Whether Three Pieces Or More Than A Dozen, A Great Kitchen Knife Set Can Completely Change How Work With Food.

Kitchen knife sets are extremely popular, and it’s easy to see why. They keep all your knives safe, easily accessible, and add a touch of style to your kitchen counter. It’s important to keep a few things in mind when shopping for a knife set, whether for the home or a professional kitchen.

The Block Is A Piece

When you see that a set is three, six, or 15 pieces, it’s important to remember the knife block itself will count as one of the pieces. So don’t fret if you think there’s a missing knife because there isn’t.

Get A Set That Fits

If you’re a parent looking for a good set of knives that will last and help cook the family’s meals for years to come, don’t feel like you need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a set with dozens of specialty pieces. Sometimes less is more and that six-piece set might be the perfect one for you.

Follow The Maintenance Directions

Just because your butter knives go into the dishwasher doesn’t mean that your kitchen knives will necessarily need to as well. Follow the care instructions of your set carefully so you get the most out of your knives and don’t see rust spots start appearing on your blades.

Best Kitchen Knife Sets

Japanese, German, forged, and stamped. These are descriptors of our five best kitchen knife sets. Large sets, small sets. We made sure to select something for everyone with our list.

Calphalon 321

What’s better than an affordably-priced knife set? How about one with a sharpener built into the block itself. That’s what you’ll get with the Calphalon 321. This set includes half a dozen steak knives to go with an eight-inch chef’s knife, serrated utility knife, paring knife, shears, and santoku knife.

Made from forged high-carbon steel, the blades prove tough and are able to maintain an edge. And their full-tang construction adds balance to the knives. 

The wooden block features a built-in ceramic sharpener in the slots for the chef’s knife, santoku, and paring blade. This means that every time you pull one out of the block, it passes through the sharpener to maintain its edge. Another handy feature is the printed label on the end of each knife so you’ll know what you’re grabbing at a glance.

In totality, this is an excellent budget knife block. MSRP: $169.99

Buck 13-Piece Cutlery Set

Buck? On a list of kitchen knives? Oh yes, and the set is just as high quality as the company’s famous folders. By far, this is the largest set on the list.

The set features an 8-inch chef’s knife, slicer, two different paring knives, a spreader, serving/grilling fork, and six steak knives. Buck constructs the blades from 420HC stainless, except for the spreader, which is 410HC. Triple-rivited, the handles are durable and attractive.

There are two styles of handles. The Slate PaperStone is dishwasher safe while the Rosewood DymaLux is hand-wash only. And everything safely stores away in the wooden knife block.

This set is lovely and meets the lofty expectations you would expect from any other Buck product. MSRP: $599.99 for the Slate Paperstone, $749.99 for the Rosewood DymaLux.

Henckels Statement 12-Piece Kitchen Knife Set With Block

A leader in kitchen cutlery, Henkels‘ set hits home run. 

The set features single-piece stamped stainless steel blades that are full tang and precision-honed to give them a perfect edge right out of the box. The polymer handle also provides an excellent grip and is easy to clean. The wood block fits all the pieces which include an eight-inch chef’s knife, santoku knife, paring knife, bread knife, sharpening steel, and a set of six steak knives.

This set covers nearly every scenario you’ll encounter in a home kitchen, and it’s also the most affordable set on our list. MSRP: $119.95.

Mercer Culinary Genesis Six-Piece Knife Block Set

This kitchen knife set from Mercer Culinary has the most unique appearance of the items on our list, but it is so much more than just looks. 

The glass block allows for a 360-degree display of the knives. The windows are attached on either side of the beechwood block which holds five knives.

This set of forged knives includes an 8-inch chef’s knife, paring knife, bread knife, boning knife, and utility knife. All of them are made from high-carbon German steel ground to a 15-degree edge and outfitted with a Santoprene handle for comfort and grip. 

It’s a conversation piece. It’s a quality knife set. It’s an absolute bargain for the quality of the product. MSRP: $156.

Shun Classic 5-Piece Starter Block Set

Shun makes professional-caliber knives, and its Classic Five-Piece set maintains that standard. 

There are only three knives included in the set, but they are of the highest quality. The 8-inch chef’s knife, paring knife, and utility knife are all made from 68 layers of stainless damascus cladding around a VG-Max core. They all tuck away in the Slimline Bamboo Black knife block, along with a honing rod. The trio of Japanese-style knives has ebony-finished Pakkawood handles with a full tang. 

A unique aspect of this set is there are more slots than knives. The block comes with two extra slots, one of which is designed for shears. This gives you to tailor your tools to your needs in the kitchen. 

Even though this is the smallest set on our list, it is the priciest due to the time and craftsmanship that went into every element of it. MSRP: $593.

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