This is a good starter knife set with different knives for different applications. The knives come very sharp in the box so they can be used right away. I've been using the chef's knife on a daily basis and it has held up well. I haven't used the sharpener yet, but I'm hopeful it will keep the knives sharp. The set does not contain any serrated knives so I reverted back to some of my old knives when I've needed to cut bread. The physical size of the block is quite large. It takes up a lot more space on my counter than my old 14-piece set so you may want to note the physical dimensions.