Knife blocks sets

[AledJ]

My dad''s birthday is at the end of June and since he a great cook and loves cooking been thinking of getting him a new set of knives. Now I have no idea what is good or bad lol All I know is it does not need to be over board with 30+knifes lol

So what i'm after is some advice at what to look at and what not to bother with. Also if you have any suggestions that would be great!

[Rebel]

Can I ask what sort of budget you have set aside for this purchase?

[GoNz0]

have you searched the forums, theres a few good knife threads i have read in the past.

[Whiternoise]

Only one answer for this:

http://www.firebox.com/product/1109/Voodoo-Knife-Block

Expensive, but well worth it.

[AledJ]

Can I ask what sort of budget you have set aside for this purchase?

Most prob no more than £50!

GoNz0- Will have a search but covering for another work mate at the moment, so not a lot of time spare after working


Whiternoise- My dad would hate that lol I on the other hand love it!


And sorry for not posting back been run off my feet lately!

[cptwhite_uk]

£50? Check out Asda's Smartprice range, it might be within your budget.

But seriously...you'll need about £100+ for a proper set of knifes in a block. You can get a semi decent 3 piece set for about £40-£60 but it will just be in throw away packaging.

See here: http://www.johnlewis.com/Home+and+Ga...Term=knife+set

[Rebel]

There are some nice masterclass knife sets (in blocks) in your price range Here Obviously they are not up to some of the brand name quality, but many people (myself included) pay that sort of price or a lot more for a single knife, so you cannot expect Global quality in this price range.

There is also a nice set of Stellar James Martin 6 Piece Knife Block Set knives on special offer (If you act reasonably quickly) at UNDER £40!!!! available Here

Alternatively there is a Judge Sabatier IK 5 Pce Soft Grip Knife Block Set available at about £32 available Here
and there are a few others available at similar prices from the same supplier at only a little more, however having spoken to a couple of more knowledgeable people than me you need to be careful as some of these sets even from the same manufacturers are not very highly rated. I recently made a lot of enquiries and sourced some superb knives for myself, but they were quite a lot more money than you are looking to spend, however there is still a lot of choice available.

I was recommended if I wanted an inexpensive set for a present to look at the stellar sabatier set Here or the masterclass range but to AVOID the Stellar FM range as the people I spoke to said they had a lot of problems with them.

If you are interested in the knives I purchased I bought some Meyer Anolon knives to go with my collection of Zwilling Henckel signature knives but a set of Anolons cost around £120 in John lewis although they can be bought for about £70 from here when they have stock (they are currently out of stock).

Basically what I am saying is you are on a tight budget BUT there is still a decent choice available if you do your homework and there are some bargains to be had if you know where to look.

Hope this helps, if there is anything more I can do to help let me know.

Good luck!

PS I was looking to buy for my son and his partner hence I have the info available

[McPhee]

For a full set within budget you can't really go wrong with Judge Sabatier, owned some in the past an they aren't too bad. Loads available on Amazon and Cooks-Knives.co.uk

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/...ollection.html
http://www.only-kitchenware.co.uk/It...%20Knife%20Set

If you can stretch the extra £10 then this set is worth considering.

Alternatively you could buy 2 or 3 good knives with a magnetic knife rack. I'd probably go for the latter, for general cooking tasks i only tend to use a Chef's knife and a Parer. Combined with a cheapo bread knife i don't really have a great deal of need for anything else. I'm struggling to think of 5 different knives that i could need without looking at different sharpening techniques (i.e. polished vs rough). I guess i could make use of one polished and one rough chef's knife along with a filleting knife. Past that though i really can't see any point for most people.

[Rebel]

For a full set within budget you can't really go wrong with Judge Sabatier, owned some in the past an they aren't too bad. Loads available on Amazon and Cooks-Knives.co.uk

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/...ollection.html
http://www.only-kitchenware.co.uk/It...%20Knife%20Set

If you can stretch the extra £10 then this set is worth considering.

Alternatively you could buy 2 or 3 good knives with a magnetic knife rack. I'd probably go for the latter, for general cooking tasks i only tend to use a Chef's knife and a Parer. Combined with a cheapo bread knife i don't really have a great deal of need for anything else. I'm struggling to think of 5 different knives that i could need without looking at different sharpening techniques (i.e. polished vs rough). I guess i could make use of one polished and one rough chef's knife along with a filleting knife. Past that though i really can't see any point for most people.

Nice find on the Anolons, they are beautiful knives and worth every penny, at £60 they have to be the bargain of the knife world IMHO.

[scaryjim]

The knives that come with a voodoo knife block will *not* please a serious cook - they are very lightweight and everyone I know (including me ) who is serious about cookery would want something with more heft!

I give a +1 to buying 2 or 3 separate knives and putting them on a magnetic strip - that way your Dad can add more as he needs them but has a couple of really good knives to start with. A nice heavy chef's knife and a small (as small as possible!) paring knife would be my choices, but these things are quite individual...