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| |  | Chicago Cutlery | Home » » » Chicago Cutlery Insignia2 18-Piece Knife Block Set with In-Block Knife Sharpener | | | | | | | Description: | | Chicago Cutlery Insignia2 18-Piece Block Set with In Block Sharpener includes 1-each 3-inch Parer, 3.5-inch Parer, 5-inch Boning, 5.5-inch Utility, Shears, 7-inch Serrated Bread, 7-inch Santoku, 8-inch Slicer, 8-inch Chef, 17-slot block with In-Block Sharpener | | | Features: | |
• 3- and 3-1/2-inch parer, 5-inch boning, 5-1/2-inch utility, 7-inch serrated bread, and 7-inch Santoku knife
• Plus, 8-inch chef's, 8-inch slicer, and 8 4-1/2-inch forged steak knives; shears; and block with sharpener
• High-carbon stainless-steel full-tang blades; heavy-duty forged bolsters
• Triple stainless-steel rivets secure ergonomic polymer handles to the blades
• Measures approximately 8 by 7 by 13 inches; limited lifetime warranty; hand wash
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 14.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 12.7 inches | | Product Height:
| 7.5 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.0 pounds | | Package Length:
| 16.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 10.9 inches | | Package Height:
| 7.7 inches | | Package Weight:
| 13.75 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 117 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 117 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
81 of 82 found the following review helpful:
 Best knives not made in GermanyDec 13, 2006
By D.S.
"DAZ"
I just got these knives and I love them. Regarding the rust problem, all quality knives are made of high carbon steel. They will all rust if left in water. This includes henckles, shun, wustof ect.
Regarding the spaces that others have been complaining about, high quality knives are forged out of a single piece of metal. It is impossible to get a uniform shape for every knife this way. Chicago Cutlery uses a poly handle that has uniform in shape (unlike wood handles), hence the spaces.
These knives are very sharp. You can see how sharp a knife is by holding it loosely by the handle and pulling it over a tomato without applying pressure. I have done this with the sontoku from this et and it slices through like butter.
Handles are a matter of taste. these are thick handles, I like them this way. If you like thinner handles go with Shun. Of coarse one chef's knife will cost you twice as much as this whole set.
The only minor complaint is the steak knives. Steak knives should be serrated; the steak knives in this set are basically long paring knives.
These are great knives and %99 of users will be just as happy with these as with a $500 set from henckles.
40 of 40 found the following review helpful:
Great set of knives for the priceNov 24, 2007
By Bob
"Bob in Big Bear Ca"
I bought these to replace a set of Mundial 5100's that was lost. I wasn't expecting such high quality from this set, but Consumers Digest selected these above many sets costing hundreds of dollars more (including the Mundial set that they reviewd) and I have to say this set is more than I expected for the price. I am not claiming they are better than the Mundial 5100 block set, but so far they're pretty close.
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I haven't found anything to complain about. The handles and blades are perfectly matched with no gaps or any other errors that I'm aware of. The blades are sharp, but to get them to the point of slicing produce paper thin they do need a couple of swipes through the built in knife sharpener (which I found works better for these knives than my Henckle dual sharpener). After I sharpened the utility knife I was slicing onions so thin that you could see through them. So I tried cutting tomatoes with the same results with very easy pressure the knife slid through the tomato literally as thin as you could possibly want to slice it.
I know that there are better knife sets out there but you are going to pay for them.
This set is perfect for the average home kitchen and again for the money they can't be beat.
37 of 39 found the following review helpful:
 Cheap knives get the job done.May 04, 2007
By D. Hoffman
Bought this as my first set of knives. Appreciated the price. A little surprised at the craftsmanship. The knife handles are not made to perfection and there are some rough edges where the handle meets the metal blade of the knife. This does not cause much of a problem other than appearance. The knife block is well made. The slots for the knives go completely through the knife block allowing for ventilation, should you want it.
Pros
+ Price
+ Great starter knives
+ Convenient storage block
Cons
+ Poor visual craftsmanship
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Professional quality knives at an affordable cost.Jan 14, 2008
By T. Fiegel
Last year my wife had given me a three piece Chicago Cutlery Insignia2 set for Christmas. Once I started using those knives, the rest the knives I owned never made it out of the drawer. I used to buy the typical department store brands (which shall remain unnamed) and pretty much had to replace them yearly. Once I found Chicago Cutlery, I never looked back.
When I saw this set on sale at Amazon, I simply had to get it. I still had an older 12-piece block set and wanted to finally make the upgrade to a full set of Chicago Cutlery Insignia2. That was definitely the best move I could have made.
Without going into too much detail, these knives are fantastic! They are super sharp and are tremendously comfortable to use, so no hand fatigue while prepping meals. Plus, with the in-block sharpener, you never have to worry about them getting dull. The knives themselves are quality made with the full tang and triple rivets. Unlike some lower end models that simply have the plastic overcoat which cracks off after regular use, these knives will last a lifetime.
Positives: Great quality, super comfortable to use, very sharp, in-block sharpener keeps your knives like new, and I don't know how I've lived without the Santoku for so long! The way it sits in your hand is prefect for chopping veggies.
Negatives: Only one complaint, which is the utility scissors that come with the set. It's a problem that is frustrating the first time you use them but you do get used to it. The scissors come apart for easy cleaning, which, don't get me wrong, is a fantastic idea. The problem is that they split apart after about a 35-40 degree opening. So as long as you don't open the scissors fully, you'll never have an issue.
Overall, I would recommend these knives to anyone at any level of cooking experience.
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Great for the price...Jan 02, 2008
By Boris S
Consumer Reports rated the Chicago Cutlery Metropolitan a Best Buy. We went to the store, felt those knives and were pretty disappointed. They had no heft, it felt like holding a toy instead of a culinary instrument. We then noticed the Chicago Cutlery Insignia2 forged set and it felt like a completely different league of knives. Not as great as Henckels and Wüsthof, but the price was much more favorable. We ended up buying the set and now, 6-months later, we're glad we did. By the way, we looked at more than a dozen various manufacturers and sets; we were ready to buy Wüsthof Classic before we found this Chicago Cutlery Insignia2 set.
These knives are great; they keep an edge pretty long, large array of knives, 8-steak knives are great for larger company and they look, feel and are built like they should have cost at least twice as much.
There are a few drawbacks and things I don't like about the set. Some of the reviewers have already mentioned that the knives should be washed and dried immediately else they start to look slightly rusty (you can use dishwasher, but must dry right after). What people haven't mentioned, and I think is a big problem is that this knife set does not come with a honing steel (and/or crappy sharpener). Didn't seem like a big deal to me until I sharpened one of the knives using the built-in sharpener. Even though the knives are forged, the edge is VERY thin and sharp. After a lot of use and banging around all over the kitchen the edge will start to lose alignment (this is true with all knives, by the way). If you use the built-in sharpener without honing you will eat up a part of your edge.
I highly recommend getting a honing steel and using that before you use the built-in sharpener or getting a sharpening stone so you don't just lose an edge and have way more control.
Other than these two major problems, which are pretty easy to control, the set is pretty nice. I highly recommend it if you're careful with your knives. If you like to beat on them, then please look elsewhere... these require a bit too much TLC.
See all 117 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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