Kai Pure Komachi 2 Set, 9 Piece, Essential Kitchen Knife Block, ABS0900, Multi

The knofes are outstanding and great, they work greatly for any kind of job required and they are pretty as well

These knives are fun, lightweight and sharp! I had owned two of these knives for about a year before buying this set (the Santoku knife and the Chef's knife) and since they held up so well, and I loved working with them, I decided to expand my collection. It was more cost effective to buy the set with this block than buying all the individual knives I wanted, plus having the block was very helpful for storage because I don't have a lot of drawer space for all of them.If you are on the fence about these knives, do not hesitate! These are a great value for the cost. If the price seems a bit high at first, I would recommend buying a knife you would use often to judge the quality for yourself (I suggest the Santoku). You will want the rest down the road (and you can give your extra knife to a friend)! Plus, these knives are aesthetically pleasing to boot. The only thing that is a little distracting is how large the block is. I can understand not wanting to knives to scratch your countertop, but even with the longest knife inside, there is still quite a bit of clearance. It's really not that big of a deal in the long run. You're paying for knives, not a centerpiece!

To put things in perspective these knifes are fine and colorful. Everyone complains about the base being so big and that is true. I would say if you live in the city and do not cook that often these are great. If you cook all the time I am not sure how well these will hold up. Most of my individual knifes cost more that this set. So for the money they are worth five stars. I really do like them and they add color to the kitchen which is always nice. They are very sharp but not sure how long they will hold an edge. I am also not sure how well they will sharpen when the time comes. I will update this post as needed. For now I give them five stars.UPDATE: Lots Of Complaints About The SIZE!!! I just realized that the size of the knife block is due to function. Yes it is large but I was trying to see how I would reduce the size. That is when I realized that I would not change the size because being this size allows you to see the knives more clearly and unobstructed. The room provided is necessary. I like it just the way it is. They are adding function and beauty to this collection. It really looks great and I have received many compliments. I still give five stars. They are a little light weight for me but they work great. I would totally recommend this set.

I love these knives except the paint chipped off.

I have had these knives for two and a half years now and they still provide good service. After about a year, however, they were in real need of sharpening -- don't think they will stay sharp forever.The good news is they can be sharpened without special worries -- I use this sharpener B007Y15LD4 but any standard one should do the trick. There are no sharpening instructions with the knives, nor is there any on the company's website. I sent an e-mail to customer service and got a noncommittal answer. They said the straight-edged knives could be sharpened normally but recommended I buy their sharpener. They also said the serrated blades should be sharpened professionally. I didn't feel the cost and quality of the knives justified the expense of professional sharpening so I just use the serrated blade groove of the sharpener listed above, and that works OK.I really like them and give them five stars for the price -- note the "for the price" caveat, which is important. My wife doesn't care for them and would probably give them three stars. She thinks we should have spent more on a good European set like Henckels. I disagree. I like the colors and think the knives are great for non-professionals, they just will need some sharpening on a regular basis after a while. .However, the colors also have one major drawback for households with little kids. These are the same colors used on plastic kids' toys, and our 2.5 year old son thinks they must be great to play with. We have to pay special attention to keeping them away from him. If they were black and boring, he would probably be less interested.The colors have not come off even after a lot of washing with the scoury side of kitchen sponges -- except the little green paring knife, from which the colors scratched badly on the side of the knife during what I thought was normal washing as we had washed earlier. Perhaps I got hold of a sponge with a steel wool scouring side? Not sure what was different, but once and only once, the color came off badly from one of the knives.