Best Kitchen Knife Set
Our Top Knife Set Picks:
Wusthof Classic Nine Pieces Block Set Best for the Low Maintenance Cook:
Ginsu Gourmet Chikara Series 8-Piece Set
Sharon Franke of Food Network Kitchen A set of good knives is an essential tool for any chef. Whether you’re prepping for dinner, grabbing a snack or carving a roast, you’ll need a sharp tool to get the job done quickly and neatly. When you go to shop, you’ll be confronted with knife block sets with a variety of styles and a wide range of prices. This guide will help you sort through the many options and choose the right knife block set for you.
This article has undergone a revision with updated picks.
What You Should Do to Keep Your Knives Sharpened – Even With A Knife Block
One thing is more important when it comes down to knife sharpness than any other. Sharp blades are essential to any knife. Even the most luxurious, balanced and expensive in price, they can be almost useless. A sharp knife can do the job more efficiently and safely, in addition to being faster at its intended task. With a well-honed blade, you are less likely to cut yourself than with a dull one. If your knife is dull, it can slide off a tomato and instead of cutting down. You can test the sharpness of your knife by cutting a single piece of paper vertically. If your knife is sharp, it will slice through paper without leaving any marks.
You’ll need to periodically sharpen the knives. Either bring your knives to the sharpening shop once per year, or buy an electric or countertop model that you can do yourself. Check out some of our favorite knife sharpeners here as well as one sharpener a Food Network staffer swears by Best Overall: Wusthof Classic Nine Piece Block Set Williams Sonoma Included: 8″ cooks, 6″ utility, 8″ bread, 8″ carving, and 3″ and 3.5″ paring knives, kitchen shears, honing steel, block We think these classic knives are just about perfect and worth the splurge. They feel great in the hand and have a full tang. Wusthof’s chef’s blade, also known as “cook’s” knife by the name, has a rounded, smooth-gliding blade. This can be used to chop a bunch of parsley or rock it back and forward when making confetti. Straight out of the box it is sharp enough to cut ripe tomatoes with no squishing. Yet, it also has the heft to cut a whole chicken into quarters.
Knife handles made from synthetic materials are strong and durable. The block contains a wide range of essentials, including a knife, a saw, and a honing tool. You can “tune up” your blades by running them along the steel at the right angle. However, eventually, they will need to be resharpened.
Best for the Low-Maintenance Cook: Henckels Classic 15-Pc Self-Sharpening Block Set Crate & Barrel
Includes: 8″ chef’s, 7” santoku and 5.5” prep. Eight 4.5” steak knives, eight 4.5” kitchen shears, and a block. As we have already said, a sharp knife is the best. Each of the slots for fine-edged knives in this block has a mechanism to hone the blade each time the knife is pulled out and returned to its place. There’s no need to fuss about sharpening the blade or holding it in the right position. In fact, because you’ll be honing them often you could be able to last longer than usual before you have to change your edge.
Well-forged, well-balanced knives don’t weigh as much as Wusthofs. However, this will make them easier for some cooks. When it comes to chopping through an acorn or a chicken leg, the only place where light weight can be a little disadvantage is in cutting.
Every knife has its very own slot. These slots are marked to ensure you put each piece into the right one. A wide range of tools are included in the set, such as a santoku knife, a serrated tomato cutter, and eight steak knives. It is important to note, though, that the set doesn’t include a carving knife. This means that if your roasts are a lot you have two options: either buy an additional tool or use the all purpose chef’s knife.
The Best Asian Knife set: Shun Classic 5-Piece Block Set Williams Sonoma
The Shun Set includes a 8-inch chef’s knife, 6-inch utility and 3.5 inch paring knives. It also contains hone steel, block, and honing iron. Made in Japan, these knives have been handcrafted from Damascus stainless steel. This is made by welding various alloys together and folding them into layers. These blades have a unique swirled design that adds beauty to their sharpness and durability. You’ll notice the blades are highly polished and super smooth and carrots and potatoes fall away from the blades rather than stick to them.
They are expensive because of their construction. Therefore, you will get a well-curated set. With their thin, lightweight gliding blades you can easily use them for carving or filleting a fish, but you probably won’t want to tackle a crusty loaf of sourdough or debone a leg of lamb with one of these beauties. You won’t have to place the small bamboo block on top of your countertops because it isn’t too big. You can sharpen your knives with a knife sharpener that is specifically designed for Asian knives.
