Chicago Cutlery

Pretty mediocre reviews (for the blocked sets) over at the sister site. Still waiting for my BOC!

Yep, “pretty mediocre” is spot on. I’ve got an 8" chef’s knife from Chicago Cutlery. I’ve used worse. $15 for 3-pack of these is a solid value, though, as they’re not horrible.

Chicago Cutlery is no longer what it used to be. For a long time it was a meat industry standard, and if you have older Chicago Cutlery knives, they’re probably pretty fantastic.

About 20 or 30 years ago, the Chicago Cutlery brand was acquired by General Housewares and manufacturing was moved to subcontractors in Asia (mainly China). Since then, the quality has gone vastly downhill, and the knives don’t hold an edge terribly well.

These would make a great gift for someone you don’t like very much. I would not buy them for myself.

I’m a retired chef/restaurateur and I’m pretty negative about Chicago Cutlery overall but I do like the 6.5" Santoku Centurion knife offered here (NOT the silly colored things). They are very solid and useful pieces of equipment and the one-piece blade and tang make them nicely balanced. I would buy 1/2 doz. at a time at a similar price for my restaurant and not worry too much if they "disappeared”. They take and hold a very sharp edge and my line cooks preferred them over the Dexter SaniSafe knives which are often the standard for commercial kitchens. I own an extensive collection of very high quality knives but I still use one regularly at home. Another advantage is that, at this price, they can be considered disposable if you should manage to screw it up.

I’m still rockin my going on 14 year old set (looks similar to the ashland here, but not that name)

I’ve had zero issues with mine over the years, I’ve even abused them on an electric sharpener. I finally ruined the blade on a friend’s glass cutting board (since then I’ve made her throw it away, glass is THE WORST)… The blade edge was actually flattened and bent from the glass. A buddy of mine does sharpening (knife guy) and he was able to restore that edge on that old blade to better than new sharpness. The wife also bent the edge on one of the other knives in the set and after fixing it, never an issue. It’s as straight and true and sharp as can be. My point is that these things have been extremely abused over the years, damaged, repaired, and I am STILL using them (and I’m a knife snob for balance and sharpness and far from a casual cook)

It’s still going strong.

Anyhow… I don’t know if they’re still making their blades this strong and well made, but if it’s anything like my 14+ year old set, then these are a great deal.

I bought the blue santoku knife maybe a few months back. I can’t say how it’ll last, as they are pretty inexpensive knives. That said, I wish I had gotten the 6 pack instead of the single.

For the price, I don’t care if they only last a few months each (and I suspect their sharpness lasts for much longer than that) and are essentially disposable. I don’t have to do a great job taking care of them, and they still function well and remain sharp and well balanced for a while.

My wife doesn’t treat our knives or non-stick pans well, and with these I just don’t have to worry how she treats them. They get the job done and at the price I can always get more later if needed.