OneidaMichelangelo 45 Piece Flatware Set, Service for 8

Weighty and beautiful, very pleased

I bought these as I had seen the pattern and loved it. These are a nice weight, not flimsy and can be put in the dishwasher.

I love the silverware. It is just as good as the silverware I bought years ago. I will be using it to the fullest extent possible and throwing it the dishwasher at every opportunity.

I originally went on-line to identify another Oneida flatware set purchased elsewhere several years ago. I wanted to acquire additional place settings but got sidetracked and seduced by the Michelangelo pattern. Since a photo can only give you so much information, I decided to get one place setting for evaluation. The place setting arrived well within the estimated delivery date, but as soon as I opened the parcel I knew it was not going to work. While I liked the ornate design, in the hand the pieces felt clumsy and poorly-balanced, the knife seemed overly long in comparison, but the biggest disappointment was with the shape and balance of the spoons. So many of the current spoon designs seem overly flat and shapeless as do these. They are reminiscent of the little flat wooden spoons (like tongue depressors) offered with small individual cups of ice cream. Will have to go back to my original plans. True Rose here I come!

(VERY GRACIOUS, BUT I WOULD GIVE IT 4 1/2 STARS IF I COULD. SEE COMMENTS BELOW.)Oneida's 18/10 stainless flatware is superb quality and the Michelangelo pattern is gorgeous, very traditional and romantic. This style used to be common in past generations, but is now relatively rare. The Michelangelo pattern was nowhere in our local stores, even though we are just a few minutes from a major metropolitan area, with excellent shopping. In spite of being quite satisfied with my purchase, I do have a few qualifying comments to share with potential customers about design.First, the spoons tend to be much shorter than those of other stainless sets, quite a bit shorter than the forks and knives in the same set. My husband particularly complains about this. The Michelangelo pattern, while elegant, seems to impede his grip on and use of the utensils, and this is most noticeable with the tablespoon and dinner fork. I have less difficulty, so it may be more a matter of personal choice, but I do see what he means.Second, there is little difference in size between the teaspoon and tablespoon. If you are pasta-twirlers, the tablespoon's small size and ornate design may cause you more of a challenge. It is neither the traditional wide soup spoon, nor the elongated full tablespoon of my previous set, and also different from those we use in restaurants.Third, thought stated as dishwasher safe, I am a bit chagrined at the more-detailed care instructions. My casual in-the-dishwasher-for-days treatment of previous stainless, as well as use of citrus foods and lemony dishwasher detergent, may in fact explain why my previous stainless, purchased in 1968 at a luxury Japanese department store in NYC, eventually tarnished. In constant use all these decades, it owes me nothing, and I'm glad I was able to treat it so cavalierly, but in light of what Michelangelo costs I may pay more attention to care of my new flatware, at least for a while.Finally, the price astonishes me, but I suppose in this era of inflation it should seem normal. (The government keeps telling us inflation is very low...hmmm.) Quite some years back I bought a service for 12 of the alas-now-defunct Brahms pattern (now only available on Amazon for child/youth sets, a marvelous baby gift!) for a young friend who was marrying. Probably the most gorgeous stainless flatware I've ever seen and somewhat similar to Michelangelo, I hope she treasures it because, judging from what I've now spent buying 10 place settings of Michelangelo (first 8, later 2 at a better price each) without any serving pieces, her then-$115 all-inclusive set--12 5-piece place settings, as well as many serving pieces--would probably now cost circa $500! I am nevertheless assuming this heirloom quality is worth it and should last most of a lifetime.P.S. BE SURE TO COMPARE PRICES AMONG AMAZON SELLERS!