Cutco knives are well-known around the world. Dedicated to creating and selling knives to every home kitchen, almost every home in North America is known to have (or had) at least one knife by Cutco.
In the advent of the sales controversy by Vector Marketing where marketing recruitments are highlighted publicly as shams, I would like to contribute using these Cutco knives reviews. Sales issues or not, the main aspect of Cutco products are the quality knives the company produces. With every knife proving its superb power to slice and retain its edge for a long time means that Cutco products are definitely legit. To further understand an unbiased opinion of Cutco knives, continue reading and find out the power behind a 70-year old knife manufacturer and the company’s knives.
Cutco Corporation: One of The World’s Finest Cutlery
Cutco is known to manufacture high-grade knives that surpass the quality needed for a home kitchen. It is popularly known as a cutlery corporation that reaches out to target markets and sells their products directly. This is one reason why practically every home in North America had at least one Cutco knife.
Since 1949, Cutco has been producing quality knives that are manufactured for every home. Dedicated to providing quality knives to home cooks, Cutco has been in the market for 70 years in producing and distributing kitchen cutlery and knife accessories. Included in their line are sporting, hunting, and pocket knives. However, the brand pays more attention to providing every home a high-end knife set that every home cook should have in their knife block.
Exclusive Double-D Cutco Trademark Edge
The trademarked Double-D blade edge is unique to Cutco and is an all-exclusive type of edge made through the company. It is a type of serrated, three-way edge to cut your food. Each serration is sharpened on three sides, making this a uniquely serrated blade. The typical blade serrations are rounded while the Cutco recesses are in the shape of a trapezoidal D.
The Double-D edge has proven to be superior in cutting food as compared to other typical serrated knives. The blade edge is unique only to Cutco. With the many types of knives produced by Cutco, the following types of knives hold the Double-D blade edge:
- Trimmer
- Table knife
- 9” Carver
- 8” santoku-style carver
- 6 ¾ petite carver
- 9 ¾” slicer
- Santoku-style 10” Slicer
- 7 ¾ “, Hardy Slicer
- Gourmet Prep Knife
- Steak Knife
- Spatula Spreader
- Traditional Cheese Knife
- Santoku-style Cheese Knife
- Basic Cheese Knife
Cutco blades are immensely durable. For that reason, you will find live Cutco demonstrations with their quality knives. The live demonstrations usually showcase the strength of Cutco knives and are deliberately used to cut cement, wood, plastic, pipes, tubes, and more. This is to perform difficult slicing needs (even using Double-D edge knives to slice through thick plastic pipes) and still sharp enough to cut meat and vegetables. Though we don’t use our knives in such unorthodox ways, we can understand how the company has been able to survive by producing knives for so long.
The Double-D edge extends the life of the knife’s blades. Since the serrations have their individual cutting edge, it makes the knife retain its edge much longer. Even when some of the serrations dull down, the cutting prowess will not be compromised since the other sharp tips will supplement the dullness.
Not all Cutco knives have recessed edges, some of them have straight edges too. The straight edged knives are designed for heavier slicing usage. They have thicker spine bases that allow you to put pressure on such knives without compromising the blade. Straight edged knives also provide better performance in slicing tough ingredients like meat, frozen goods, and hard tubers. They are also used to make the iconic Cutco shears that can cut a penny in half.
Cutco Secret: 440A True Stainless Steel
Cutco knives are made of 440A stainless steel. This steel is known for its strength, resilience and durability because it is manufactured and tested under extreme temperatures. Making a 440A stainless steel involves a lot of heating and cooling at precise temperatures to make tough knives. Here is how 440A steel is made:
- The process begins in annealing the metal alloy in high temperatures ranging from 850⁰C to 900⁰C (1562⁰F to 1652⁰F).
- It is then slowly cooled by reducing the furnace temperature or moving the blade to a cooler furnace with a temperature of 600⁰C (1112⁰F).
- After which, it is taken out of the furnace to be air-cooled.
- Once the metal has rested, it then undergoes the hardening process. It starts by heating the metal at 1010⁰C to 1065⁰C (1850⁰F to 1949⁰F).
- The heat is quenched in warm oil and tempered at a lower temperature. The tempering of the metal defines the final attribute of the blade. The characteristics of the blades change depending on the temperature used to temper the metal. If the metal is tempered at temperatures ranging from:
- 150⁰C to 370⁰C (302⁰F to 698⁰F), the harder the steel is;
- 590⁰C to 675⁰C (1094⁰F to 1247⁰F), the steel will have high impact resistance but reduced hardness;
- 371⁰C to 589⁰C (699.8⁰F to 1092.2⁰F), tempering within this temperature range will compromise the steel losing its impact resistance and its hardness ikw.
