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Argos Value Range 24 Piece Venice Cutlery Set
by katykicker
I have a little obsession with cutlery. I have to have matching cutlery and if I find myself down to an odd amount of cutlery for whatever reason (i.e. a knife but no fork) then I don't want to use that cutlery anymore. Recently we were having some family over for my husbands birthday and I wanted to ensure that we had plenty of cutlery ... for everyone without spending loads. As I had bought an expensive electrical item in Argos a few weeks before I had a £10 off voucher and figured I would buy some cutlery as well as few other little bits I wanted for when our guests arrived and this 'venice' set of 24 pieces set me back just £3.99. This seemed like a fantastic price and was one of the cheapest that I could find on the internet without having to wait for delivery, which I was not in the position to do this time, also the set looked similar to another cheap one that I had picked up before so that was a bonus too.
I have had a few different items from Argos since we moved in to our home together, some great, some not so, but I still continue to shop here, particularly for cheaper items, as their quality is usually quite good and I often get a year or two of usage out of an item that was just a few pounds and this represents fantastic value for money for me.
In this set there are 6 knives, 6 forks, 6 desert spoons and 6 teaspoons. This was ideal as really I needed cutlery for 3 or 4 extra people and so I had spares should I need them for food preparation before my guests arrived. The cutlery was individually wrapped and so it took me a few minutes to unwrap everything and open the cardboard packaging then off course I had to wash the items first to ensure that they were sanitary for my guests. In all I thought that the cutlery looked nice considering the price and it had survived its journey with no problems thanks to the packaging.
This cutlery is made from stainless steel, as I would expect, and there is a little pattern along the handles of each piece of cutlery. This makes each piece of cutlery matching and doesn't look too bad actually, especially considering the price. The quality of this cutlery really does reflect the cheap price tag and these pieces of cutlery are incredibly flimsy and bendable. The forks are particularly bad and the prongs actually bend just when poking in to hard food such as steak. I can feel that these are flimsy and have been able to do so from the first time that I used them. The prongs are easily manipulated out of shape in to varying directions and the knives too are flimsy bending even just by pressure down hard or cutting something diagonally. They are able to cut through food well but they bend too easily. The spoons have held up a lot better but then these aren't used for anything more than eating desert or making cups of tea.
If you want some cheap cutlery for an event or something then I would definitely recommend these. The price is reflected in the strength of the knives and forks, however, they served the purpose that I needed them for and it means that if I have not put on the dishwasher or washed up that I can use these and not have to worry about routing around to find some cutlery and then having to wash it up.
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Lakeland Stay Put Chopping Boards
by kama0529
I have four Lakeland Stay Put Chopping Boards that came to be in one pack altogether. The pack of four chopping boards cost me £34.99, but I note that they are currently on sale for £31.99 - which obviously equates to about £8.00 per chopping board. I don't think this is the cheapest chopping boards around, but I do like the convenience ... of having four different colours all in one pack and so for hygiene purposes this is a really good idea.
The boards are different colours, namely red, yellow, green and blue. They are designed to be different colours so that you can use a different board for different foodstuffs. I would find it easier if there was something on the board to remind you what board is to be used for what - because otherwise it's a matter of remembering - and obviously anyone other than me that is preparing food in the house seems completely incapable of remembering the system!! I use the green one for vegetables and fruit, the red one for uncooked meat, the yellow one for cooked meats, and the blue one for bread products etc.
The boards are a decent size - and are all the same size. Each board measures 26 cm x 37 cm and so this is perfectly adequate for domestic size. The boards are each made of plastic, but they have a rubbery frame which stops them from moving around when you are using them for chopping or cutting on. This works really well, especially on our marble surfaces. There is Microban antimicrobial protection inbuilt into the boards and so for hygiene this is really a good idea. Although the surfaces are supposedly knife friendly, the boards do mark when you're chopping on them and over the time I have owned the boards, small scratches have appeared and they do look more "lived in" than they did when first bought! There is a handle that can be held on to when chopping - not that it is really needed - and also to carry the board when transporting ingredients.
The chopping board is dishwasher safe, but I don't always think the dishwasher washes it that well, especially now that there are more scratches - and so I tend to wash it by hand.
Overall, I do think these are a good product, but I think they are a little overpriced and it would be nice to see them drop a little in price. There is a holder which you can buy separately to store them in, which I also have for convenience.
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Argos Value Range 24 Piece Venice Cutlery Set
by jlaker1992
When starting at university halls I went and did a huge shop with my mum for kitchen equipment as I owned hardly anything. We went to Argos at first because there was a leaflet posted through our door and these were shown on it. I didn't want fancy cutlery as I knew that I would end up losing it and have half of it stolen by other house ... mates. I only wanted a few knives and forks, but after seeing this at the price, I ended up with a 24 piece set!!!
Price/quality:
This cost me only 3.99! This is a bargain for 24 pieces of cutlery, I was shocked at how cheap they were. The cutlery is made from stainless still and is very strong, they are not easy to bend or break! They are squared off at the bottom and actually looks extremely stylish! If you saw these at someone's house, you would not think they were cheap.
Easy to clean?:
When I first got them we put them in the dishwasher and they sparkled nicely. Unfortunately at uni we didn't have a dishwasher, so I had to rely on the sink, cloths and fairly liquid to clean these up! I found them very easy to clean and they always sparkled. I was impressed with these and they never looked dirty.
Do they work?:
They work a treat! The knifes are sharp enough to cut thought meat and are not flimsy in any way! The spoons are great and so are the forks. They are all very solid and good size. They are not small and fit nicely into your hands and you never slip or anything like that when holding these. They lasted me a year! I had far too much cutlery and probably only used about half of the set.
Overall:
I would recommend these to any family, althought they seem cheap, the quality in the build is high and and they are very good cutlery. A 24 piece set is enough for a family at home, you could even buy to sets of these for cheaper than other brands! I say these are worth a try. I dont see the point in paying for fancy cutlery with swirly patterns when you can buy these good looking ones for a fraction of the price! These get 5 stars from me, can't say a bad thing about them.
Thanks for reading my review :)
Josh
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