I also have a set of Henckels 4-Star. I bought them because I liked the feel of the handles and the heft of the knives. I tried other Henckels along with several other brands and came back to the 4-Star. I strongly believe it is a matter of taste and feel. Knives become very personal and when you spend that much, you should like how they feel. After all, who is doing most of the cutting, chopping, and slicing???

I am a chef and have a large collection of knives, both for work and at home. I think how a knofe fits YOUR HAND is probably the most important part of a knife, period.

While most of my knives are riveted, the more rounded style of molded (Four-star) seems to be more and more popular. F. Dick is switching their production from traditional rivets to a riveted handle that is more rounded.

In fact, my ideal chef knife (it does not exist) is a 10 inch knife made of carbon steel, with the weight, balance and blade shape of a F. Dick chef's knife, with a handle identical a Henckels Four-star. No one makes this knife, unfortunately. :(

Use what feels good to you!

We own some Henckel's, Wustoff and a few old Sabatier's. Last week we bought two new Ergo Chef knives with ergonomically designed handles. They were running a Christmas promotion (promotion code 122504) giving a 15% discount, so our 8" Chef's knife was only $83.99. It fits my husband's hand perfectly. I would like to have a 6" Chef's knife just like it, but they do not make that size yet. This is a small chef-designed product line owned by the chef and his family here in CT. They were very nice to do business with.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ergo Chef knives

Re cpovey's reference to F. Dick knives - we own 2 sets of F. Dick steak knives and have given them as gifts to family. Not inexpensive to buy, but the best we have ever used.

I agree with cpovey 100% about the important thing being the feel. It's important to have the right mix of carbon in your knife and for it to be able to take and keep an edge for a decent amount of time, but you can have a handcrafted masterpice blade with a cactus handle on it and you will never enoy the knife.

F-Dick was the set we used in culinary school so many moons ago and the only one that has survived all these years is the 10", but I still use it almost every day, all my other knives are Whustof, but that is just a preference thing.