My knives came and we did some slicing and comparing with my old set.

Holy cow! I was cutting paper thin slices of onion effortlessly. I had sort of assumed that doing that needed more training and patience then I posess.

I thought 'finely dice' was something my impatience and not-so-great fine muscle control made impossible.

My oh my oh my. I am so glad I indulged myself. It was not me, it was my cheap and old knives!

However - if you need knives and cannot drop the money for the whole set, consider this: http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=224

You can do most things with the paring knife and a big chef's knife.

Wusthoff is the best German brand. Japanese knives are also excellent, but I prefer German to Japanese because the German is sturdier. The 'Le Cordon Bleu' line has been discontinued which is why the price is less. This is also true for the Grand Prix and Grand Prix II line, if you prefer them more.

There has also been a price drop from the recession, which I am taking advantage of. The listed prices are what the knives where selling for pre recession and pre the line being discontinued.

http://reviews.cookingcache.com/wusthof-knives-review.html

This is a nice site for reviews - and the site I bought the knives from, Cutlery and More has the best prices for Wusthoff. I spent about 10 hours reserching this and searching for the best prices.

If you want to handle the knives, Williams-Sonoma has the Classic and the Ikon line. THe Cordon Bleau is the Ikon blade with the classic handle, pretty much. I couldn't hold the Grand Prix knives, so I cannot say anything about them. I tend to think you can adapt to a handle though, and you'll be willing to for an exceptional blade.