This knife set was given to us as a wedding gift to replace the current block we had, which was also by Henckels. The knives were sharp right out of the box and packaged well when they got to us. The best thing about these knives in particular is the handle - it's heavy and curved, and feels very nice in your hand when grabbing them out of the block and also during chopping! Overall excellent quality knives and am looking forward to using them for years to come. [This review was collected as part of a promotion.]