What is the best cutlery set to buy for your home kitchen?!
Answers: cooking utensils
I use Henckels 4 Star knives and they are great. Wustoff are another good brand to use. A lot of chefs use these two brands. While most knife sets come with a steel, this is not a sharpener. Spend a few extra bucks and buy a sharpening stone. They are about $60 in stores like William Sonoma. Mr. Danger was correct in saying that there are cheaper sets of Henckels, so make sure you buy the better quality ones like the 4 star or 5 star. They'll cost you, but they will last forever.
I love my Wolfgang Puck. It's cheap to buy and has never let me down. I like the weight, handle shape, quantity of different knives. I also to Puck's sharpener. I have no complaints.
If you are talking about kitchen / cooks knives here is my answer.
You must first decide what knives you would use most often. Usually a chef's knife, paring knife, bread slicing knife are the most common. Then a meat slicing knife would be a nice knife to have.
Purchase a knife that has an in store replacement policy.
Henkle knives which I prefer because when you buy their best quality knives they are guaranteed for life.
Most stores that sell Henkle knives will replace the damaged knife immediately when you bring it in if they have that knive in stock.
There are several other knive brands that are excellent knives and have a lifetime guarantee.
Go to your local cooking store or stores that sell home goods etc.
Remember, it is better to spend as much as you can afford on each knife and wait until you can afford to purchase the next knife. You get what you pay for when purchasing knives.
When you purchase a knife also purchase a steel to hone your knives and purchase a knife sharpening tool. These can be electric or manual. I find Chef's Choice to be a good make and that is what I use. This is important because knives need to be sharpened. Ask the sales person to show you how to sharpen and use a steel. They will show you. Some stores ( usually the high end culinary stores)offer in store sharpening.
Chef Robert, author of chef Robert presents romantic dinners for two
Don't buy sets buy individual knives. At a certain price point and quality level all knives are about the same.The difference then becomes what feels good in your hand and what best suits your way of cooking . Right now I'm using a Messermeister San Moritz 9.5 "chefs knife because it's the right knife for me.In my tool box ,i have a liitle bit everything ; Dick, Dexter -Russel ,Henckels , Messermeister , Sabatier Wustoff & a no name chinese cleaver.
While department stores can be a good source of knives ,restaurant supply stores can be even better,
Be really careful if you do buy Henckels knives because while they do still make some great knives the marketing geeks took advantage of that fact and put the brand name on some real junk
Knives - Shun
Utensils - different kinds for different uses. For example: KitchenAid makes a great spatula and pancake turner, but their pizza wheel and garlic press stink! lol
Silverware/flatware - Oneida is pretty good, and it's found everywhere.