Save Your Money
Written: Apr 28 '08 (Updated May 25 '08)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Sharpness: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Ease of Cleaning: |
|
|
|
Pros: None.
Cons: Flimsy, don't cut well, can't be sharpened, break easily.
The Bottom Line: Save your money. If you can't afford a whole set of good knives, buy one decent knife at a time.
|
|
|
| hularider's Full Review: Farberware Ultraedge Pro Knife Set |
My mother-in-law has severe arthritis in her hands, so when she moved my husband and I bought her a housewarming gift of all new kitchen/dining items. Instead of the lovely but incredibly heavy crockery and ironstone dinnerware she had, we bought pretty but light (and almost unbreakable) Melamanie and Correll. Instead of her wonderful cast aluminum and cast iron pots and pans, we got her a set of T-Fal. And, instead of her heavy gigantic "swords" and "battle-axes," we got her a set of Farberware knives. We should have kept the swords and battle-axes.
"Never needs sharpening." It should say, "Can never be sharpened." These knives do not cut. They rip. The sharp little serrations chew and rip their way through meat and vegetables much as a komodo dragon or a shark rips into its prey. After a few uses, it just crushes and macerates. In addition, it is almost impossible to get the meat fibres out of the serrations, so the knife is always dirty. Not what you want to use on your next meal!
The blades are too flimsy for heavy work. They appear to simply be stamped from thin sheet metal. There is no discernable distinction between the spine and the blade.
We often buy meat bone-in and then cut off the meat, make steaks and roasts, and boil the bones for soup. The Farberware knives are too flimsy for this, bending and slipping around the bone, creating a very dangerous situation.
Those three rivets? Decoration. The tangs only extend about a half inch into the handles. How did I learn this? Read the review - I'll tell you in the section on the steak knives!
Let's take a look at the componants of this collection of uselessness:
wooden knife block - OK - this works. You can actually put the knives in it.
paring knife - This should not be called a knife. It should be called a "single-edged fine grater." The nasty little serrations prevent you from making nice parings of apple peels, vegetables, or anything else. Instead, the blade rips and shreds the thin parings, creating uneven semi-grated macerated chunks.
boning knife ? - I'm not really sure what it is supposed to be. The flimsy blade is too long for its weight, which means that if you try to cut anything more resisitant than a piece of white bread, the blade flexes deangerously, bending like a leaf spring, and recoiling with a vicious snap as soon as the pressure is relieved. The blade is poorly set into the handle, with what is presumably the ricasso (the heavy thick part just before the handle) not even touching quillion, leaving part of the tang exposed. Edged in nasty little serrations like the paring knife, it macerateds, rips, and shreds anything you try to cut with it.
utility knife I couldn't figure out what this knife is supposed to be utilized for. It is a little deeper across than the presumed boning knife, so it does not flex quite as much, and is not quite as likely to spring back under pressure and slice you. It has a rather interesting blade with steak-knife-type serrations alternating with the nasty little tiny serrations which results, in an uneven cut, dragging, skipping, and maceratng of the object being sliced.
chef's knife Wait! I have to finish laughing before I can write any more! . . . . OK. . . Do NOT let any chefs you know see this knife in your kitchen! However, this knife does actually have a beveled edge! Unfortunately, it has been ruined by adding that strange steak-knife and lizard-tooth edge. Like the boning knife, the blade is not even set completely into the handle, and is so thin that it has a lot of spring when in use, threatening to leap back from the roast, or whatever is being cut, and slice you.
roast beef knife Well, you could cut a roast beef with this, if you want inch-thick slices with fuzzy macerated sides caused by the steak knife and lizard-tooth design. Hopefully, you have cooked your roast beef to be tender enough that the springy, flexible blade won't be too dangerous as you are slicing.
set of steak knives I never did find out how well they cut as the first time we sat down to steak, the blade snapped out of the handle of my knife. I KNOW the steak was not that tough! The tang was about a half inch little stumpy thing around which the plastic handle had been molded. The rivets were uninvolved in holding it at all. Not only useless, but dangerous as well.
santoku knife The one knife in the set that actually would cut anything! Just sort of a cheap, poorly made, but somewhat functional basic knife. Actually will cut through meat, mushrooms, celery, tomatoes, and lettuce with one clean stroke. Because of the thin, flexible blade, however, the blade is too fexible to thin-slice carrots, onions, and such.
scissors Despite the funny little serrations on the outside of hte blades, they actually cut surprisingly well! They do an excellent job of snipping through green onion tops, parsley, and chicken thighs (meat or fat, NOT bones!) Use them instead of the boning knife!
Any of the knives will cut bread to some degree, only crushing a loaf a little bit while shredding the inside. They most will shred and macerate their way through meat. Vegetables can only be cut in large fuzzy chunks, as the knives flex too much to cut a carrot or onion thinly. They do somewhat well on celery and lettuce if you saw back and forth.
I've since given up trying to use the knives and scrounged what was left of the old set.
You are better off getting one good paring knife, a good utility knife, and a pair of good shears, than you are getting a whole set of Farberware.
In fact, I think I'll just get my mother-in-law the Chicago Cutlery set, instead.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): $29.99
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
hularider
|
|
Member: Leilehua Yuen
Location: Hilo, Hawaii, USA
Reviews written: 70
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
HulaRider is an author, artist, and educator who specializes in Hawaiian culture and arts.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.