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Of all the tools you need for cooking, the kitchen knife is perhaps the most important. There’s hardly a dish out there that doesn’t require slicing or dicing of some kind. Every kitchen should have several essential knives specialized for different tasks, from a versatile chef’s knife for everyday chopping to paring knives for small-scale mincing, peeling, and trimming.
The best knife sets provide easy access to all of your essential knives at once, along with a sleek, safe, and functional place to store them. Perfect for a beginner cook, newlyweds, or anyone who needs a kitchen refresh, the best knife sets include several basic blades, often at a significant discount from buying the knives one by one. In our never-ending quest to find the best kitchen tools, we put 42 of the best knife sets to the test, evaluating each knife set based on sharpness, design, and overall value.
Wüsthof Classic 10-Piece Knife Set – Best Overall
Wüsthof knives are reliably high-quality across the board, so the brand’s a great choice for a full set. The Wüsthof Classic chef’s knife was the second-sharpest out of the box in our testing, and the paring knife needed almost no effort to hull strawberries. We like that this block includes two serrated knives: a long one that glides through crusty bread, and a shorter utility blade that will work for raw meat prep or a post-cooking steak knife. There’s also a tiny, curved peeler knife great for cutting precise garnishes.
The two-piece kitchen shears are very easy to clean, but they didn’t have the strength to chop through chicken wings in testing. That’s our main quibble with the set, along with the fact that the block has a bigger footprint than competitors. The Classic line is Wüsthof’s best-selling and most affordable, though it’s still slightly above average for our tested knives. We say the price is well worth it for the quality from one of our favorite German kitchen brands.
Blade Material: Forged steel | Handle Material: Plastic | Block Dimensions: 12.5 x 4.4 x 12 inches | Includes: Peeling knife, paring knife, serrated utility knife, double serrated bread knife, chef’s knife, carving knife, meat fork, honing steel, 9-slot block
Zwilling Gourmet 10-Piece Knife Block Set – Best Value
The best knife block sets can get very expensive; it makes sense when you’re buying several top-quality blades all at once. But this Zwilling one impressed us with its comparatively affordable price. The paring knife was probably the best performer, a practically weightless tool that was able to slice the skin of a kiwi with only gentle pressure. We also liked the extra-sharp serrated bread knife, and the shears — they don’t come apart for cleaning, but they chopped through chicken bones with no problem.
Our biggest problem in testing the Zwilling set was its chef’s knife, which is unfortunately the most-used knife in just about any kitchen. It easily sliced through a tomato but lacked the power and balance to evenly cut an onion or slice through a sweet potato without serious effort. Its handle is also awkward to hold.
Blade Material: Stainless steel | Handle Material: Plastic | Block Dimensions: 14.17 x 6.3 x 6.1 inches | Includes: Peeling knife, vegetable knife, paring knife, serrated knife, slicing knife, bread knife, chef’s knife, honing steel, shears, 13-slot block
Zwilling Pro 10-Piece Knife Block Set – Best Pro Pick
Zwilling makes both fancy and budget knives: The Pro line is built to hold up to the rigors of restaurant cooking, which makes it quite a bit more expensive than the brand’s Classic design. The Pro’s handle shape and thick bolster lend themselves well to the pinch grip favored by trained chefs, and the heavy-duty construction ensures these knives will remain intact and easy to clean for years.
The chef’s and paring knives in this set were both among the sharpest in the test by mechanical measurement, and they slid through every ingredient we could slice with them. The Zwilling Pro bread knife was also impressive, able to slice crusty bread and turn soft sandwich bread into cubes without crushing either one. The one item that disappointed us was the shears: They felt cheap and uncomfortable, had trouble cutting up chicken, and didn’t come apart for easy cleaning.
All in all, the Zwilling Pro set is a good choice if you’re ready to step up to a higher level of knife. It’s only barely above average in cost for the models we tested, but it’ll keep up with ones that cost thousands.
Blade Material: Stainless steel | Handle Material: Plastic | Includes: Paring knives (2), serrated utility knife, prep knife, santoku, bread knife, chef’s knife, shears, honing steel, 16-slot block
HexClad Japanese Damascus Steel Knife Set – Best Knife Set With Magnetic Block
HexClad’s Japanese-style knives look a lot like the Shun Classic models above, except they’re about half as expensive and aren’t made in Japan. Nonetheless, most of them performed nicely in our tests — especially the chef’s knife, which was sharp enough to slice off a translucent sliver of tomato with practically no effort. We also like the compact magnetic knife block; it holds all the knives securely on one side, and you can use the other for spatulas, tongs, and any other steel tools.
The bread knife is where this set came up short in testing. Its serrations were able to get through the crust, but the blade wasn’t sharp enough and tore the interior of the loaf. The set’s seven pieces also include just five knives and no shears, something you need to take into account when you consider its below-average price.
Blade Material: Damascus steel | Handle Material: Pakkawood | Block Dimensions: 9.88 x 8.81 x 3.94 inches | Includes: Paring knife, utility knife, santoku, bread knife, chef’s knife, honing steel, magnetic knife block