ZWILLINGPro Knife Block, 18-slot, Walnut

Regarding Henckels ZWILLING Pro Knife Block, 18-slot, Walnut: Product arrived damaged thanks to ridiculously placing this heavy item alone in a giant box with no padding. However, after examining it, I am returning it as inefficient. This particular knife block is poorly designed, with a nonintuitive strange shape. One reason I got it was that it had places for both a steel and shears, but I'm unconvinced that the wide-open, backless channel for the steel is a good idea. Knives fit without overlapping, but they are placed at a strange angle that makes them hard to unsheath. I wanted an heirloom-quality hardwood block, which this is (I considered gluing it back together despite the chipping damage), but the block isn't intuitively functional enough to earn a spot in my kitchen. I will replace with one that is less dramatically designed, but I'm not going to mail-order one because obviously shipping heavy things is a bad idea.

I'm quite disappointed with this knife block. I invested in the Zwilling/Henckels Professional-S knives, piece by piece so I would have exactly the ones I needed. I first ordered the Zwilling wave pattern knife block and it didn't work out for these knives -- they wobbled. This block is supposed to accommodate the unique bolster of the Pro-S series, but I have two chef's knives that do not fit -- one is too long (10" blade) and one is too wide (8" blade).I kept the block anyway, and have the other knives in it -- but now that the return window has expired I am sorry I didn't go ahead and return it. The wood is simply does not look or feel like the right type of hardwood for this application & the walnut stain is quite generic. I don't know what type of wood this is made of, but there is a fairly good sized chip out of the front of the block just from everyday wear & tear on the countertop. I don't even know when it happened. In comparison, my 40+ year old knife blocks (Chicago Cutlery) are oak with a beautiful wood grain -- not the modern style, but they are solid, heavy-duty and they still look great after all these years despite being knocked around through many moves.

The picture doesnt do you justice in terms of what angle the knife block will be at . WHen its centered on a counter it has like a weird angle that just looks awful.

Item arrived broken and damaged. The block looks as if it split where it meets another piece of wood that was glued on.

Great design on this knife block. Love the white washed finish. Needed something neutral to match my white/gray kitchen. Looks great.

Love the style and color. Looks great and holds knives well

This is beautiful. Holds all my steak and chef knives perfectly.

lOOKS HANDSOME.