ZWILLING Pro 8-inch Traditional Chef's Knife - German High Carbon Stainless Steel Kitchen Knife for Professional Chefs & Home Cooking - Perfect for Chopping, Slicing & Dicing Vegetables, Meat & Herbs

The the manufacturer packaging my knife arrived in was damaged, like it was dropped on it's end and squished a bit. I was nervous that the tip may be broken or some other damage to the blade, but luckily I did not discover any damage. The knife feels really nice in my hand and I like the angled, rounded half-bolster. It is very comfortable. With the full tang, the blade feels really light and I'm able to wield it very precisely and quickly. It is very sharp out of the package and I just ran it over a steel a few times before using. I also like that the bolster does not interfere with the blade like my other chef knives. The only problem I have is that my wife won't let me display it on the magnetic holder with my other knives. I have the Henkels/Zwilling 4-star collection, and this knife doesn't match...so I had to fashion a sheath and put it a drawer. Probably better off so no one else uses it. Do they make sheaths for these knives? I will have to research that. Anyway, this is a really nice chef knife, and I would recommend it to anyone in the market for a decent chef knife.I bought this knife yesterday for $99, and today, I attempted to give this knife a chance, given that I had tried it at Sur La Table before and appreciated the weight of this knife before I decided to buy it on Amazon (had gift card balance), but it unfortunately did not work out for me.First off, I like my kitchen knives. Even though I am not a professional chef, but I have worked in a professional restaurant kitchen and I have a custom-built set of knives, including Shun, Global, Wusthof, and Miyabi. Most of my knives (I have 14 in total) are Shun knives, and my favorite is actually their 8 inch Kiritsuke knife. If you haven't noticed yet, my list of knives that I carry around in my knife roll (10 out of my 14 knifes) does not include a single Zwilling/Henckels knife. The reason for this is, I honestly do not think the quality of Zwilling is that great when compared to the other brands. And before technical people can call me out, I am fully aware that Zwilling produces Miyabi knives, but that is not the point of this review (Miyabi knives are pretty nice).Let's begin with the pros:1. I like the weight of this knife. Its sturdy and heavy, and the balance is very nice when holding the knife in my hand.2. The angle of the knife. I like this one over the 8" chef's knife that they sell for $139 now. This traditional chef's knife is slightly less curved and more straight bladed, and it works very 'traditionally'.3. It has that traditional German knife feel w/ a curved half-bolster (which I didn't expect to like as much as I did, given I use the Wusthof Classic for all of my German knives). This allows for easier sharpening, which is always a plus.4. The steel used is not too hard, at a Rockwell hardness scale of 57, which also makes it easy to sharpen.5. Price! A decent price for a knife of this caliber.And now for the cons:1. As previously mentioned, the steel used is not as hard as that in my other knifes. My Japanese knives go up to a Rockwell hardness of 63, and my Wusthof Classics have a Rockwell hardness of 58. This puts Zwilling at the lowest, at 57, which makes them not keep an edge as well. When I opened the box and tried slicing a piece of paper, it went through easily. After I cut with it for an entire day (one 10 lb bag of onions, one 10 lb bag of potatoes, 3 lbs of meat (beef), and one whole chicken), it no longer passed the paper slicing test. Sure, it did better than my Wusthofs, which have not been sharpened in a while, but it's still quite disappointing.2. Food residue seems to stick easily to this knife near the blade. After a day of prep, washing it in warm water with soap and a soft (delicate) sponge did not seem to fully remove the residue. This poses a major problem, because if using a non-delicate sponge, the blade would be scratched more so than if using a delicate sponge. In the end, I was able to remove the residue; however, it seemed much more tedious to remove than removing food residue on my Wusthof knives.Even though I have more pros than cons, given that this knife is not a "bad" knife, it's not the one for me. I personally believe you can find a better knife at this price point. In the end, after a day of testing, I would prefer the 8 inch Wusthof Classic over this knife (if looking strictly at German knives).I'm just disappointed in how short of a time this knife stayed sharp. My ex roommate has this exact same knife, and it stays sharp for at least a month between sharpenings. I'm not doing anything different with my knife than I did with his. It would appear there is no consistency in the manufacturing.We shopped around for a long time and compared a bunch of knife block packages. We even got taken in by the Cutco high-pressure sales guy at a show but thank goodness we returned the $2000 set in time for a full refund - whew.After much thought about what we have and what we 'need' in a knife set, we decided to buy a high quality chef knife and build from there. This is what the experts online recommend and so far we are very happy with that strategy. It's been months now and the additional $1900 we saved by not buying the huge Cutco package