I had bought this pattern several years ago (8 place setting). I wanted more and was delighted to find it. Great quality, sturdy, elegant.

i have owned my Henckels set for over 4 years. almost immediately they looked worn and used after washing. hand or machine, no difference. nothing would remove these somewhat permanent looking water sploches but aggressive elbow grease. eventually i just ignored this...but about a year later the knives started to look like they were left in the road and run over. i continued to use the set without the original knives. now everything looks so rotten and rusty that it is time to find something better made. incidentally, mine are stamped JAPAN, not china. anyway...i do not feel they are of great long term value. they are definitely better suited for occasional use. i also encountered similar rust/water damage with the 'everedge' steak knives. strange that it is almost immediate with the lower cost knives.

I needed a set and went with Henckels, a name I already trusted. Great choice. This set has a nice feel to it and looks great.

So I got this for myself and all I can say is "wow" everytime I set place to eat with this flatware. It's absolutely flawless and the knives are a work of art. I was lucky enough to have bought the set for 70$ and couldn't be more happier. Friends think it's superb, and that's what counts. I wash them in the dishwasher and haven't had any problems yet, they still look like new, no rust, no scratches, no problems.

I have owned this set for three and a half years now and don't have any problems with rust on any of my pieces. Given that I purchased my set in late 2003, I am wondering whether sets manufactured later were made with lesser quality. How else to explain the number of reviewers who note a problem with the knives rusting? The only other thought I have is that perhaps these people are simply not taking care of their knives well. I hand wash everything. Maybe these just aren't up to the abuse an automatic dishwasher subjects items to? I don't know.

At any rate, if the quality is still the same as it was three and a half years ago, I would certainly still recommend this set. I have managed to scratch the handles on many of my pieces (small scratches) from ordinary use, washing, and placing them into a container to dry (probably how they are getting scratched, rubbing up against other pieces of flatware), but apart from that the set still looks nice.

I like the feel of the fork and spoon in this set. I actually don't like the feel of the knife very much; the handle is just a little too sleek for anything but the smallest of hands.