Kikuichi and Williams Sonoma, have you no shame?

Find deals on amazon
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
mkriggen said:
WOW, those must be nice!
Click to expand...

Damn straight, just read the five star review


UNBELIEVABLE KNIFE!
April 9, 2015
BillNW
Ability level:professional
Has owned product for:Over 5 years
Uses product:Every day
Recommend: Yes
As a former chef and manager of an iconic, west-coast cutlery store, I've held and used an enormous array of kitchen knives. I own a wide assortment of German, French and Japanese knives. I have owned this knife since 1999 and it continues to be my most used knife by far. The geometry of the blade is ideal for volume and fine knife work. The blade is much thinner than a typical German knife but the steel is extremely tough and resilient. That said, this is far too refined a tool for abusing. The steel's edge retention and ability to take an extremely fine edge are exceptional. I have used the fine side of a 11 12" Norton two-sided oil stone to touch the edge up very few times with very heavy regular home use. I'll occasionally also use a fine honing steel or diamond steel. It is a beautiful, wonderfully balanced and comfortable work of fine Japanese craftsmanship that anybody would be proud to own and most importantly, use.
,Seattle
Pros:
Durable, Easy to Use, Quality, Balance, Easy to Clean, Size, Strength, Versatile, Sharpness, Shape, Weight
Click to expand...
 
UNBELIEVABLE KNIFE!
April 9, 2015
BillNW
Ability level:professional
Has owned product for
animated-smileys-embarrassed-07.gif
ver 5 years
Uses product:Every day
Recommend: Yes
As a former chef and manager of an iconic, west-coast cutlery store, I've held and used an enormous array of kitchen knives. I own a wide assortment of German, French and Japanese knives. I have owned this knife since 1999 and it continues to be my most used knife by far. The geometry of the blade is ideal for volume and fine knife work. The blade is much thinner than a typical German knife but the steel is extremely tough and resilient. That said, this is far too refined a tool for abusing. The steel's edge retention and ability to take an extremely fine edge are exceptional. I have used the fine side of a 11 12" Norton two-sided oil stone to touch the edge up very few times with very heavy regular home use. I'll occasionally also use a fine honing steel or diamond steel. It is a beautiful, wonderfully balanced and comfortable work of fine Japanese craftsmanship that anybody would be proud to own and most importantly, use.
,Seattle
Pros:
Durable, Easy to Use, Quality, Balance, Easy to Clean, Size, Strength, Versatile, Sharpness, Shape, Weight
Click to expand...

Is that you Daniel?
 
Kikuichi specialise in OEM blades at silly prices. Not a good brand.
 
Wow, $350 for a generic looking massproduced knife with a VG-10 core steel.
Flippin' heck! :)
 
They're well crafted but very aggressively priced. I have a honesuke from the VG10 line. It's been a great performer. No complaints at all, but I picked it up used for a price which i thought was fair. I would not have paid full price though.
 
I happened to be traveling in SF and my hotel is near Union Square and I took a look at them in the store. Yeah they seem like Tojiro DP rebrands to me (with a fancy hand engraved kanji), or so similar I can't tell the difference.
 
richard said:
I happened to be traveling in SF and my hotel is near Union Square and I took a look at them in the store. Yeah they seem like Tojiro DP rebrands to me (with a fancy hand engraved kanji), or so similar I can't tell the difference.
Click to expand...

Market segmentation.
 
Does anyone use Williams Sonoma to purchase anything knife related? I sure as hell dont. I think everyone should be more upset about this thing going for $280

 
My mother was considering the classic version of this knife and asked me about it. I asked her "What would you use it for?" She passed.

To me it has always looked like an expensive putty knife but not sure it would even do that well.
 
I bought the Elite (SG2 core) version of the knife as a gift for my sister three years ago. It was on closeout, and cost just a bit over $100, as I recall. She loves it, uses it to make sandwiches, slice tomatoes, cut up vegetables for soups and stews. She likes the way she can dip mayo out of the jar with it. The tip is not pointed, nor it it a long blade, so she is not intimidated by it, as she was with most of my knives. She's not a knife knut, so she had no preconceived notions that got in the way of using the knife.

I wouldn't pay $280 for one, but if another Elite came available for the price I paid three years ago, I'd get one to take the place of my $10 Dexter sandwich spreader. Why not?
 
The Shun Ultimate Utility is actually very handy for making sandwiches and excellent at cutting bread, including rolls, bagels, and delicate things like croissants and pastries. I hardly ever pull my full size bread knife out now. Even for baguette, the U2 works just fine. Yeah you shouldn't pay $280, but I bought a Kaji version on sale for $100, and I don't regret it at all (I use it all the time)
 
Yes surprisingly it is sometimes possible to make reasonable knife purchases at WS, particularly with on sale and/or for someone who may not be too particular about profile, but still appreciates something with better performance than other mainstream knives and wants good looks and F&F.

Very recently, some deals included the Shun Kaji 6" chef for $80 or the Shun Hiro 8" chef for $180. While I'm not crazy about the German shaped profile, I could make do with the Hiro if I had to. The handle is quite comfortable and the knife is just gorgeous. But one that had me thinking more seriously was the Shun Fuji 8.5" chef on sale for $250. Much better profile, and feels very good and balanced in the hand. If you were to try it out, you might be pleasantly surprised. Yeah the regular prices can be pretty ridiculous, but there can be some significant discounts. But those Kikuichi's are never discounted, and they are basically reselling a Tojiro at 4-5x the markup.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top