Jean Dubost Laguiole 5-Piece Stainless Steel Flatware

laguiole flatwareOK, first thing to point out is that this is a single setting for one person consisting of five pieces: 8-1/2′ Dinner Fork,  9′ Knife, 6-1/2′ Salad Fork, 8′ Soup Spoon, and a 6′ French Teaspoon. All are made of dishwasher safe 18/8 stainless steel.

The next thing to point out is that this is France’s genuine 19th century Laguiole with the ‘bee’ symbol and everything. More famously known for their wine and cheese knife their line of knives and cutlery hold their name and quality dearly much like “Champagne” does (and I would love to start a Champage blog if I had more hours in the day). The weighted hand hold feel of this set is delightful and takes a fine dining meal one step higher up the ladder. Beautiful work.

 Jean Dubost Laguiole 5-Piece Flatware Set -Stainless Steel

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Black Flatware – Herdmar “Rocco Black” 5-Piece Place Setting

herdmar rocco blackBlack flatware is an elusive beast. It’s hard to find, OK it is not hard to find, but it’s hard to find at a reasonable quality and price. Looking at black flatware online points out one of the common misleading things in cutlery advertising, the “5-Piece Place Setting”. At first read it looks just fine and you think it will fill your requirements. But no it won’t, well actually it will. I keep contradicting myself here don’t I? A “5-Piece Place Setting” is five pieces of cutlery (two forks, two spoons and one knife) for just one person. One place setting for one person. Suddenly the price is 4 times what you thought.

Which brings us back to the black cutlery. This stuff is pricey because of the enameling or annealing process. The black coating has to be sturdy to stand up to the dishwasher and people’s teeth. And for that you pay a little more. The “Rocco Black” set from Herdmar is a reasonable price and I recommend buying it just for two people for those special evenings.

 Herdmar “Rocco Black” 18/10 Stainless Steel 5-Piece Place Setting

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Farberware Chipotle Sand Flatware – Always buy two sets of cutlery.

farberware chipotle sand flatwareThis is a gorgeous and reasonably priced 20 piece flatware set by Farberware with service for four. Including a salad fork, dinner fork, dinner knife, soup spoon and teaspoon. Made of the standard 18/0 stainless steel with a brushed finish. It is dishwasher safe with a 25 year limited warranty.

There is a lesson to be learned here. It’s a nice set but I heartily recommend you buy two sets of this cutlery. A service for four is never enough and going back to find and buy a second set is a constant mistake I see.  There are websites out there the specialize in helping people find sets to match existing ones because of this very common mistake. Remember, always buy at least a service for eight, whether it is for serving guests, cutting down on dishwasher cycles or to have extras for lost cutlery…

 Farberware Chipotle Sand 20-Piece Flatware Set

 

 

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Mikasa Cocoa Blossom Flatware

mikasa flatwareI really like the design of the handles on this flatware set, they look to be substantial and lovely. Not your normal plain flat stamped handle on cheap cutlery.

This is a full setting for 12 people with teaspoon, soup spoon, salad forks, dinner fork, dinner knife. A serving set of sugar spoon, butter knife, large tablespoon, slotted tablespoon and meat fork are included. Made of dishwasher safe 18/10 stainless steel that comes with a limited 25 year warranty (you don’t see that very often). I would consider this a well priced replacement set for the embarrassing cheap set currently sitting in your cutlery drawer.

Mikasa Cocoa Blossom 18/10 65-Piece Flatware Set

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