Mercer CulinaryM23500 Renaissance 6-Piece Forged Knife Set, Tempered Glass Block, Stainless Steel, Multi-Colour

These knives are forged steel, full tang, renaissance riveted and very sharp! They are surprisingly light in the hand and they come with a glass casing that is easy to unscrew and clean. They look neat and elegant in the kitchen too. I am delighted with them and I highly recommend them

Looks fab in kitchen and easy to use, very sharp. Fantastic

The knives are great. I wanted a forged steel set for there weight and this set did not disappoint it’s a strong feeling weighty set of very sharpe knives which have made everything I cut feel like butter.

So probably like me you’ve watched Jamie Oliver, Ramsey etc precision chop, fine slice & bone away and all with consummate ease, yet when you try, that knife set which cost about £50 and looked so damn good in its box just simply can’t hack it (excuse the pun).Yep, like almost every kitchen product there are the mainstream and there are the professional and it really does boil down to the fact that you get what you pay for. This Mercer set however may be one of the few to bridge that gap in the sense that at about £30 per knife the price isn’t anywhere near what you could pay for say a top notch Sabatier, but without question every knife here more than qualifies as professional & with one or two tiny tweaks this could be the best value, professional set on the market today!OK, briefly on quality - many of the world's top cutlery manufacturers use high-carbon German steel (regardless of where they are made), and it's the main component here also. Blade and tang are of a one-piece construction - true forging end to end which you can see if you look at the backs of the blades. The steel runs in a continuous line all the way to the very end of the handle. The two halves are sandwiched around the steel and then riveted in place. Mercer's attention to detail is underlined by NSF certification, a food hygiene standard that isn't just granted once but is regularly re-assessed. The handles are POM (polyoxymethylene), a particularly durable thermoplastic often used in precision engineering, they feel perfectly balanced in the hand with an excellent weight & easy grip.They are also sharp and by that I mean very close to razor sharp! I’ve been so used to using average knives that when using the Mercer for the first few times I managed to cut myself twice. Make no mistake the boning knife would cut though bone, ergo it is actually imperative that when using any of these you adopt the correct finger position as used by all the professionals (and there was me thinking it was all for show!). Once you get used to them, they are absolutely flawless in performance, best I’ve ever used by a margin. Indeed the American website “bestreviews” named this set in their top 5 sets of 2016 and interestingly enough the Mercer came in as the second cheapest of the five, so undoubtedly here you are getting professional quality at a very decent price.Finally those tweaks I mentioned earlier – well for one the omission of a sharpener in this set seems daft to me as what is the point of having a professional set with no matching sharpener, especially when it could so easily fit into the holder? Secondly the holder itself – whilst as robust as hell and made from tempered glass, the style (and ability to see the knives through the glass) may not be to everyone’s taste (especially homes with nosey kids). Far rather have seen a cheaper wooden block with that sharpener rod included! These are minor griped though and anyone looking to emulate their professional kitchen stars for under £200 need really not look any further. For that reason alone has to be 5 stars (despite the gripes).

We have recently had a new kitchen installed and this knife set takes pride of place in it! The knives look superb and are really sharp and cut perfectly. The balance of the knives all feel right and there are five to choose from which cover most conceivable tasks around the kitchen. I like the way the glass block is transparent and you can see the blades – no chance of ever having to pick up 2 or 3 knives before you get the one you want. Because the block can be turned either way round, you can position it to suit either a left- or right-handed person. The knives come with a leaflet that advises you on how to keep them sharp – I can imagine this set lasting us many years if we look after them.

Excellent knives. They are sharp and look good too.

The Mercer Renaissance set is a lovely set for someone setting up home or if you need a bit of a refresh.You get 5 knives as detailed in the description, all made of German steel and all with a sturdy feeling. There is a nice weight and balance to all of the knives. Out of the box they are extremely sharp and with an extra bit of sharpening they cut incredibly well. Very similar to the Mercer Genesis set but with a nice handle.People seem to like the glass block rather than wood as it is easier to pick the knife you want, especially as a few of the handles are similar.A lovely set, not cheap but this is a set of knives which are very well made and great quality. A nice range for whatever you need a knife for.Love them.

These are very nice knives, and I love their classic look. They are well balanced, very sharp, and the blades feel strong and rigid. They look well made, the handles in particular feeling solid and finely engineered. I have large clumsy hands, and my wife has small dainty hands, but we both find these knives comfortable to hold and easy to use.I was unsure whether I’d like the tempered glass block before it arrived, being more used to solid wooden blocks that hide the steel blades and look more rustic. However, the Mercer tempered glass block is winning me over. It looks good, and it’s really handy to be able to see the blades, which takes the trial-and-error out of finding the right knife. The top of the block unscrews so that the tempered glass sides can easily be slid out and cleaned, or objects fallen into the block can be removed.I’ll update this review if I discover any problems, but so far, I’m very impressed.