Surprise! In a way, this campaign is initiated by us, more than 7.000 Crowd Cookware BACKERS. When we, a part of the backers – nearly a thousand – asked for more kitchen knives and selected our 6 favorite ones via comments and surveys, Crowd Cookware’s founder Tacco randomly invited a few of us to be closely involved in the design process and the campaign. And we said yes!

Together we carefully tested the 6 strong stainless steel kitchen knives, as a matching addition to our Crowd Cookware chef’s knife and pans. Enabling home cooks like us to slice each type of ingredient easily. The set is a collaboration between us and Crowd Cookware. However, Crowd Cookware is fully responsible for chef-grade production of the set and on-time delivery.  

We love participating in this design process and are actually quite proud of the result: we’re really curious to what you, our fellow backers, think about it! Although Crowd Cookware takes over from here, you will see some of us back in the project video or future updates.

We – Crowd Cookware – are creating our own chef-grade cookware together with our crowd. All for a fair price. Like kitchen pirates, we collaborate with manufacturers who normally only produce for elite brands. This is how we hack the cookware industry on Kickstarter!

All in the space of 1.5 years we joined forces with thousands of backers worldwide: we created a non-stick, non-scratch frying pan and a lifetime sharp chef’s knife with more than 7.000 backers from 67 countries. Trusted by Michelin star chefs and well received by our crowd on Kickstarter: one of our campaigns even became the biggest food success on Kickstarter. 

Now it’s time to deal with the tsunami of overpriced kitchen knives. Let’s introduce 6 knives, designed for lifetime use. Made of strong German steel and heat treated with anti-rust oil.

Creating knives is all about making choices. However, we’ve made no concessions on lifetime use, at the request of our crowd. Even better: by following 8 principles we’ve pushed the boundaries of manufacturing possibilities and service beyond premium standards. With the ultimate goal: ensuring lifetime use.

We found the ultimate ratio between sharpness and strength: not too thick for optimal slice performance, not too thin, so the cutting edge won’t lose strength.

All blades are made of tough German stainless steel with a Rockwell Hardness scale of 55-57. Sharpness is key: with extreme accuracy, the blade is auto-sharpened to control the angle precisely. Cutting edges are sharpened on both sides with respectively 12-14 degrees to make sure the cutting edge is perfectly balanced

Cheaper plastic or wooden handles are simply not an option when designing knives for lifetime use. The materials are weaker, discolour over time and are – once broken – a breeding ground for bacteria. We did not want to make concessions in order to optimize profit margins, so we selected stainless steel as our favorite material.

Our kitchen knife set is carefully selected to handle anything. Especially the Wigbold chef’s knife, since it will be used most often. With this in mind, we knew we had to take bold design decisions.

The heel of the blade is 23% wider than premium chef’s knives for intensive use. We also made sure the blade is 18% bigger than elite standards, resulting in a longer cutting edge for optimal slicing. Because the blade’s heel is bigger, you can sharpen over a lifetime. 

Period. We believe our responsibility doesn’t stop once the knives are delivered. Just a matter of good hostmanship (see also principle eight). Each set with a Wigbold chef’s knife includes a sharpening stone with code 1000/6000, to maintain your cutting edge. Is your knife dull? Use the 1000 to give its sharpness a boost and finish with the 6000 to refine your knife edge. 

We, as Crowd Cookware, selected German steel instead of Japanese steel, because it’s durable, more resistant to high temperatures and more wear-resistant. Japanese steel contains a higher volume of carbon, making it harder, but also more fragile and more susceptible to rust.

Even more important: we partnered up with an elite knife manufacturer that only works for the premium brands and measures heat treatment after the production process, with extreme accuracy. With a guaranteed Rockwell Hardness scale of 55-57, as a result

To ensure lifetime use, stainless steel won’t do the job on its own. A knife has to be bold enough to handle many (wet) ingredients. That’s why we partnered up with one of the few knife manufacturers who can do more and meet our high demands: blade heat treatment with anti-rust oil, also tested on worldwide food safety standards by TÜV Rijnland, a renowned German testing institute.The blade absorbs the anti-rust oil during the heat treatment process, to make it perform better.

When stored properly, Crowd Cookware knives can last a lifetime. We believe the only way to store the knives careful, safe and hygienic is to use a magnetic knife block. This is why: knife blocks are a breeding ground for bacteria and an ease place for food bits to get stuck. A magnetic knife block, on the other hand, keeps the food bits and bacteria at bay. Huge benefit: the knives will literally look over your shoulder in the kitchen. Crowd Cookware’s kitchen knife block is made of sustainable rubberwood and named after backer Jim who suggested to create a knife block.

All of our knives are designed for lifetime use. However, we believe the Wigbold chef’s knife will be used most often: it’s the kitchen workhorse. Our pirate code is especially created for the Wigbold, to make sure it stays sharp for your daily work. To sharpen your knife at home, you can check out our video. Still unable to re-sharpen your chef’s knife? We got your back: send us your Wigbold and we’ll return it razor sharp for free. Once a pirate, always a pirate. 

Similar to our Blackbeard pans and the Wigbold chef’s knife, all blades are mirror-polished which reduces food sticking to the blade and makes the design look sleek and minimalistic.

The blade flows seamlessly into the handle and is finished with our well-known honeycomb pattern to ensure grip. Whatever the size of your hand, the handle feels good. Detail: the angles of the heels are shaped into a hexagon.

Creating cookware with our crowd is all about translating feedback to actual changes to the final design of the knives. We believe this is the only way to create great cookware. Thanks everyone who contributed to the set via comments, surveys or live testing sessions.  Check the video below.

In more than a year, Crowd Cookware evolved into a worldwide community of kitchen pirates creating their own chef-grade cookware for a fair price. How? By using a smuggling route to top manufacturers who normally only produce for elite brands.

All funds we raised, and those raised in the future, will be spent on creating chef-grade cookware and surprising our most important partner in crime: the crowd