Review on Ninja K52015 Foodi NeverDull 15 Piece Premium Knife System with Wood Series Block, German Stainless Steel, Built-in Sharpener – Stainless Steel/Walnut by Steven Asthana

I have a number of Ninja items in my kitchen and was glad to try out their knife system and compare them to my 20 year old set from Wusthof. These check all my requirements for quality knives. They are well balanced, have a full tang and double rivets, with an ergonomically shaped and comfortable handle. The knives themselves are wonderfully sharp and are very much like my Wusthof knives when they were brand new. The one thing the Ninjas do not come with is a honing steel. Instead there is a built in sharpener where you insert the knife, slide the handle up and down 10 times and, voila, your knives are sharp again.This really is the complete set for any kitchen with steak knives, shears, bread knife, santoku knife and all the various specialty knives that any adventurous cook needs.The block is not my favorite. It is a wood block stained in a walnut color which is a bit different than the raw wood look of my wusthof block. It also has suction cups on the bottom instead of rubber feet. I do find the suction cups annoying since repositioning the block requires some wrangling. Will suction cups last 20 years? Only time will tell.This may be diving deeper than needed but the other question I had was what exactly was the composition of the steel? German steel is a vague term that isn't always the gold standard one might think of. For example, Wüsthof knives are each crafted from a single piece of chromium- molybdenum-vanadium steel with a Rockwell hardness of 58. I have left them in a filled sink overnight, used them on plastic cutting boards (a big no-no for some) and they still look brand new except for some dulling of the black handles. The Ninja knives say that they should only be hand washed (the same goes for any good knife) and should be dried thoroughly before storing to prevent watermarks. I had no doubt I would forget these in the sink as well so I did some digging to see what exactly these were made of. Ninja missed a marketing opportunity here because the labeling on the knives clearly state that these are X50CRMOV15 steel. Very similar in quality to Wusthof and these should chug along just fine for a long time. The only issue with this particular steel is that it does not hold a sharp edge very long so will need regular sharpening. Again, I find the honing steel to be just fine to get them back to razor sharp again. Another piece of information that the numbers tell you is that these are not high carbon steel knives so if you are sold on those, keep looking.As to the built in sharpening aspect, opinions on how to keep your knives sharp can differ. I prefer to use a honing steel right before use and only rarely have my knives sharpened using a stone sharpener. They still have their full blade curve and sharpen up beautifully every time. I may be a bit set in my ways but I still prefer the honing steel method where I can get the blade exactly as sharp as I need it and don't wear down the knives too fast. This is personal preference and not everyone likes using a honing steel. If you do, be aware that you will need to buy it separately.As a gift for others, or yourself, this seems like a great addition to any chef's toolkit.