Types and Benefits of Knives
There are so many knife options on the market that it is difficult to understand what each one does. While speciality designs like cheese knives or oyster shuckers clearly fall into the nice-to-have category, there are some that will get a lot more use for everyday cooking. Here are the ones worth having in your collection for daily use:
Multi-purpose chef knife: With a blade of large size, this knife is ideal for cutting hard roots vegetables and breaking open crustaceans.
Santoku knife. This knife is derived from Japan and has a thinner blade. The general use knife can do most tasks every day, including cutting, mincing, and dicing.
Paring knife. The blades of this small knife can be between 7 cm and 11 cm in size. It is suitable for tasks such as fine slicing, coring, and peeling.
Serrated Paring Knife: The serrated edge makes it easier to slice small citrus and tomato fruits.
Utility knife. This mini-chef’s knife measures just 15 cm long. Use it for delicate tasks like cutting the chicken breasts, or smaller vegetables.
Carving knife – This design is perfect for carving smooth joints of meat and poultry with one single slice.
Bread knife: Cut through crusty loaves easily thanks to this knife’s sharp serrated edge. It’s great for cutting fibrous fruits like pineapples.
Peeling knife. A peeling tool looks like a small paring knife. However, its blade curves inwards and is perfect for removing tough skins of fruit or vegetables.
Professional chefs tell us these are the only knife sets worth buying
Pin it photo: Getty Images/Capelle.r The best, most useful kitchen tools are good knives. It’s not worth having cabinets filled with Instagram cookware, if you never intend to use it. Sharp knives are the best and most reliable knives. A knife set is a great way to simplify the process of choosing the right knives.
The main thing to be mindful of when buying a knife set is the knives included. However, there are also subjective considerations such as style, block size, budget, etc. We spoke to chefs about what to look out for when choosing a knife set, and the ones that they use. Find 16 top knife sets for your kitchen so that you are ready to start making pumpkin recipes.
Our Top Picks
Victorinox Swiss Knife block Set Saveur Selections Best Small Set:
Victorinox 10 Piece Swiss Army Classic Knife Set. Check price
Victorinox’s 10-piece stainless steel offering is the Toyota Camry of knife sets: not too fancy, well-made, and well-suited for everyday use. This set is affordable and includes bread, utility, paring, chefs, utility, boning and more. The set includes a honing and kitchen steels to maintain sharp knives, as well as kitchen shears and a block made of hardwood for storage. People won’t ooh at the black plastic texture handles or non-forged steel. Instead, they will appreciate the 4.7 out 5 star rating (779 Amazon Reviews) This speaks for themselves.
Sometimes there’s more to life than one. This 17-piece Saveur Selects set, designed by myself, has a ton of choices that will make you look like a Game of Thrones character. The bamboo block comes as a bonus with this set. That’s quite a few knives! Each full-tang knife a knife made with one continuous piece of metal that extends from the tip of the blade and all the way to the butt of the handle is crafted from extremely hard and durable German steel, which has been hand-sharpened to a 16-degree edge. This set will last for a long time if taken care of. This set of knives will last a lifetime.
We bought these knives decades ago and still have the exact same set. Global knives are easily identifiable, thanks to a unique stainless-steel construction spanning from the tip of the blade all the way to their dimpled handles as a single continuous shape. Its iconic design is unchanged from its original introduction in 1985. Global knives have been a favorite of ours for their sharp edges, great balance, and comfortable textured grip. This 3-piece set is priced as an excellent starter kit that includes the essentials 6-inch Chef’s Knife, 6-inch Serrated Utility Knife, and 3-inch Paring Knife each at lengths friendly for use and storage within small kitchens.
Shun knives carry a certain cachet. These knives are stunning, featuring light-colored Pakkawood handles and a stainless-steel cap with embossed stainless steel. This subtly reveals your taste for kitchen tools. Every Japanese knife has the distinctive sign of tsuchime. These are hand-hammered dimplings that run the length of the forged blade. Shun uses VG MAX pure steel to make a sharper, more long-lasting edge than traditional Japanese knife styles. Shun knives normally cost a pretty penny, so this 5-piece William Sonoma exclusive is a respectable bargain (that even includes a free in-store knife sharpening).
The 10 Best Knife Sets In 2021
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Chloe Jeong, The Spruce Eats. A sharp set of kitchen knives will make your life easier whether you are chopping up a mirepoix regularly or just carving a grocery-store rotisserie chicken. You can chopping and cutting with sharp, simple-to-hold knives safer and easier. When choosing knives for your collection, you should take into account all of the factors: ceramic blades and stainless steel; plastic and hard wood handles; Granton or flat edges.
