You will never go wrong buying a J.A.Henckels knife. This particular knife offers an eight inch blade making it ideal for most jobs in the kitchen. Solidly made with the blade extending straight through into the handle in one continuous sheet of high quality steel. It is well made piece of equipment that will last you a life time It is a good and sound investment. This knife will hold it's edge and be very sharp for a long time.It is dishwasher safe with no danger of the handle becoming loose. It is a very well balanced instrument and fits nicely into the palm of the hand.It is not too heavy and does not make your arm tired. I can't say enough good things about these knives. They are guaranteed for life but are impossible t destroy. I have one from my late Grandfather and another from my late Father, they both feel like they are brand new yet they are both older than I am and I am now fifty years old. I feel like a professional chef each time I pull them out of the drawer. I don't think I would cook if I didn't have them. I use them for cutting meat and vegetables ad fruit ad fish and chicken and anything else I need to cut. It is my first tool and most useful tool. I have an eight inch blade and a ten inch blade and love them both.

dovetime

Montreal Quebec

It is easy to spend less money for a knife that claims to be similar but over a lifetime of use most knives won't stand up to the quality and build of this knife. It feels good in your hands and is a pleasure to use. This knife will hold a sharp edge and you will be proud of yourself for selecting this fine piece for your kitchen duties. It's weight and length assist you with most every food preperation you will encounter. Well worth the investment.

post3720

USA

We do a lot of work in our kitchen. We do large amounts of food preservation so we need a lot of knives and equipment so that the entire family can be in on the action. After seeing the amazing performance of the Cutco knife set that my mother in law had, my husband was determined to purchase a set of knives that were high quality in our kitchen. We could not get Cutco knives in our area, so we had settled on a large collection of JA Henckels Professional knives. We have since added to our collection and love all of them. One of the knives that we fight over all of the time is the Professional S Chef;s Knife. It is not cheap, but it is well worth the investment to purchase it. Comfort This knife is well balanced with a nice solid handle. There is a metal core in the handle with metal rivets to hold the handle together. The hard part, however, is that the handle is not a completely comfortable fit for my hand. The rest of the family finds it a good fit. The angle of the knife makes it very comfortable to use for chopping. Performance This knife stays sharp a long time and chops through a lot of food quickly and efficiently. Our daughter has been a gourmet level cook since she was tiny and she takes possession of this knife constantly. She uses it for smashing garlic, chopping herbs and mincing other things easily and quickly. I love using it for chopping through anything we need quickly - the weight is perfect. We have other chef's knives and this is the one we all fight over. Durability As long as you do not drop this on a granite floor or hard stone floor, this knife will last a lifetime. We have used this knife for quite a few years now, and it is still going strong. We do not clean these in the dishwasher, however, only hand wash. Performance is as good as the day we purchased it. Design This is the most well balanced, heavy duty chef's knife that we own. It is perfectly weighted and designed to quickly blaze through herbs and vegetables (and even meats) easy and quickly. I can not rave about this knife enough!

Caprig

Podunk, NY

These knives were built to last and work wonderfully well. I love how easy it is to cut through meats and vegetables. The metal extends all the way down through the handle and they balance really well. The quality is amazing and worth the cost. I'd rather get one fantastic knife set and have it last a lifetime though care and and occasional sharpening then struggle with my knives and complain about them for years before finally getting new ones. These are machine washable which is great! It's been 7 months and I haven't had to use the sharpener. (Though I probably will soon) My favorite other than this knife is the serrated bread knife in the set. It works amazingly, especially for artichoke and other tough skins. This knife seems to work better with meats and all purpose chopping.

valkorion

Redwood City, CA

This has got to be the best knife out there, This is my opinion surely. Every kitchen needs a good knife for what ever cooking you do. I use mine everyday for big and small dinners, it gets the job done effortlessly everytime, no more digging in the drawer for another knife to get dinner prepared, This is it the knife you need, There probably are lots of knives on the market to choose from, but why bother when you know a product works, right. So if you are shopping for a new knife for your kitchen or just need a great gift for someone who has a new kitchen, you know this one will last, I'm just saying! I love mine and I wouldn't give it up. It's a high quality item for good cooks, and good cooks know what they need in their hand to do it right the first time.

