ZWILLING J.A. Henckels 35006-103 Zwilling Pro Knife Block, Walnut

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

Not the color pictured. Definitely more cherry red than walnut. Quality looks suspiciously poor. Chips, uneven stain. Im skeptical of its authenticity especially bc it came in a box for an electric kettle. Returned immediately

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.

I have my doubts about this item being "new" as it's described in the listing. It was shipped to me loose inside an Amazon box with no protective box or foam or anything you'd expect from a new product. Even if this was a recycled block from a complete set that was still in new condition, it shouldn't have been sold as new. It's used. In this case, it's used and in terrible condition - dinged corners and edges, faded stain, looks just awful on the counter. I would not buy this product again let alone from this vendor. I'd rather by a used block listed as used so at least you know what you're getting. I'd say this block in this condition was worth about $10 bucks. I could see someone still wanting it at that price. But for nearly a hundred bucks? You gotta be kidding me. Stay away.

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.

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

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.