I have owned the 18-Piece Henckels Gourmet Knife Set for about 1 year now. I purchased these with some wedding gift certificates that we got when I got married last year. This was an upgrade from a decent Faberware set that I had been using for the 4 years prior. Anyway, this set comes with 18 pieces:

8-inch chef's knife
8-inch carving knife
8-inch bread knife
6-inch chef's knife
6-inch boning/utility knife
5-inch serrated utility knife
3-inch paring knife
eight (8) 4 1/4-inch steak knives
9-inch sharpening steel
8-inch kitchen shears
hardwood storage block

Let me clear up the confusion for the people that don't know...there are actually two Henckels brands. "Henckels International" is the more economical brand, not to be confused with the "Zwilling JA Henckels" brand which is the premium brand. Same manufacturer, different grades of metal, location of construction and quality. You can tell the difference by the look of the logo...the cheaper "International" brand has the one tribal man on the logo, whereas the "Zwilling" brand has twin tribal men on the logo.

The "Gourmet" line is the least expensive of the higher premium sets from the Zwilling JA Henckels brand. It is not forged steel. The blade is stamped. However, the quality is much better than the Henckels International brand of stamped knives. The blade stays sharp for longer periods of use. However, it is probably comparable to the top of the line Henckels International Classic FORGED set. That being said, the price point is about the same for the same number of knives, so it makes sense. The highest end Henckels forged set is the "Professional S" or "Pro S" which costs $200 more than the "Gourmet" for an 18-piece set. Keep in mind that the 8 steak knives from the Pro S line are the same ones that come with the Gourmet line, so you know they are a great quality set.

As a relatively affordable premium set of knives, I have used these knives almost every day since their arrival. I've had to sharpen on occassion, but that's normal. All non-serated knives, you will need to sharpen and hone fairly frequently. (Or at least more frequently than a lot more expensive forged sets.) I do it once every few months with the knives that I use frequently and about once a year for the ones that only get used on occasion. But I also do a lot of cutting with them, so the frequency will depend on how often you use them for cutting tough foods. I cook a lot of meats, including cutting up my own chicken, so that dulls the knives rather quickly. If all you cut are veggies, then your knives won't dull as quickly. That being said, my knives still look and feel as if they are brand new. They are great!!!

They are dishwasher safe, but I don't recommend it because the dishwasher will dull all knives. However, occasionally I toss them in the dishwasher if I have a million things to wash after a dinner party and haven't had any problems.

P.S. I wanted a Santoku knife to add to this collection because I cut a lot of fish for sashimi and sushi. After a lot of examination, I decided to NOT get the Gourmet santoku because it did not have a hollow edge and I wanted a forged knife. I ended up splurging and purchased a Wusthof Classic Hollow Edge Santoku to complete this set. Yes, I know I'm supposed to buy the same Henckels brand for loyalty reasons, but as far as Santoku knives were concerned, I liked the feel and style of the Wustof better. It was a debate between the Henckels Pro S Hollow Edge or the Wusthof Classic Hollow Edge because they were in the same price range and the Wusthof knife won by a hair.