What did you set config.php to?
Code:
$config['Mysqli']['charset'] = 'utf8';
If the sql variables are set correctly, admincp --> diagnostics > system info
character_set_client latin1
character_set_connection latin1
character_set_database latin1
character_set_filesystem binary
character_set_results latin1
character_set_server latin1
character_set_system UTF-8
PHP
default_charset UTF-8 UTF-8
If you have a user.ini in your root folder of the site, verify its contents as well.