Wusthof CLASSIC 3-Piece Starter Knife Set - High-Quality German Kitchen Knives for Cooking, Slicing & Dicing | Perfect Gift for Chefs & Home Cooks

received 7/8/14These are my first sharp knives and the question I have to ask is "why did I wait?"I had been purchasing toss away knives and replacing every year or two. I recently became unemployed when the company I worked for went out of business and I decided to take some time off to de-stress before rejoining the work force. In that time I started cooking and reading up on knife skills and realized that I could not do what they were teaching with the knives I had. They were simply too dull. So began a ton of research.Best budget knife based on research:Victorinox Fibrox 8-Inch Chef's KnifePros: Sharp and $40 approx for chefCons: Stamped (isn't supposed to hold edge as long) and the handle which felt like cast iron to me (which is like nails on the chalk board to me)Best Japanese Knife based on reviews:MAC MTH80It was on my list to test out, but they didn't have it at william sonoma and the hard steel knives have reviews that discuss chipping a lot. Some reviews I found put this knife at the top.Best Western Knife:Wusthof Classic- Great balance- they changed the angle of the blade a few years ago and they can now compete with japanese knives- in expensive- less likely to stain vs Japanese Damascus knives.Doing the sharpness test on my arms, it only cut off one or two hairs although I was moving slowly. How does that compare? I don't know, but I'm going with "it's nice and sharp" in my book.I can now practice those knife skills they show on TV with ease. I've never cut things so small before.The weight is fantastic.Classic vs Ikon Vs GourmetIkon is the exact same as the classic except for the handle. The weight is all in the handle and it felt uncomfortable to hold appropriately. It was NOT balanced.Gourment - stamped budget knives. Get the fibrox instead as these aren't very good knives.The piece set contained:(1) 8" chef knife(1) 8" bread knife(1) 3.5" paring knife.I list that because the product itself didn't describe so I went off of visual proportions and I was nervous until I received it. At 200 this is a great price for all three. Basically you save $10 and the paring knife is free.Packaging was a wusthof box with felt and a plastic see through top. Knife tips were covered in circular rings to protect tips. My bread knife was not. I'm not sure why.I'm very happy that my research delivered to me exactly what I wanted and what a HUGE difference sharp knives can make. I love the weight, balance, and sharpness of these knives so much.