is relieving. This knife does almost everything you need in the kitchen and is obviously going to last the rest of our lives...This knife is a work horse. Easy to sharpen, but holds it edge pretty good. The price is spot on. I work at a mid level catering company and this knife fits the job well.Can't review this knife, because it's a 2020 CHRISTMAS GIFT. I HAVE SEVERAL OTHER SIZES AND YOU CAN'T GO WRONG.Good knife, although I think buying a Henckels one knife at a time is a pretty stupid thing to do, and I did it.Always buy a set even if you throw away the block. These are very good, but I have some Japanese knives that are far superior and cost only a little more, so I’m giving this away.Heavy, solid, sharp!It's a pricey knife and when it turns up on the door, it comes in very plain packaging, nothing fancy.Comfortable to use, both my wife and I find it easy to hold and control. Even when doing lots of preparation for dinners over the holidays, it kept going and we weren't overly fatigued from using it.You instantly know that you are using a knife that professional chefs would buy, as it slices and dices with much greater ease than the old knives in the block, even when I thought I had sharpened them.I would recommend getting a sharpening steel (Zwilling do one that's reasonably priced) to keep on top of the edge so it doesn't get blunt over time. I am considering adding other knives from the range to my kitchen equipment.It's a very high quality knife and very nice to handle, it cuts through everything like cutting through a butter. At first I thought £68 for a knife is not worth it since I'm not a cook but after owning for 4 months I'm definitely a much better cook than I was 4 months ago just because I cook more often because of this knife and makes me spend less on takeaway food so all in all it's worth it. It could also be a conversation starter especially if all your friends uses IKEA knivesA fabulous and rather expensive cooking knife. Worth every penny, delivery was well within the promised window and it was well packed too.What?! Spend $130 on one stupid knife when I can get one at walmart for $10? That's what I thought too. Believe me it IS sooo worth it.After reading a ton of reviews and watching youtube vids on finding a good chef knife, this one always came out on top! The Henckels 8 inch PRO (Made in Germany...not the International version made in Spain).One comment from a Chef said, "Why spend $50- $80 on a mediocre knife that needs sharpening every few hours, then replacing it every 2 to 3 years, when you can pay another $50 and get a knife that will outlast you". The secret is in the steel.He wasn't kidding. Just from holding the knife in your hand you can tell it's a well thought out and comfortable design. It's perfectly balanced and sculptured for the "pinch grip". The the steel is super sharp and holds a razor edge longer than any other knife. Only use the knife on wooden or plastic cutting boards, stay away from glass boards they dull a knife faster than using it to cut bricks.Go ahead, treat the "Chef" in your life, they deserve the best and will thank you for it!Superior German craftsmanship, perfectly heat treated steel, and a super comfortable design, what more do you want?Ich habe dieses Messer reklamiert, spreche aber dennoch eine Empfehlung dafür aus.Mir gefiel das Messer auf Anhieb sehr gut. Nach langen Überlegungen zum Thema "Kochmesser" habe ich mich dann auch für das Zwilling Pro entschieden.Die positiven Aspekte:Das Messer war sehr sauber verarbeitet, keine Grate oder dergleichen. Die Klinge war schnurgerade und der Anschliff absolut brauchbar. Auch die Schärfe war sehr gut.Das absolute Pro Argument für dieses Messer war der Übergang von der Klinge zum Griff, bzw. Der Kropf. Dieser Übergang ist ein echter Handschmeichler. Im "Pinch-Grip" liegt das Messer hervorragend in der Hand. Damit war das Schneiden eine echte Freude.Ein weiterer, für mich wichtiger Punkt war die Klingenstärke. Dieses Zwilling hat eine sehr schlanke Klinge und machte so nicht den Eindruck eines Stemmeisens, was bei vielen deutschen Klingen ein Problem zu sein scheint.Nun zu dem Grund für die Reklamation.Die Klingenform empfand ich für meine Art des Schneidens als suboptimal. Ich variiere zwischen dem Wiegeschnitt / Druckschnitt und dem eher japanisch angehauchten Zugschnitt. Für diesen bedarf es einer heruntergezogenen Spitze. Bei diesem Messer ist die Spitze sehr hochgezogen. Dieser Tatsache war ich mir beim Kauf durchaus bewusst, hielt das aber für nebensächlich, bzw. dachte ich, das ließe sich kompensieren.Das war eine Fehleinschätzung meinerseits.Bitte nicht falsch verstehen, das Messer ist eine absolute Wucht, nur kam ich nicht so gut mit der weit hochgezogenen Spitze klar, wie gedacht.Ich empfand das als einschränkend genug, um es wieder zurück zu schicken.Trotzdem empfehle ich dieses Messer weiter, da mich die Verarbeitungsqualität, die Handlage des Griffes, bzw. des herausragend gestalteten Kropfes und die erreichbare Schärfe beeindruckt haben.Als Vergleich: Ich habe danach ein Dick Red Spirit bestellt und dessen Verarbeitung war... nicht zufriedenstellend. Das Modell wies eine rechtsseitig verzogene Klinge auf und der Anschliff war so asymmetrisch, dass das Messer beim schneiden nach rechts wegglitt.In Summe empfehle ich das Zwilling Pro unbedingt, jedoch sollte man sich über die Eigenheiten der Klingenform im Klaren sein.