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See why.Knife Block Sets
Nine pieces of matching cutlery, plus a block for easy storage? It could be a bargain—or a rip off.
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What You Need To Know
We can’t help but be skeptical about knife block sets. As with cookware sets, their biggest selling point has always been the number of pieces the manufacturer can cram into the package, not the usefulness or quality of the blades themselves. Most collections are loaded not only with superfluous pieces but also with ones that are impractical or even useless. In the test kitchen, we’ve always maintained that there are just three truly essential knives: a chef’s knife, a paring knife, and a serrated bread knife. Beyond that, a boning knife, a slicing knife (for carving meat), and a good pair of kitchen shears can make certain tasks easier. But anything other than these six pieces is filler.
At the same time, we know that there are occasions (particularly during gift-giving season or when you’re outfitting a kitchen from scratch) when an attractive, all-in-one set of cutlery—complete with a block that keeps everything neatly housed and within easy reach—could be a nice convenience. Hoping to find that we’d been a bit hasty in our cynicism, we went shopping and returned to the test kitchen with eight knife block sets that contained anywhere from six to nine pieces and spanned a broad price spectrum: $97 all the way up to nearly $700. We would evaluate these sets against one another as well as against an à la carte selection of our test kitchen favorites. Our criteria would be as follows: how comfortable the pieces were to use and how well each performed; how many pieces in the collection were essential and how many extraneous; and of the extraneous stock, how much of it was actually useful. If the right package was out there, we’d gladly give it our stamp of approval.
The Big Three
The only way to assess the efficacy of a set was to put each piece through the paces. First, we singled out the core blades from each set—the chef’s, bread, and paring knives—and went about our everyday tasks. We diced onions, minced herbs, and broke down a whole chicken with each of the chef’s knives. We sliced large, crusty loaves and then diced soft Wonder bread with the serrated bread knives (the latter test would reveal the knives’ ability to make clean, precise cuts without squishing the food). We peeled, quartered, and cored apples with the paring knives. Later, we’d examine the other pieces to see if they offered any additional value to the set or if they simply took up space.
The good news was that all but one of the chef’s knives in the sets boasted our preferred length of 8 inches, and five out of the eight scored well. They were easy to handle and slipped effortlessly through food as we worked. The poorly performing specimens had a c...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Usefulness: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 3 stars out of 3.
Set contains:
• Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox Pro 3 1/4" Spear Point Paring Knife: $9.47
• Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-inch Chef's Knife: $39.95
• Mercer Culinary Millennia 10" Wide Bread Knife: $22.10
• Victorinox Fibrox Pro Granton Edge 12-inch Slicing/Carving Knife: $49.95
• Victorinox Fibrox Pro 6-inch Straight Boning Knife: Flexible: $19.95
• Kershaw 1120M TaskMaster Kitchen Shears: $49.95
• Design Trifecta 360 Knife Block: $248.64
Weak links: 0 of 7
(See related equipment review for full comments.)
- Usefulness: 3 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 3 stars out of 3.
Set contains:
• Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox Pro 3 1/4" Spear Point Paring Knife: $9.47
• Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-inch Chef's Knife: $39.95
• Mercer Culinary Millennia 10" Wide Bread Knife: $22.10
• Victorinox Fibrox Pro 12-Inch Granton Edge Slicing Knife: $49.95
• Victorinox Fibrox Pro 6-inch Straight Boning Knife: Flexible: $19.95
• J. A. Henckels International Kitchen Shears—Take Apart: $14.95
• Schmidt Brothers Midtown Block: $67.99
Weak links: 0 of 7
(See related equipment review for full comments.)
Recommended with reservations
- Usefulness: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 2.5 stars out of 3.
Set contains: 3½-inch paring • 5-inch boning • 8-inch chef’s • 8-inch bread • 8-inch carving • Sharpening steel • Shears • 17-slot wood block
Weak links: 3 of 8
We were eager to try this set featuring our favorite paring knife and a shorter version of our favorite 10-inch bread knife. The results were mixed: The paring and boning blades fared admirably, but the 8-inch bread knife couldn’t slice through a large loaf, the shears were wimpy, and the carving knife extraneous.