We have a list of top-rated knife sets that you can choose from, so whether your goal is to buy a new starter set or upgrade your old cutlery, we’ve got the right one for you.
Amazon’s top-rated Chicago Cutlery Fusion Block Knife Block Set: Top Picks
Considerations
Do you really require every piece of the set? Before you decide to go and purchase the most expensive knife set, think about whether or not you will actually use it. You may be able buy a smaller set if you have some good knives such as your favourite carving knife. Five to six common knives are usually included in smaller models, like the chef’s and serrated knives. On the other hand, if you want to invest in a single knife collection that will have you covered for every cutting, slicing, and chopping job that comes your way, a larger 14- to 17-piece set is a great solution.
Take a good look at the types of knives you currently own. If you have a great bread knife at home, you may want to look for a set that includes steak knives and kitchen shears instead of a serrated knife. Remember, you can always add to your collection over time.
The Best Paring Knives and Carving Knives. Best Knife Sharpeners
You should also consider where you will store and display your knives. Your knives should be stored in blocks on your counter. Make sure that it matches the design of your kitchen. To avoid getting too large, make sure the size of the block is within your available counter space. You may not need a knife set if your kitchen includes a magnetic strip. Some knife sets are also available in a travel case.
Here are 10 of the Best Kitchen Knives to Gift this Year
Quality kitchen knives are the perfect gift for those who need them. This can be written on a piece of paper, or tattooed onto your forearm. Do whatever you have to do to remember that no matter how many blades a man (or woman) owns, they can always have more. It’s hard to find a gift that will make a lasting impression on someone, whether it be a friend or family member.
This caveat comes with the territory. It can be extremely offensive to some people to gift a poor knife or set. It’s best to say goodbye to a 50-piece knife block set you bought at Big Lots. It doesn’t require a chef or a cook to recognize a good knife.
If you’re beginning to stress now, don’t, that wasn’t our intention. Don’t stress if any of the knives aren’t yours.
We recommend the Wusthof Classic Three-piece Knife set as our best overall recommendation. If you are familiar with other Wusthof knife content, we might have become tired of telling you to get Wusthof knives. While we may be a little bored of it all, we don’t mind recommending Wusthof knives to anyone. Wusthof’s classic knives are very durable, can withstand many years and maintain a sharp edge. The knife of choice is Ina Garten and Gordon Ramsey, professional chefs.
Best Customizable: Benchmade 3pc Knife Set If you’re looking to add some unique flair and perhaps some sentimental value to a knife for that special someone, Benchmade knives are an excellent choice. It is possible to customize the color and steel of your knife, as well as the material or handle. This knife is handcrafted and a great gift idea due to its superior craftsmanship.
Kilne’s 3pc knife set is the best for beginners chefs. Kilne, a direct-to-consumer knife manufacturer, has an aim to produce high-quality knives at a price everyone can afford. They don’t have as much history behind them than Wusthof but in blind testing, even the most ardent Wusthof fans would struggle to tell the difference. These knives from Kilne are perfectly balanced, razor-sharp, and about half the price. They will not last as long as Wusthof’s knives. The company offers a lifetime guarantee and is known for their excellent customer support.
A Made In Yanagi knife is the best choice for the sushi chef. Made In’s Japanese-style Yanagi knife is limited edition and can slice through fish almost like butter. The knife was hand-forged by 5th generation bladesmith Thiers, France. Each blade is individually numbered and features an Evergreen Wood Handle. The one drawback is that the single bevel on the right side of the blade makes this knife for right-handers only (sorry, lefties).
Global G257-3 Piece Japanese Set. Maybe you have a Japanese knife lover friend. Global is sure to please. For the chef that prefers the lightweight feel and precision edge, Global is one of the top brands on the market. Global knives are made from one piece of steel with an ergonomic handle that gives them extreme balance and durability.
Best Block Set: Cangshan Z1 Series 17-Piece Knife Walnut Block Set If you know someone in need of a complete knife makeover (steak knives and all), this block set from Cangshan is an excellent option. Crafted from German and Swedish steel, Canshang knives have won dozens of design awards over the last few years and it’s clear to see why. Not only are these knives a beautiful addition to any kitchen, but they are also very sharp and well-balanced. A 60-layer Damascus Steel layer will please any knife enthusiast.
Material 3-piece Knife Set with Stand – Best for Modern Kitchen
.Best Kitchen Knife Set
