LENOX Cantera 65-piece Flatware Set

Over the past six months, we have looked at many tableware sets. We wanted a graceful design with the pieces being comfortable during use, being made of 18/10 stainless steel, and having a substantial heft. This was the winner. Bonus: At the time we bought it, at Amazon the service for 12 cost about one-third of the price elsewhere. Our prior tableware, which is no longer available, had more steel in each piece. It was thus modestly heavier (and rounder) than this set. However, after using the Cantera set for a few weeks, we have "forgotten" our old tableware. I've used both the small and large spoons to scoop ice cream that has just been taken out of our freezer. They pass - there was no sense of flexing or distortion, and the spoons stack nicely in our tableware storage tray. Comfort: When held in the right hand, the pieces are concave along the length of the thumb side and convex along the outside. The knives, forks and spoons are very comfortable for a right-handed person. (For a left-handed person, the knives might be less comfortable if held in the right hand during cutting.) We were not interested in having to hand wash the pieces after each use, and we were wary of potential rusting/corrosion. Thus, we only looked at 18/10 stainless. We've washed these about a dozen times in our dishwasher using Finish Powerball Quantum packets. There was no evidence of discoloration. There was a small amount of spotting on the knives when the dishwasher was set on air dry; this didn't happen when the setting was on heated drying. The latter is the setting we now use. An extra few words about the knives, as pointed out by a different manufacturer's response to a review of their tableware. Their response said that the industry standard is to NOT use 18/10 stainless for knives with a sharp edge. Apparently a high carbon steel maintains this edge better. According to this manufacturer, the knives should still be quite rust-resistant. Our experience with our prior, 15-year-old tableware confirms the rust resistance. However, the knives were susceptible to scratching. We'll be happy if this Lenox set does well for 15 years. Another point to make is that the the two spoons are nearly the same size; this is also true of the two forks. This made no difference to us, but might matter to others. All in all, we are very happy with this tableware and would recommend it to others.