- Usefulness: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 2.5 stars out of 3.
Set contains: 3¼-inch paring • 6-inch boning • 8-inch chef ’s • 8-inch bread • 10-inch slicing • Sharpening steel • 6-slot wood block
Weak links: 2 of 7
While the knives in this set performed well and very few were filler, there was something that seemed cheap about it. The slots chipped as we slid the knives in and out, making the set look worn right away. The bread and slicing knives were sharp but a bit short.
- Usefulness: 2 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 2.5 stars out of 3.
Set contains: 2½-inch bird’s beak • 3½-inch paring • 6-inch utility • 8-inch chef ’s • 9-inch bread • 9-inch slicing • Sharpening steel • Shears • 11-slot bamboo block
Weak links: 5 of 9
These solidly constructed, razor-edged knives generally performed well. That said, even at 9 inches the bread knife couldn’t handle large loaves. The stiff parer was like a mini chef ’s knife, which made it hard to peel an apple. The “utility” knife was useless. At this price, every component should be essential.
Not Recommended
- Usefulness: 1 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 2 stars out of 3.
Set contains:3 1/2-inch paring • 5-inch scalloped utility • 6-inch utility • 7-inch santoku • 8-inch chef ’s • 9-inch bread • Sharpening steel • Shears • 16-slot wood block
Weak links: 5 of 9
While some blades (particularly the nimble paring knife) shone in tests, this set’s two utility knives and santoku were easily outperformed by the chef’s blade on identical tasks. The bread knife was too short, and the block’s finish chipped a little around the slots with repeated use.
- Usefulness: 1 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 2 stars out of 3.
Set contains: 3-inch paring • 4-inch paring • 5¼-inch utility • 5 1/2-inch nakiri/vegetable • 6-inch serrated utility • 7-inch Asian chef’s • 8 1/4-inch carving • 8 3/4-inch bread • 11-slot steel block
Weak links: 6 of 9
Most of these sleek Japanese blades were agile, but many were also unnecessary: two utility knives, an extra paring knife, a carving knife, and a 5 1/2-inch nakiri blade for vegetable prep. The bread knife lacked at least an inch of necessary length—a feature that we also missed on the curiously short chef ’s knife.
- Usefulness: 1 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 2 stars out of 3.
Set contains: 2 3/4-inch paring/boning • 4-inch paring • 5-inch serrated utility • 5-inch hollow-edge santoku • 8-inch chef ’s • 8-inch bread • Sharpening steel • Shears • 15-slot wood block
Weak links: 6 of 9
Many pieces in this set were underwhelming. The thicker-bladed chef ’s knife was just adequate, requiring extra pressure to chop; the bread knife not only was stumpy but also squished soft bread when slicing. The paring/boning knife was tiny, and the utility knife ripped—rather than sliced—tomato skin. One bright spot: the excellent 4-inch paring knife.
- Usefulness: 1 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 1 stars out of 3.
Set contains: 3 1/2-inch paring • 5-inch santoku • 6-inch serrated utility • 8-inch chef’s • 8-inch bread • 5-slot bamboo block
Weak links: 5 of 6
This set is a dud. The handles were uncomfortable and the blades uniformly clunky. The too short bread knife struggled through big loaves, the paring knife was too heavy for precision tasks, and the utility blade was utterly dispensable. The only decent blade: the santoku.
- Usefulness: 1 stars out of 3.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance : 1 stars out of 3.
Set contains: 3 1/2-inch paring • 4-inch tomato/cheese • 4-inch citrus • 5 3/4-inch sandwich • 6-inch utility • 6 1/2-inch santoku • 8-inch chef’s • 8-inch bread • 8-slot acrylic block
Weak links: 8 of 9
These candy-colored steel blades came suspended in a clear acrylic holder. While the edges were relatively sharp, minced food clung to the supposedly nonstick blades, and the smooth handles were slippery. We found the chef ’s knife awkward, the bread knife short, and the paring knife stiff and dull. The other five knives in the set were expendable.
Reviews you can trust
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
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