Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have a tableware story to share at the end of my review, so too keep from boring those who don’t care to read that, I’ll start with the technical. This set is fabulous. I have zero regrets in choosing it, and while I DO NOT LOVE EVERYTHING about it, it’s the best set on the market for me, based upon the factors of price, availability, function, looks, and feel. A few reviewers have complained they hated the small spoons and small forks. I disagree on the spoons, they are just fine. I agree on the small forks, but with a caveat – what occasions will you prefer a small fork to a large one? For me, it’s always for desserts alone, or any time I want to eat slowly on something decadent and calorie dense. In this regard, the micro-fork is adequate to the task, and in some ways, better than I would have chosen for myself. This set is super heavy duty. Check out my very detailed photos and measurements. Weigh your current set and compare the weights I have shown here. I think you’ll agree, this set is beyond the quality you will use even at the finest restaurants, where they have chosen tableware nicer than is found in most modern homes. BONUS: I was not expecting to see the hammered finish on the backs of every piece, just the knives. This makes the set even more beautiful and comfortable to hold. I was very pleasantly surprised. Now, on to my story… My parents were baby boomers, both now departed before their time. Their first set of tableware was US Navy surplus. Amazingly strong but very plain. Their second set was garbage, a thin 60’s style that bent and was uncomfortable to hold. The set had narrow handles, like wayyyyy too narrow. You could use the handle end of any spoon or fork and stab it through your hand if you weren’t careful. Something like the micro men’s ties that were also popular at the time. Less is not always more. Anyway, after realizing the mistake and being more financially secure, my mother opted for this elegant but rather lightweight dot-border set you see in my photos. I grew up with this set, it was around since I was a baby. A few of the spoons and forks were retained from that awful 60’s set, so I had them to compare and appreciated we had this much nicer set to use. It was 8 dinner forks, 8 dessert forks, 8 knives, 8 table spoons, 16 teaspoons, and 8 long-handled drink spoons. That last one still amazes me, it’s perhaps a ‘70s thing long since forgotten. I don’t have occasion to stir sugar into my tall drinks, but do find these useful for the tall yogurt containers when it’s down to the last little bit, or those sauce jars where you don’t want to mess your fingers as you fight for the last little remnants. As this set was not restaurant grade heavy duty by any means, my mother augmented the collection by purchasing a couple of open stock VERY heavy forks, to mash tuna, egg salad, and other kitchen prep tasks that required more strength than the main set could provide. I’ve kept those and collected a motley crew of other forks over the years, to make sure there are enough between dishwasher loads. I don’t like mismatched sets of tableware, and have endured this scourge of outlier dinner forks for years. In the 80’s, my mother realized she always wanted floral tableware, and had denied herself the pleasure in a household of otherwise all male persons. My brother had already gone off to university by this time, I thought the new set was a bad move, but it was not my decision to make. The floral pattern had a pointy tip at the end of all the fork/spoon handles, and the dessert forks had an ornate single tine on the right side that always made them look like decorative pitchforks to me. I asked and was granted custody of this outgoing set, and have used it up until this week, a full 35 years plus those early years growing up. This set has been in my life for all my 47 years. I wasn’t going to part with it on a whim. Only one of the teaspoons got destroyed in the sink disposer (it was probably my fault as a kid), and not a single piece was ever lost. These even traveled to the Netherlands and back, for my 5 years living there. That’s dedication. After years of observing what I like and don’t, my criteria for a proper set is this: Smooth on front, edges, and back, no pointy handle ends, heavy weight, no oddball shapes for any pieces, no florals, nothing gold, nothing with inlays or satin finishes, nothing “historic” looking. I love modern, functional, and aesthetically pleasing tableware. Why did I need new tableware after so many years of service from my current set? Simply this: I’ve changed the way I eat. I do not eat at restaurants unless I travel or am dragged off to one. I’m a home chef, vegetarian, and recently extremely health conscious. I eat 6 smaller meals a day now instead of, as in my youth, gluttonizing at a buffet once a day, sitting around in pain and distress for 90 minutes afterward. In college, I ate stupid amounts of pizza buffets. Then I moved to Las Vegas for 10 years and indulged constantly at every buffet in town. At my worst, I weighed 288lbs. I now weigh 175. I eat Greek yogurt at least once a day, sometimes twice. I go through a lot of spoons in a week… too many spoons for my old set to keep up. I hate conserving spoons, rinsing them off and setting them on the counter to use again and again and again. That got old. Summary: this set is everything I have always wanted and did not think to take the time to find. My journey began 2 days ago at that coupon obsessed shop that *rhymes with bowls*, pouring over all their patterns thinking about chasing a deal. Then I noticed with a quick search of the Oneida Icarus pattern (the only one they had that met all my basic criteria, but was sadly quite plain and boring to behold), that even with all the discounts games I could muster, it was still cheaper both on Amazon and across the street at BB&B. That had me researching more deeply, the metals used in modern tableware – and I decided I must have 18/8 or 18/10, thick, smooth, and hammered!!! Yes, hammered was the art on a spoon I’d been missing in my life. I love scales and how they look, reptiles are a big part of my life. Hammered reminds me of snake skin, and I love that. It’s art, and I love it. In the end, I bought a 24 piece set, 3 full boxes of 40, for 30% less than I was going to pay at that quasi-department store for a style I didn’t even like that much. And I certainly wasn’t going to bother shopping at high end department stores, I didn’t need to blow a grand on tableware that looks like it was chosen by my grandmother. Epilogue (and details about my photos): The US Navy surplus spoon is a classic egg shape bowl, as is my dot edge set. The DANIALLI set has a modern oval for both spoon sizes, and both spoons are notably longer than typical sets, especially the tablespoon. The 8 inch length of the tablespoon replaces the need for the long lost long handled drink spoons from my 70’s set. Weight on all pieces is over double my current set, and none but the knife blades or tiny forks could be bent with normal effort, by a normal hand without tools or leverage being employed. Simply put, you won’t accidentally bend any of these pieces, as was common with my old set. If you want to put a lot of force down on a fork to mash something like nuts or canned tuna, it won’t deform. I like that a lot. If you’re eating angry, you won’t bend a spoon, but you might break a bowl.