Knives

Don’t believe the hype of big knife sets— all you really need are a chef’s knife, a pairing knife, and a serrated knife.

A good chef’s knife is the single most important tool in your kitchen. You’ll use it every time you cook, and it covers the vast majority of tasks. A pairing knife is useful for things that require a bit more dexterity and precision, and a serrated knife (also called a bread knife) is useful for things that require some grip.

My suggestion is to first focus on buying the highest-quality chef’s knife you can afford, since this is what you’ll be using most. Paring knives and serrated knives don’t require as much of an investment.

I usually don’t recommend knife sets for the same reason I don’t recommend most cookware sets— many of them are trying to sell you a bunch of knives you don’t need at an inflated price. That said, there are a few companies offering 3-knife sets with the pieces mentioned above.

• Material Kitchen’s Knife Set
• Hedley & Bennett
• Made In (4 pieces but still a great value)

Brands I Recommend:

• Chef’s Knife: Misono UX10 Santoku, Shun Classic, Material Kitchen, Made In
• Paring Knife: Made In, Material Kitchen
• Serrated Knife: Made In, Veark, Victorinox, Suncraft