marlu

Philadelphia, PA

Yes, this knife has pedigree.  Yes, the name Henckels is a mainstay in the culinary industry.  Yes, every chef or enthusiast home cook should have one really good knife, and this is the de facto brand of knives to own. But is all of the above really merit your purchase of this knife in light of many MANY other choices out there?  Nope.  Not by a long shot. Let's start with the steel: classic european stainless hardened to less than 58 HRC is better than most of the run of the mill department store/no name chef's knives floating around, but as of late, the introduction of Japanese stainless steels: VG-10, SG2, VG-1 or other lesser touted but equally good: AUS-8, AUS-10, ATS-34....etc. at a similar price point to this knife makes this Henckels not such a good buy.  Shun VG-10 outdoes this steel handily. The knife profile with its ridiculous belly and curve necessitate the use of rocking, which, coupled with the softer steel, *WILL* roll your edge and dull your knife quite quickly.  This is kind of like bad on bad. And when you do go and sharpen it on whetstones (which is the BEST way to sharpen any chef's knife), you have a ridiculously fat bolster that impedes this process. Major thumbs down, and major recommendation to check out the OTHER offerings out there until Henckels makes and markets their own Japanese Miyabi (worth checking out!) lines as more mainstream and less specialty.

knifeman2

Beverly Hills, CA

If you are a cook, you know that probably the most important thing to have is a good chef's knife.   The one from J.A. Henckels is a good one to have.  It comes out of the box razor sharp, and can do everything from chopping to cutting to slicing.  For 95% of people, this knife will be more than enough for their cooking needs.  The most important characteristic of a knife is (1) how well it can take an edge and (2) how well it retains an edge, and J.A. Henckels chef's knife does both extremely well.  However, I have to say that I have used the chef's knife from Global, and I found them to be a little better in terms of sharpness and balance.  The balance is a personal preference - a lot of people like the heavier, more sturdy feel of this knife, but I find the lighter Global knife better for my style.  Like with all things based on preference, you should try them out at a store or something before purchasing.  Sharpness, however, is a must. While this knife can be sharpened extremely well, I find that it does not retain the sharpness as well as the Global chef's knife.  This isn't an issue for most people, but I am reluctant to rate this as a 5 star when I feel like there's a better knife out there.

johnple

Brooklyn, NY

I bought this knife about four months ago and found this Henckel Pro S chef knife to be incredible.  The first thing that you'll notice is that is well balanced in your hand.   I have medium size hands and it seems to fit me like a glove.   Now with kitchen knives, you certainly pay for quality here.   I've bought enough low quality knives over my lifetime that I finally had enough and just wanted a set for a lifetime.  Well with the Henckel knives you certainly will find it.   This knife has a lifetime warranty, is made in Germany by a company with over 200 years experience and will hold an edge like you wouldn't believe. A quick note, the J.A Henckel International branding is made either in China or Spain and the Zwilling J.A. Henckel is made in Germany.  The Zwilling logo features twin guys on the blade while the J.A. International features just one guy holding a spear.    In my opinion, there is a difference between the two. But if you are going to buy just one high quality knife, I highly recommend the Zwilling J.A. Henckel Professional S 8" chef knife.

jojomonkey

Spring Lake, MI

This is the first Henckels knife I've bought, but based on its quality, it won't be the last. I gave this 8" chef's knife to my husband for Christmas this year so we've only used it for a few days, but we are already extremely impressed. We have been using it to carve the turkey and it is both sharp and comfortable.  It is a heavy knife, durable and strong, and the weight helps with control. It is expensive, but as several other reviewers have pointed out, it is also worth the money.  I do not at all feel like I am paying a needless premium for the sake of a brand.  Our old chef's knife, which was pricey (though not as pricey as this one) and lasted for many years, was simply not the same quality.  It didn't have the same heft and I sometimes worried about slipping because of the relative light weight. It is beautifully balanced with an excellent hand feel -- the handle is curved to shape the hand.  The handle seems strong and designed to last for many years.  The tang runs the full length of the handle and there is a guard to protect your hand from slipping onto the blade.

BenjiJ

Pittsburgh, PA

The Henkels 8" knife has become my go to knife. It is really easy to keep a good edge on it and it requires the minimum of sharpening. Yet, when I need to do some serious cooking, it outperforms the others. It is really good for prep work as well as carving and cutting the final products. evry chef needs a knife that is an all around winner and this is the one for me. I do almost all my cooking from scratch and that means more prep-- somethingthat is aid off in flavor and health fo the product. It is always better to know what goes into your food than to have to read the label. It takes practice to larn to bone a chicken or a duck, but this knife makes the whole job easier. Each time before I use it, I give a few quick swipes on the sharpener and away I go. the edge is just so easy to maintain. I have a number of other knives, but the Henkels is the first I go for if I have a serious job that needs to be done.

tomsg

Saint Petersburg, FL