Another question for the chefs: knives

My family has been a fan of Cutco knives for decades (we're not professional cooks/chefs). Guessing that a particularly convincing salesman showed up at my Mom's door at some point! We have a family friend who always gives them as wedding gifts. I think there is a tradition that you need to put a coin in with the knife, but I don't remember the exact reason. Maybe that is an angle for your young salesman for wedding season?! Tell the tradition, and provide the coin?

5 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I was going to say I’d never heard of Cutco, but I looked on the site and maybe I’ve got a bunch... so the answer is I like them!

The most important thing to me is a full tang, rivets thru blade and handle.

5 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Our knives are Japanese or German. But Cutco sound good! I will buy those next.

5 years ago

April

Veteran

Laurie, a friend told me her family has many superstitions about knives (don't give them as gifts, bad luck, yadda yadda yadda) so she said Mr. April should not buy the knives for me for Mother's Day, he should give me the $$ and I should buy them myself. I'm guessing that coin in the wedding gift was a way to offset the bad luck of giving a knife.

ETA: my young salesman will love that idea! I will suggest he get special coins, like a Sacajawea golden dollar, if he can.

Rachy, Cutco will apparently do a bang-up sharpening job for you -- for life! -- if you can part with your knives by mail for a few days.

Angie -- same here. Japanese ceramic knives and vegetable knives; and German knives that actually belonged to Mr. April's first wife. We live near a Wusthof outlet so I have always had them do my sharpening but I am an old dog who can learn new tricks.

5 years ago

Barbara Diane

Veteran

Cutco used to only offer sharpening on their serrated blades-maybe this changed? I have one from a student salesperson-not sure they are better than other good brands, but I'm not a serious cook.
I thought they were a bit expensive. But again, not an expert.

5 years ago

cindysmith

Veteran

My cutco scissors are the most amazing scissors ever. My cutco knife? Meh. Ex-DH also bought a hunting knife from cutco, and was not impressed when it broke within the first year.
I personally like Hinckels knives, but they're pricey so I went with Chicago Cutlery for my chef's knife, bread knife, paring knife, and steak knives. No regrets.
Well, I regret not taking them in the divorce, but they're not prohibitively expensive, so I'll gradually replace the ones I left with him. Maybe even with Hinckels.

5 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

The knife I use most is my chef’s knife. It’s a Henckels (sp?). I use the Cutco knives for sandwich making.

5 years ago

April

Veteran

Ok all yall - if you don't have a cheap-as-chips paring knife from L'Econome, you are missing out on a kitchen secret worth knowing. https://www.eater.com/2019/4/2.....e-shopping

Hard to find (the brand got bought and apparently the result is not delightful) but worth the hunt.

Opinel is the new brand - haven't tried so can't speak to it.

5 years ago

Style Fan

Veteran

My knives are from the 1980s and are still going strong. I take them to be sharpened when needed. They are Henkels. I am not expecting to need new ones after all this time.
Actually, they are fantastic knives but I don't know if they are the same now.

5 years ago

Anonymous

My best knives are very old, bought at estate and garage sales. Like CindySmith, I have Cutco kitchen shears and they are the best. I have also liked their paring knife because the handle is easy to hold.

5 years ago

Anonymous

Zwilling Henckel knives are in my kitchen now, I retired my carbon steel Sabatiers because it's hard to find someone to sharpen them quickly. Also my husband was using them for things like cutting bread etc and would leave them wet in the sink. They're sleeping in the drawer for now and I still love them.

I'm intrigued by the popularity of the Cutco scissors!

5 years ago

April

Veteran

My young Cutco salesman says that everyone he has sold the scissors to has raved about them. I will let you know what I think when my order arrives.

5 years ago

Veteran

Another fan of the Cutco scissors! I also have a set of their steak knives with the white pearl handles. There is a pastry type knife where one edge is great for applying icing and the other side has a serrated edge for cutting the dessert. Love that one too!

I also have a set of Henckels knives and use those a lot too!

5 years ago

AndiB

Veteran

I think the deal with cutco and the coin is that during the sales demo the salesperson cuts a coin with the kitchen shears. I have several cutco knives, my DH brought one into our marriage 25 years ago, given to him by his mom when he went off to college in the mid 80’s and you know she’d had it awhile before parting with it! I think we got Chicago Cutlery for our wedding but I don’t prefer the wooden handles. We only have 1 bread knife left from that set!

5 years ago

April

Veteran

So far so good with my Cutco set. I adore the shears and I now have knives I've never had before (e.g., a meat cleaver). I don't eat meat but I do cook it for others.

I used the cleaver when my vegetable knife got stuck in the center of a huge and stubborn sweet potato. WHACK. Such a feeling of power.

The Cutco Japanese vegetable knife is fine but doesn't quite glide through an onion the way my actual Japanese ceramic Kyocera knives do when they're freshly sharpened. I want to have the Cutco vegetable knife and the Cutco Santoku knife sharpened before I decide if they'll work for me.

5 years ago

Anonymous

Another Cutco product I love is the garden clippers. It is ratcheted and can cut through some tough branches easily. Cutco will sharpen their products for you. Just ask.

5 years ago

April

Veteran

Joy, such a tease! Just as I read your post and decided I must both order the gardening clippers *and* figure out how to ship back my knives for sharpening, turns out both things are "currently unavailable" at Cutco.

Darn pandemic.

5 years ago

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