Tempering doesn’t just add to the hardness of the blade but it also helps in keeping it highly resistant to rust and corrosion. This makes blades made of 440A steel one of the most resilient knives when it comes to damage caused by nature.
It is also an ideal material in making dental and surgical equipment, as well as in making outdoor knives. In addition, it is one of the few stainless alloys used in making underwater knives and underwater equipment.
Why Are Cutco Knives More Expensive Than Other Knife Brands?
Cutco gets its materials and manufactures its knives exclusively in America and is proud to be called an all-American company. With higher costs starting from the procurement of the materials, the knives’ manufacturing costs, and the knives’ distribution costs would make the market price of each knife significantly higher. For that reason, the knives are also made under American standards.
Choosing the Best Cutco Knife Set
Among Cutco’s various knife sets, I have put together 2 lists of the most recommended knife sets that would suit you. The first list is for the top 2 knife sets offered by Cutco and the second list would be 4 top individual knives Cutco offers.
Cutco Homemaker +8 Kitchen Knife Set
Foundation of a Well-Equipped Kitchen
For a busy home kitchen, you’d surely like to have a full set of knives where there is a knife for every need. This 21-piece knife set is complete with shears to fill practically any type of slicing demand you have at home.
Set Pieces:
This knife set is the complete Cutco Knife Series. The Cutco Homemaker is fitted with the latest knife designs created to serve your kitchen for life. The Homemaker +8 comes with:
- 8 Table Knives
- Paring Knife
- Trimmer
- Santoku-style Trimmer
- Santoku Chopper Chef Knife
- Carver
- Slicer
- Gourmet Prep Knife
- Traditional Cheese Knife
- Turning Fork
- Shears
- Vegetable Peeler
- Sharpener
- 18-piece Cherry Finish Oak Block
This set has everything that you need from preparing your food all the way to eating it. All the essentials in cutting vegetables, meat, and meals are beautifully brought together by a stunning cherry finished oak knife block.
Special Attributes:
You don’t often find a cutlery set that includes table knives. Oftentimes, we buy table knives as a gift set accompanied by spoons and forks but not including a kitchen set. In this series, you get to enjoy everything that you will ever need in preparing a full set meal. This makes the job easier since you can use each knife according to its intended purpose hence reducing the abuse that each knife might have to take.
In addition to the table knives, you also get Cutco’s best-selling traditional cheese knife. The cheese knife has a hollowed-out blade. Cheese can be tricky to slice because even if you use a knife with a Granton edge, the cheese will still unrelentingly stick to the side of the blade. To reduce this drag, the traditional cheese knife is hollowed out to make sure that you can slice your cheese evenly from start to finish.
You also have the santoku-style set knives which are inspired by the santoku design and purpose. The santoku-style trimmer, chef’s knife, slicer, and carver are the versatile knives in this set. They can handle slicing, dicing and mincing, and all of them come in different sizes to accommodate a variety of food.
- The trimmer is specially designed for trimming fat off the meat;
- The slicer and carver are meant to cut roasts;
- and, the chef’s knife is for general cutting purposes.
This cutlery collection also includes other items like the shears, vegetable peeler, plus a straight-edge blade sharpener so you can sharpen your knives faster and easier. It’s a convenient addition to your knife set. All the knife handles have a full tang to keep each knife strong and intact.
Knife Block:
What’s great about this set is that it comes with its own oak knife block. The knife block holds all the 20-tools. The cherry finish makes it look absolutely stunning on your kitchen counter, adding a rustic look to a modern kitchen.
PROS
CONS
Overall:
This is definitely the essential knife set that will guarantee to accompany you in making simple meals to a full feast. This homemaker really does make your kitchen cooking experience beautiful with a set that completes all your slicing needs and beyond.
CUTCO Model 1945 Essentials +5
Humble Kitchen Cutlery Basics
Sometimes, you don’t actually need a large selection of knives. Most knives have more than one function and properly using these knives will serve all your slicing, dicing, and mincing needs.
Set Pieces:
This knife set is perfect for singles, couples, and smaller families because all the knives are of a smaller scale. This set comes with:
- 2 ¾” Paring knife
- 6 ¾” Spatula spreader
- 6 ¾” Petite carver
- 7 ½” Petite chef’s knife
- 4 3” Table knives
- Carving fork
- Spatula spreader
- Small cutting board
- Honey Finish Oak Block
A smaller-scale knife set would fulfill all of your cutting needs with more convenience as to which knife you should use for today’s meal preparation.
