budget but would need a storage solution (magnetic rack), cant give first hand experience but it might be worth a look. I also recently saw a Henckels set in TKMax for around £120 which is a well known and trusted medium / high end brand.

[Ultuous]

Pete Franklin said:

For my tastes, in terms of the knives that are included: I would prefer to have a larger chefs knife (20-21cm). As that is the knife which will get the most use, it would be worth getting that right but that is personal preference. I would have thought a set that had a large chefs knife, medium chefs or santoku, bread and a pairing knife would cover most needs.

Agreed - it's often said on here and in other places that one only needs 3 knives: Chef's, Paring and Bread... Anything from JL's going to be at least 'ok' and I can see the possible requirement to get someone a 'set' for gift purposes, but if it were me, I'd rather get someone 3-4 really decent knives than a bigger set where money's wasted on 'padding' (I've chucked several away myself whilst coming to this realisation)!!!

[jfdi]

We have had the same knives for about 6 years now bought as separates. The design is the same although the writing on them has changed, ours is somewhat more subtle.

By far the best knives I've ever had (although I've only had cheaper stuff before), an occasional run through the sharpener soon brings them back to as new sharpness. I would recommend them.