wooden knife set next to a cutting board with tomatoes, garlic, and peppers - strategist best kitchen knife sets

Information technology'south a common trope that knives are an extension of a cook's mitt — but while they are arguably the nigh important tool yous can wield in the kitchen, you demand but a few reliable ones to perform most cut, chopping, slicing, deboning, and carving tasks. And so that raises the question: Should you buy each individually or together equally a set? Obviously, the answer is not the latter if you're just missing one or ii specific types. But other than that, sets are fair game.

Y'all can, in fact, find curated groups of many different compositions — 3 pieces all the way up to xx-something pieces, all chef's knives or mixed kinds, ones that include sharpening tools and blocks and ones that don't. If you've e'er browsed the kitchen section of whatsoever dwelling-goods store, you lot know that a bargain with a lot of pieces in it might seem initially appealing, simply if you look closely, there are unnecessary parts that will inevitably get to dice in your cutlery drawer. The key is to make sure yous don't end up with a ton of blades and accessories y'all won't employ.

When talking to experts well-nigh their favorite pocketknife sets, I went with the assumption that you're starting completely from scratch or redoing the basic makeup of your collection. But, of course, if you like the sound of any of these brands, you can scan all the other groupings they have to offer.

Best overall | Best less expensive | Best elementary | Best four-piece | All-time high level | Best for camping

Number of pieces: As I said before, knife sets tin can come with anywhere from three pieces to more than 20. For this story, I (and the experts I spoke to) leaned significantly toward the smaller end of that spectrum. I'm of the stance that, most of the time, it makes sense to buy a smaller cadre group — a chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated knife — and and then assess. Are yous always wishing you had a second chef's pocketknife so you don't accept to clean in between tasks? Does it turn out yous'd benefit from a boning pocketknife because you eat fish and chicken multiple days a calendar week? From your core group, yous can e'er add together on as you see what your existent needs are.

European- or Japanese-style: This classification is a bit of a catchy 1 because not every pocketknife falls distinctly into i category or the other (and some knives don't fall into either). And yet these terms are nevertheless ordinarily used, the distinctions notable plenty that it's good to have a sense of the chief characteristics of each — particularly when it comes to the chef'southward pocketknife in each of these sets. European-style is kind of a catchall term that is also referred to as German-, French-, and Western-style. These are generally heavier with a thicker, more than curved blade to facilitate rocking dorsum and forth with the tip downwards on your cutting board. On the other manus, Japanese-style knives tend to be lighter with a thinner blade and a straighter edge to facilitate extreme precision. To make things even more confusing, some Japanese companies make European-style knives and some European and American companies make Japanese-style knives. But hither I've denoted the style of each to the best of my ability and and then gone into more than detail in the descriptions.

Wüsthof Ikon 6-Piece Starter Knife Block Set

Vi pieces | European-manner

Wüsthof is a archetype company. It's the 1 that cook and Top Chef Canada host Eden Grinshpan was told to buy when she was in culinary schoolhouse, the one cookbook writer Erin Gleeson registered for when she got married a decade agone and nevertheless uses, and the one preferred by multiple celebrity chefs with varying cooking styles (a quick Google search will tell yous that both Ina Garten and Gordon Ramsay swear by them). "They're just superhigh quality, and they really stand the exam of fourth dimension," Grinshpan says. "I still take some of the pieces in my kitchen." This particular set comes with a dent knife, a chef's knife, and a serrated pocketknife — the only three you really need when it comes downwards to performing well-nigh cooking tasks, as I explained earlier. It too includes some helpful (not superfluous) accessories: a wooden cake to hold your blades safely, a honing steel to sharpen the edges, and a pair of "come-apart" kitchen shears (the "come-apart" makes them easy to clean). "I utilize the scissors all the time," Gleeson says, "for cut everything from pizza and flatbreads to scallions."

Wüsthof Gourmet 6-Piece Starter Knife Block Set

Vi pieces | European-style

This more than affordable set from Wüsthof has a similar setup. The paring knife is a half-inch smaller (which shouldn't brand whatsoever noticeable divergence), the serrated pocketknife is iii inches smaller (a utility knife intended to cut things like tomatoes as opposed to crusty bread), and the block is made from a different diverseness of wood (beechwood instead of acacia). Well-nigh notably, the knives are stamped (cut from one large canvass of steel) instead of forged (fabricated from a single bar of steel that is heated and so pounded into shape by paw or machine). This makes them not quite equally durable but much cheaper — and they can totally do the trick (and practice information technology well), especially if you aren't specially hard on your knives.

