About a year ago, Jason I happened to stop into a Williams-Sonoma store near Ann Arbor to take a look around. We discovered an amazingly beautiful knife set by Wüsthof, the Classic Ikon Creme set with a dark walnut block.

We had never seen anything like it, and immediately decided it was the set we wanted. The perfect combination of form and function, it was very pricey. We were already engaged at the time though so we didn’t rule it out completely. We spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so a great set of knives would be well worth it–we literally only have ONE good knife right now. Wüsthof knives are also the kind that my favorite cook Ina Garten uses, so suffice it to say they made it to the top of the must-have list.

When it came time to (begrudgingly) start some wedding registries, I was excited to find that the set was available at Bed Bath and Beyond. I added the set to our registry and and told my family it was the only thing we really wanted. We would even pitch in and pay part of the cost if it came down to that. Yes, we wanted the knives that badly.

Part 1: Initial Letdown

So about a month ago, at a surprise bridal shower in Ohio, we were given the knife set of our dreams! We opened it up as soon as we got back to Michigan, but were disappointed to find that the knife block itself was not the dark wood we liked so much. Instead it was a light oak color that really just seemed “blah” with the knives. Since the set was so expensive, I called Bed Bath & Beyond to see what the deal was, since the picture on the website shows the dark block. I apparently got some incorrect information but was told to come in to the store and see if they could order the correct set.

Part 2: The Wait

So we packed up our set and headed to the store, only to find out that the item was now on backorder. All we could do is sign up for an email notification when the item got back in stock. We were extremely frustrated, but about a week later, the knives were back in stock. We headed back to the store again and were told a new story this time–that the knife set we got had the same UPC as the online item, so it seemed that the light colored block was correct and that Bed Bath & Beyond probably just had an outdated photo.

“Well THANKS A LOT!” I was thinking. The dark block was a huge selling feature for me and I never would have added it to the registry if I knew that the picture didn’t represent the item you’d actually get. The knife set was way too expensive to not have it be exactly what we thought we were getting. The guy we spoke with was very understanding and offered to call Wüsthof and see if he could get a dark block.

Part 3: Throwing In the Towel

A couple weeks went by with no word on the block and we finally gave up. We decided that we really just wanted to start using our knives and that we could deal with the block for now and buy a dark one out-of-pocket later.

But it wouldn’t be that simple

Part 4: The Unanticipated Complication

While we were placing the knives in the block, we noticed that the tip of the biggest knife was bent. And I mean REALLY bent. So we packed up the knives again and headed to the store (thankfully it’s only a five minute drive). The salespeople were pretty shocked at seeing the knife and did an exchange with no questions asked. The new set was scheduled to arrive in no more than two weeks.

We also ran into the guy we had spoken with before and he told us he’d follow up on the block situation. A few days later, he called and said that they would be able to get the dark block for us and that he would let us know when it came in. We were finally getting somewhere!

Part 5: Rinse and Repeat

Our new set arrived yesterday and we opened it with excitement. When we pulled out the knife block we literally hugged each other and jumped up and down because it was the darker version that we had been wanting! I quickly rubbed it with a little mineral oil and it looked gorgeous. Clearly, I thought, this would be the end of our crazy knife story.

Clearly, I was mistaken.

Jason closely inspected each knife as he unpacked it and slid it into the block. We were aghast to find that the large Cook’s Knife had a damaged blade–AGAIN. Not as much damage this time, but to replace that knife alone would be $129.99. At that price, I kind of expect perfection.

So tonight we will be heading back to the store. This time, we will ask if we can just exchange the one knife, because we would really like to start using the other ones if possible. I will update this post tonight with our findings!

Part 6: Things Are Looking Up

The people at Bed Bath and Beyond were very cooperative and ordered us a new knife, no questions asked. We were able to keep the rest of them, which is great. I finally got to try some of them out tonight and am very pleased. Hopefully the new knife won’t get damaged in shipping for a –third– time.

Update 05/26/2010: I am happy to announce that the Cook’s Knife arrived safe & sound today, in perfect condition! Finally the saga has come to an end!