Special Attributes:
The knife set comes in a complete set of three stunning multi-purpose kitchen knives: chef’s knife, paring knife, and carver. The chef’s knife and a paring knife can cut, slice, mince, and dice with ease, whereby both are designed for multipurpose cutting styles. The chef’s knife is also meant to handle heavier cutting needs like slicing frozen meat and cutting through tendons and cartilage. The paring knife serves as a supplement to the chef’s knife where it can function as a nakiri vegetable knife and boning knife. The carver can serve as a bread knife as well as a skinning and filleting knife.
The set also comes with a spreading spatula, that you can use as a bread slicer because on side of the spatula is a serrated edge. This helps to spread butter, cream or filling on bread much easier and cleaner. It is also perfect for slicing tender meat and cheese, making this the ultimate sandwich knife.
The series also comes with a turning fork to help you keep the food in place especially roasted meat when you are slicing. In addition, it comes with a complimentary chopping board. To keep the entire set together, a beautiful oak block is included to help you store your knives properly.
Knife Block:
The knife block has a glossy honey finish. The finish is light and bright making this a knife block that really stands out in any type of kitchen. The knife block looks amazing in any setting. It will help your knives retain their edges and provide easy access to your cutlery. It is made of plastic with juice grooves that outline the entire cutting board to prevent liquid from spilling onto the counter or table to lessen a messy clean-up.
PROS
CONS
Overall:
Overall, this is the perfect knife set for a small scale home kitchen. You have everything that you need from this knife set as well as other complementary accessories for daily kitchen use perfect for a small family.
Comparing the Top Cutco Knife Sets
Cutco Knife Set | No. of Pieces | Best Used For | Current Price | Our Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 knives and accessories | Large families | ||
| 13 knives and accessories | Singles, couples, small families |
Choosing the Best Cutco Knives
Cutco knives can also be bought separately, here are our choices for the best Cutco knives you can get your hands on.
CUTCO Model 2166 Petite Santoku Knife
Smaller Santoku for Ultimate Versatility
Santoku knives are made to make slicing and cutting easier, faster, and safer. A smaller version of a santoku knife offers better control, making it an ideal knife for overall slicing needs from food preparation to cutting small items around the house.
Special Attributes:
The santoku knife is characterized by a wide blade that curves at the tip. This feature makes the santoku knife very safe for making speedy movements. The wide blade serves to protect your fingers from getting cut. It also provides a wide enough room for your fingers for a better grip. This way, you don’t have to hang your hand over the edge of the counter.
The santoku knife is a great knife for heavy usage since it is the Japanese version of a chef’s knife, it works well under heavy use and abuse. It is also a very durable knife that allows you to make various types of cuts with ease. The santoku knife is meant to slice all types of food thus making this the ultimate chef’s knife. And since it is a smaller santoku knife, it is more portable.
This knife is also known to have perfect balance making it very easy for you to handle the knife without causing and strain and fatigue on your fingers, hand, and wrist.
Cutting Purpose:
The santoku knife makes it easier for anyone to make delicate slices in quick short movements. Power cutting with speed is one of its highlights. It can perform precision cuts like making sushi and thin slices of meat; as well as making vegetable strips, julienne cuts, easy dicing, and general chopping.
PROS
CONS
Overall:
The Santoku is very easy to use and is a great knife for different purposes. This petite knife provides better control and easy movement. This is ideal for those who have small hands.
Cutco Cutlery Paring Knife Classic Dark Brown
Complementary Knife for All Utility
This small knife is essential in every kitchen. It is capable of making harder cutting tasks simple. It serves as an aid to support larger knives such as brisket knives for harder slicing tasks.
Special Attributes:
The paring knife has a smaller blade compared to its handle. This is because it is used as an extension of the fingers. The longer handle also offers maximum control and precision cutting. You can maneuver this knife with ease and also make better and more comfortable cuts without causing strain on your hand.
The knife is also very light but the balance falls on the larger and heavier handle to make sure that you will have better control. Daily tasks often need intricate handling and the paring knife is perfect for the job, especially in peeling fruits and vegetables.
The knife has a thin handle because it is designed to be held by your fingers rather than by your entire hand. This makes the knife more versatile and offers better steering of the knife.
Cutting Purpose:
This serves as an ideal tool for paring fruits and vegetables, cutting tubers into smaller pieces and making delicate cuts that require time and patience. In the absence of a peeler, you get better handling and maneuverability using a paring knife. It can punch holes, cut out the stalks and even deseed fruits and vegetables.
Since the blade is smaller, it makes peeling much easier compared to a peeler The curved blade makes it easier for you to peel the skin off of round fruits like apples, mangoes, potatoes and more. Because it is very easy to handle, you can make intricate details especially in making garnishes like carrot roses, strawberry flowers, and thin apple rings.
