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Russell Hobbs Flame
by juicy_lucy
Russell Hobbs cutlery set
I bought this set when I moved house and figured I really did need cutlery!
The set comes nicely boxed and as expected with it being a 24 piece set, there are six each of: teaspoon, dessert spoon, knife, fork.
Its quite modern in design with straight handles on the cutlery and no ... fancy bits or any design on the pieces. The cutlery itself is light in weight and so easy even for younger children to use and because of the sleek design it doesn't feel unwieldy or look too cumbersome. Its made of mirrored stainless steel and although it does look good it does need to be washed and dried carefully because I find that any water marks really do leave their mark and the cutlery can look a bit dirty even when washed.
The cutlery is dishwasher proof but saying that I still find that its best to give the pieces an extra dry when they come out of the dishwasher to ensure that they don't have any residual water marks on them
There is a 25 year guarantee on the pieces but I don't think I would have it for 25 years to need this, as spoons in particular have a tendency to go walkabouts!
The knives do what they are supposed to do and cut food although they are not so sharp that they become a danger for younger children. They don't open paint pots without bending at the tip- note to self!
I think the set cost in the region of £10 which was a great price for the quality and style and the only thing I regret is not buying 2 sets because 6 of each just isn't enough.
VERDICT...
A stylish and functional everyday cutlery set which looks set to last a long time.
Recommended for anyone wanting a fairly plain no frills cutlery set which is more modern than traditional in design.
Thanks for reading
Daniela xx Read the complete review |
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Kitchen Craft 5 Piece Knife Set
by scooch12
I'd been after a knife block for a bit after having a new kitchen fitted - the old one was purple and didn't match anything. I saw this kitchen craft knife block and knives on Amazon and while I had some gift vouchers saved up they weren't going to cost me anything. They were £34 through one of their sellers (Harts of Slur), that price ... included around £3 postage. Their recommended retail price was £60 so looked like a great buy. The knives had rave reviews and looked good from the picture but I did buy them without seeing them first (I've never seen them in a high street store). The delivery was ridiculously quick - ordered Monday afternoon, arrived via courier Tuesday afternoon! As they are knives, they can't be sold to under 18's and therefore have to be signed for on delivery.
The box that they came in looked professional. The knives were all individually wrapped in their own cellophane wrapping. There are 5 knives in total. There are two small knives - 1 is a paring knife with an 8.5cm blade and 1 is a utility knife with 12.5cm blade. I use these for chopping vegetables. There is one 20cm carving knife, one 20cm chef's knife and a 20cm bread knife. The knife block is in stainless steel and is brushed silver in colour; there are five slots within it for the knives to fit into. It measures 21cm high, 14cm wide and 15cm deep. The knives are stainless high carbon steel and have a black handle with a brushed silver coloured trim, the blade parts are all a brushed silver colour too. A nice feature is the curved design the knife block has, nicer in my view than just a rectangular shape.
The knives certainly feel very good quality. Each of the knives feels weighty to pick up, much more so than similar priced knife block knives that I've owned in the past. Don't get me wrong, they aren't too heavy to use at all but the weight gives me the feeling that they are well made. They are made with bolsters, apparently this is what makes them feel this weighty. They also look very stylish and contemporary without losing out on quality; my last ones looked the part but were not good for their main use of cutting! Having looked in stores at the various famous chef's versions of knife blocks available, I felt like I'd made the right decision as I didn't think I could justify spending £100+ on those - I couldn't see much difference between them in my view. That's coming from someone though who cooks the evening meal only and a Sunday roast each week, so perhaps people using them more frequently for complex menus may notice more of a difference.
Obviously with knives, they'd be useless if they weren't good at chopping, slicing and cutting. These knives are sharp - all of them have superb blades on them that cut through everything I need them to in the kitchen. I've not yet had to sharpen the blades in the three months I've owned them for either. I've noticed the biggest difference since my last set with the carvery knife as it glides through any meat that I cook for our Sunday roasts. The bread knife also makes it easy to cut through all types of bread that we've bought, not just bog standard slices on sandwiches.
The handles on the knives are also great - the black coating on the handle is actually a non slip grip, I find this is a good feature to have when I'm chopping tougher vegetables.
On the whole, these knives are fabulous but have come across one issue with them. They were described as being dishwasher safe (this was a manufacturers claim) but unfortunately even after one use in the dishwasher, small rust marks started to appear on the blades. Thankfully these don't seem to have got any bigger with the many cycles they've been through since, but it's just something that I have to now keep an eye on. The handle trims etc haven't shown any marks of rust, just the blades. For the 3 months I've owned them, I've used at least one of them each day so I was expecting the rust spots to grow but they haven't which is a good thing. They do come with a 25 year guarantee so if I see those rust marks getting bigger I always have that.
I rate the knives 4 stars in all, with the rust marks just letting them down. In my view they would definitely give more expensive branded ones a run for their money and are perfect for people who need a set of knives for everyday simple cooking. Read the complete review |
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Tesco Value Plastic Cutlery
by 12jane
We bought a pack of these and a tub on Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream from Tesco as a treat part way through a long car journey. After getting to the till I realised we had nothing to eat the ice cream with, so ran to hunt for some spoons!
The Tesco Value Plastic Cutlery set comes in a pack of 24 (8 knives,forks and ... spoons). We only used the spoons, with the knives and forks being kept in the car for use at a later date.
The cutlery are white and plain looking, but they do the job of making it easier to eat than using your fingers very well! They are a good size, and can be used by adults and children easily. They have a bit of flexibility in them, so wont snap in half easily if bent.
We had no difficulty using them to eat our ice cream, they are fairly strong and they will definitely be used again! There are no sharp edges on the spoons (which can be found on some cheap cutlery, making it uncomfortable to eat) which is great.
At a cost of 45p per packet, even only using them once is good value (though not for the environment!), but they can also be washed and reused many times. The cost is under 2p a piece, which is a bargain for sticky finger saving gadgets!!
I award 5/5* as I see no problems at all with these.
They can be used for eating on the go, at barbecues or outdoor events, parties etc. Read the complete review |