ZWILLING20-Slot Super Knife Storage Block, Hardwood

As is typical, I do a lot of research on things before I buy them. Literally spend days learning everything I can. On a recent trip to Florida to visit relatives, I purchased a set of Forever Knives from a company in Edison New Jersey! Less then 50.00! I was looking for a good knife block to put them in with horizontal slots to keep the knife edges sharp and straight longer. It also had to hold a lot of Knives! I searched and found this one. Yes it is large, but it has to be to hold 20 knives,cleavers, steel, scissors, or whatever else you are putting in it. It has 12 slots up top for large knives, cleavers, scissors, and your steel(I put my meat thermometer in it) and 8 on the bottom for steak or paring knives! Very sturdy and looks great! Well made! Not only do I highly recommend it, I sent the link to many of my friends with the same problem! lolUpdate 01/11/13 If you don't buy this knife block you have to be crazy! It still looks new and stays clean as well as holds my knives without dulling them. I've had it for over 2 years now I think and have bought one for my mother and father as well. I should get paid by the company for showing mine to guest who run out and order one. Price is amazing compared to over 100.00 on inferior ones that aren't made tough like this! Just wanted to add longevity to the list of pluses. :)

The Henckels 20-Slot Super Knife Storage Block is the best knife block I could find because it offers a lot of versatility, and most importantly for me, it includes 8 slots for steak knives, which most blocks do not have. There are 19 actual usable slots available on the block. It is referred to as a "20-slot" block because the top-left slot that holds the sharpening steel can also be used as a regular cutlery slot, however it cannot be used to hold a sharpening steel AND a piece of cutlery. So in truth, the storage block can only hold 19 items, even though in essence it has 20 "different" slots.The block is nice and heavy so it's not going to move around. It is 5" wide, 11" deep, and 9.5" tall. Due to the addition of the steak knife section, it is going to be slightly longer than most blocks.A breakdown of the slots are as follows (view the picture I uploaded for a better diagram of the different slots). I noticed another reviewer listed dimensions, but their measurements are incorrect.Top section:1 x Sharpening steel OR cutlery (1.375" wide)1 x 3.375" cleaver slot2 x 2" slots4 x 1.375" slots2 x 1" cutlery slots1 x kitchen shears (1" x .75")Bottom section:8 x 1" slots (steak knives)If you don't need the extra space for the steak knives, I'd recommend getting the J.A. Henckels International 10-Slot Knife Storage Block instead.

Very solid and holds all my knives well, even my long bread knife fits without an issue

Knife block is very well made and the design will accommodate any variety of knives you have along with a sharpener. The heavy weight keeps it in place when getting or replacing a knife. It looks great on the counter.

We bought this knife block for the cleaver slot, a relatively rare feature in affordable knife blocks.I don't believe in boxed knife sets - I like to carefully research and select each individual knife. That leaves me with a set of knives I like very much, but no matching block with a slot for each knife. This block has a good mix of sizes, and holds all of the knives we own with a little room to grow. I particularly appreciate having somewhere to put kitchen scissors, and there is room for my steak knives as well.We did have one big disappointment: when the knife block arrived, two of my knives didn't fit! My traditional Chinese-style cleaver is a little bit wider than some western cleavers, and my 10" butcher knife is extra wide toward the end. I did measure before I bought - when you measure your knives, be careful to look for the widest part of a curved blade, and leave at least 1/4 inch of margin against the manufacturer's reported slot width.For our knife block, the problem was solved with a standard flat file and about an hour of hard work. I wouldn't really recommend this approach, but it worked for us. In fact, I think my filed edges were nicer than the original finish, and I went ahead to touch up a few of the other slots. I particularly liked the way each knife slot goes all the way through. This makes it easier to keep clean, and also made filing a lot easier. (I could file from both ends, and easily remove saw dust.)Otherwise, I think you get what you pay for. The generic wood isn't beautiful. I think it is some sort of composite product held together with a good amount of glue. After a couple of months, it is already starting to show some wear. However, the beautiful custom wood knife blocks I found online or in nice kitchen stores were at least 10 times more expensive.Bottom line: four stars, and a positive recommendation. You can't beat the value, even if mine did turn out to be a 'do it yourself' project. And I'm really happy to have all of my knives well protected in one block. Just be careful to measure your knives before you buy!

Perfect knife storage. Knives fit perfectly, Easy to put in and come out. Looks good on my kitchen cabinet.