The sharpened tip of the knife also allows you to core apples, pears, pineapples and the like. And it can also dig into meat to help separate bones from the joints. It can be used in deboning and removing small portions of skin and fat.
PROS
CONS
Overall:
This is a true multitasker. It aids in practically anything that you need to do when it comes to peeling, slicing and cutting. This knife is also good for intricate slicing.
Cutco Trimmer #1721
The Cutco Utility Knife
This is designed for multipurpose use and has proven to be a customer favorite for the past 40 years.
Special Attributes:
The trimmer is one of Cutco’s prime knives. It is made with the trademark Double-D cutting edge with the right length for easy handling.
The small design makes it easy to maneuver for quick and easy slices without any hassle. Since the knife has a perfect balance, it doesn’t put stress on the wrist and fingers.
Despite the thin narrow blade, this is a knife built for heavy cutting, so power cutting is possible using the trimmer. In addition to power slicing, it is also quite flexible and somewhat elastic because if you slice and bend, the knife easily goes back to its original shape.
Cutting Purpose:
The trimmer’s main purpose is to trim fat from the meat. The small serrations make this an easy job because it can easily dig into the flesh and slide the fat right off both cooked and uncooked meat. Aside from cutting the fat, it is also good for skinning because of the flexibility of the blade.
It’s also good for making smaller cuts of vegetables. It can be an amazing bread knife in making sandwiches or in slicing bagels in half to toast. It is a general utility knife that is very handy even in non-kitchen uses like cutting wires peeling the wallpaper off the wall and many more.
PROS
CONS
Overall:
This small knife is a really handy tool to have around. The small size is ideal for various tasks around the kitchen and beyond. With this small knife, you can easily prepare ingredients for simple meals any time of the day.
CUTCO Model 1766 Santoku Knife
The Professionals Favorite Companion
This full-sized santoku knife makes slicing and other cutting techniques simpler and more refined. The santoku experience is better with a 7.75” inch blade length.
Special Attributes:
Initially designed as the pinnacle for kitchen usage, this knife is known as the triple threat chef’s knife that allows you to cut ingredients faster. Speed cutting is the main purpose of its design. It is specifically designed to perform delicate and equal cuts mainly due to its straight edge. The straight edge does not allow any rocking motion but a single downward movement to make more precision slicing and cutting.
The sheepsfoot tip is blunt to make the knife safer. Because it is often used for fast movements, a sharpened tip is a high-risk factor. With the Cutco Santoku knife, the tip is slightly sloping forward for a short protruding curved tip to allow better mincing techniques. With this slightly curving tip, you can make forward and backward slicing making mincing quicker and easier.
Cutting Purpose:
The Santoku knife is best used for making equal precision cuts. This is very hard to achieve with other types of knives. The Santoku helps you make fine slices of potatoes, carrots, garlic and would make removing seeds off bell peppers easy as well as chopping leafy vegetables.
It is very easy to make fillets and thin slices of meat. Making butterfly chicken breasts is also a breeze with the Santoku knife.
The knife is very light despite having a longer blade. It is well-balanced and is perfect for all hand sizes. It is also ideal for both right-handed and left-handed chefs and cooks.
PROS
CONS
Overall:
This is the ideal knife for all your chopping and slicing needs. It even goes beyond what it is designed for, making this knife a great companion to every professional chef or cook. In a busy kitchen, the Santoku knife is truly a versatile companion to have.
Comparison Table of Cutco Knives
Cutco Knife | Blade Length | Knife Length | Blade Edge | Current Price | Our Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5” | 11” | Straight | ||
| 5” | 8” | Straight | ||
| 3” | 10” | Double-D | ||
| 7.25” | 12.75” | Straight |
The Final Takeaway
Cutco knives are known to be a tad bit more expensive than other knives, but the price is definitely justified by the performance of the knife as well as the longevity of each knife. Out of all the solo knives in our list, I would recommend the knife that makes everything simpler and easier to perform and that would be the Cutco Paring Knife. Despite the smaller size, it does more than just peel and slice. It becomes a part of your hand in performing all slicing tasks. In addition, it helps you perform utility knives functions aside from chopping, slicing, dicing, and mincing.
For the best Cutco knife set, I would highly recommend the Cutco Homemaker +8 Kitchen Knife Set. The knives are designed for various tasks with each knife able to fulfill more than their said function and possessing extensive durability Though Cutco knives already have swoon-worthy edge retention, using each knife for their preferred purpose will increase slicing performance. Plus, it has all the major knives that a home kitchen should have.
I hope this in-depth Cutco knives review served its purpose and helped you out. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll answer them for you.