Misen Essentials Knife Set

3 or five pieces | Combination Japanese- and European-fashion

"I really like these knives equally value buys," says Jeff Strauss, owner and chef of Jeff's Tabular array in Los Angeles. "One of the things knife nerds talk almost is steel hardness, and these are on the harder finish of bendy, which is a sweet spot." Every bit he explains it, they're hard plenty to sharpen easily and they agree an edge very well. Just they're non so hard that they motion in a funky mode that tin take some getting used to — you can feel the difference with a superhard blade and sometimes fifty-fifty break it if you make the wrong movements. "I know a bunch of pro chefs who use these," he says.

The price is a selling point for Strategist editor Maxine Builder too. A few years ago, she tested a agglomeration of DTC cookware and named Misen the best knife set. "To me, Misen's three-piece Essential Prepare is the Platonic platonic of a knife set up, and if you're looking for a Wüsthof dupe, this is it," she wrote. "They're heavier than my Global knives, as most European-style knives are … and the edges have held as sharp as the first day, even subsequently a few months of employ." The biggest downside to Builder was the handles have a chip of a boxy shape (what Strauss says is somewhat of a French mode), but she did say that with a price comparable to one of those "big pocketknife-block sets you lot can get at Target or Amazon," they're a "significant upgrade."

You tin can become with three pieces (a chef's pocketknife, a paring pocketknife, and a serrated knife), or five pieces (an additional utility knife and a Japanese-style santoku knife with a directly edge).

Made In the Knife Set

Four pieces | European-style

Made In makes a relatively uncommon combination of knives — the iii essentials plus a Nakiri knife, which I think is a smart addition. It looks a flake like a pocket-sized cleaver with an entirely directly edge, simply it is meant for cutting vegetables. While not strictly necessary, it's a joy to use — chopping onions and cutting through squash effortlessly and thinly slicing root vegetables. Culinary producer Kiano Moju agrees. She starting time bought this set when she was stocking her culinary creative studio, a kitchen she needed to outfit from scratch. "They hold really nicely," she says. "When I was working at Sur La Table years ago, someone taught me how to cut with your thumb on the top of the spine, and it balances nicely if that'southward how you lot utilise your knives. They're not besides heavy at all. Plus they're actually cute. They come in cerise, which is my favorite."

Aiko Damascus Steel Knife Set

Up to ix pieces | Japanese- and European-manner

If you really want to go all out, this set is a existent beauty. The design, every bit you can plainly see, is eye-catching from the bract down to the handle. The pieces likewise work incredibly well, with ultra-sharp edges and a comfortable grip. For many months now, I've regularly used several of them and haven't had a need to practise whatever upkeep as of notwithstanding. I'g a particular fan of the nakiri knife (seriously, I've never had as much ease cutting vegetables) and the boning knife (specific, yes, but comes in so handy when I'1000 cooking meat and fish).

You lot can choose anywhere from 3 to nine pieces, and while this is a Japanese make and some pieces are designed as such (like the santoku knife), there are others with European-style influence (like the chef'south knives, which have that more curved shape).

Editor's annotation: Santoku Knives lists all prices in euros, and so the price shown is an approximate conversion in U.S. dollars.

Messermeister Adventure Chef 6-Piece Summit Set

Six pieces | European-style

This recommendation from recipe developer and cookbook writer Louisa Shafia isn't strictly a knife set with just knives included, but it comes from the pocketknife company Messermeister, which she has been using since she went to culinary school a couple of decades ago. It'south a compact camping ground set with 2 particularly expert knives — a foldable six-inch chef'south pocketknife and a foldable six-inch fillet pocketknife (yes, those are full-size, made from the same steel equally their regular ones). "Information technology's everything y'all would need to get camping and make actually squeamish food," Shafia says. "You can fifty-fifty handle things if you catch a fish. Plus you need something to cut against that's non gonna ruin the knives, and then it'due south nice that it comes with a cut board."

• Eden Grinshpan, cook and Peak Chef Canada host
• Erin Gleeson, cookbook author
• Jessie Sheehan, recipe developer
• Jeff Strauss, owner and chef of Jeff's Tabular array
• Maxine Builder, Strategist editor
• Kiano Moju, culinary producer
• Louisa Shafia, recipe developer

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The half-dozen Very Best Knife Sets