First: Don't buy a "block set." Buy a few individual knives which can handle all your needs gracefully. Allow the block itself, and storage generally to be another issue. Steak knives, too. There's no practical reason to buy all your knives from one maker.
Second: Cutco is a horrible choice. Maybe not the worst possible choice, but it could be. We can go deeper into the whys and wherefores if you like, or you can just take it on faith.
The best knives for you will reflect how you use a knife and how you sharpen. If you're interested in becoming a better cook, you may be open to improving or at least changing your knife and sharpening skills. If you're interested in knives themselves, you almost certainly are.
As a practical matter, for many people, the choice comes down to knives made with Japanese techniques and French profiles or knives made with German techniques and profiles.
Japanese is the modern trend with most skilled cutters for a number of very good reasons. But that doesn't mean that German is a bad choice. Ultimately it comes down to a matter of taste. If you don't already have good knife skills I suggest going the Japanese route, because the knives are more agile, lighter, get much sharper, and stay sharper longer.
As an even more practical matter, you've got to understand that good knives are all about sharpening. No matter how much you spend, all knives and get dull and all dull knives are equal. If you're not going to take sharpening seriously, don't buy expensive knives. The choices you make about how much time and effort you're willing to put into sharpening will help shape the best knife choices, and vice versa. If you want to use an "easy way" like a Chef's Choice Electric, that's not a problem. There are plenty of wonderful knives which will do just fine. But, there are also plenty which won't; e.g., knives which are very thin, knives made from very hard alloys, and knives with unusual shapes.
I generally recommend buying four knives as a "basic set" which can do it all, along with a few specialty blades as needed for frequently performed "specialty" tasks. The four are:
- 9-1/2" - 10-1/2" Chef's knife;
- 10-1/2" - 12" Slicer;
- 10" Bread; and
- 6" Petty
As you can see, I recommend knives which are longer than those usually found in a block. If your knife skills are "only" average, it's going to take a little learning -- all in improving your grip and posture -- to get you to the point where handling longer knives is as intuitive as handling shorter; but it's a matter of a few weeks only. Also, you've also noticed that I recommend a "petty," but not a paring knife or a boning knife; that's because the petty can perform most short knife and boning tasks at least as well as the other two combined.
Even at $1000 budget is a little bit of an issue, and a bit larger if sharpening also needs to be addressed.
Most people get the most use from their chef's knives, so it makes sense to put the most money into that.
Your thoughts?
BDL
