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Best Buy à La Carte Knife Set
If our Test Kitchen à la carte Knife Set is too expensive for you, we've compiled a list of our favorite inexpensive options.
Editor&aposs Note:Update, May 2024
We have updated our Best Buy à la Carte Knife Set to reflect all our current knife Best Buys, listed below. Want the cream of the crop? See our roundup of top knives. And for more information, check out our full review of knife sets.
Top Picks
Mercer Culinary Millennia 8-Inch Chef's Knife
Costing about half the price of our top chef's knife pick, this knife is a great value. Its blade is sharp and capable of dispatching all tasks effortlessly. And it’s lightweight and easy to wield. We generally liked its handle, which was large (but not too large) and mostly comfortable to hold. Our one small quibble is with its material, a bumpy rubber that’s so grippy that it sometimes impedes movement, making it a touch harder to shift hand positions easily.
Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox Pro 3 1/4" Spear Point Paring Knife
The blade on our favorite paring knife is as sharp, thin, and nimble as ever, and it’s capable of making ultraprecise slices and incisions. Its plastic handle is easy to grip and accommodates large and small hands easily. In addition, the handle doesn’t add too much weight to the knife overall, allowing for agile, effortless use.
Mercer Culinary Millennia 10" Wide Bread Knife
With the fewest, widest, and deepest serrations, this knife was a “standout.” Its sharp points bit into everything from the crustiest bread to the squishiest tomato, producing crisp, clean slices. “Perfect, no crumbs, really easy,” said one tester. A stellar blade coupled with a grippy, comfortable handle earned this knife the top spot.
Victorinox Fibrox Pro 12-Inch Granton Edge Slicing Knife
This “basic, but well-made” knife was our favorite for a number of reasons: Moderately heavy, it had enough heft and rigidity to make straight cuts, while a slight flexibility gave a feeling of control. The thin, tapered, razor-sharp blade was long and wide enough to draw through a large roast in one stroke.
Victorinox Fibrox Pro 6-inch Straight Boning Knife: Flexible
In our most recent testing, our old winning boning knife still performed admirably in every task, hugging the curves of bones and joints just as closely thanks to its moderate flexibility. Its textured plastic handle made it particularly easy to hold even when wet or slippery with fat. Several testers found the thicker handle to be a touch unwieldy, preventing them from changing their grips as readily, but large-handed testers preferred it.
J.A. Henckels International Take-Apart Kitchen Shears
With relatively long, narrow, sharp blades, these ambidextrous, take-apart shears were nimble and made nice smooth cuts on all foods. Lots of tiny microserrations on the anvil blade edge helped ensure a secure grip on slippery foods. And its plastic finger bows were comfortable for hands of all sizes. But because they were the lightest shears in our testing, with a fairly loose level of tension between the blades, some testers found them to be less powerful than our winner; a wider blade angle contributed to a slightly less keen-feeling edge.
Schmidt Brothers Midtown Block
This smaller version of the Downtown Block secured all our knives nicely, though the blade of the slicing knife stuck out a bit. With a base lined with grippy material, this block was very stable. An acrylic guard afforded extra protection against contact with blades but made it a little harder to insert knives and to clean; the wood itself got a little scratched during use.
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What You Need to Know
We performed an exhaustive test of 8 different knife sets and in the end, our testing confirmed that you are much better off shopping for knives à la carte; that way, you get only what you really need. We went back through tesitngs we've performed over the years and compiled this list of our favorite inexpensive knives to round out a set of six essential knives that fit nicely inside our Best Buy universal knife block.
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Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
Mercer Culinary Millennia 8-Inch Chef's Knife
Costing about half the price of our top chef's knife pick, this knife is a great value. Its blade is sharp and capable of dispatching all tasks effortlessly. And it’s lightweight and easy to wield. We generally liked its handle, which was large (but not too large) and mostly comfortable to hold. Our one small quibble is with its material, a bumpy rubber that’s so grippy that it sometimes impedes movement, making it a touch harder to shift hand positions easily.
Model Number: M22608
Price at Time of Testing: $23.99
Costing about half the price of our top chef's knife pick, this knife is a great value. Its blade is sharp and capable of dispatching all tasks effortlessly. And it’s lightweight and easy to wield. We generally liked its handle, which was large (but not too large) and mostly comfortable to hold. Our one small quibble is with its material, a bumpy rubber that’s so grippy that it sometimes impedes movement, making it a touch harder to shift hand positions easily.
Model Number: M22608
Price at Time of Testing: $23.99
Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox Pro 3 1/4" Spear Point Paring Knife
The blade on our favorite paring knife is as sharp, thin, and nimble as ever, and it’s capable of making ultraprecise slices and incisions. Its plastic handle is easy to grip and accommodates large and small hands easily. In addition, the handle doesn’t add too much weight to the knife overall, allowing for agile, effortless use.
Model Number: 6.7603
Price at Time of Testing: $9.47
The blade on our favorite paring knife is as sharp, thin, and nimble as ever, and it’s capable of making ultraprecise slices and incisions. Its plastic handle is easy to grip and accommodates large and small hands easily. In addition, the handle doesn’t add too much weight to the knife overall, allowing for agile, effortless use.
Model Number: 6.7603
Price at Time of Testing: $9.47
Mercer Culinary Millennia 10" Wide Bread Knife
With the fewest, widest, and deepest serrations, this knife was a “standout.” Its sharp points bit into everything from the crustiest bread to the squishiest tomato, producing crisp, clean slices. “Perfect, no crumbs, really easy,” said one tester. A stellar blade coupled with a grippy, comfortable handle earned this knife the top spot.
Model Number: M23210
Price at Time of Testing: $22.10
With the fewest, widest, and deepest serrations, this knife was a “standout.” Its sharp points bit into everything from the crustiest bread to the squishiest tomato, producing crisp, clean slices. “Perfect, no crumbs, really easy,” said one tester. A stellar blade coupled with a grippy, comfortable handle earned this knife the top spot.
Model Number: M23210
Price at Time of Testing: $22.10
Victorinox Fibrox Pro 12-Inch Granton Edge Slicing Knife
This “basic, but well-made” knife was our favorite for a number of reasons: Moderately heavy, it had enough heft and rigidity to make straight cuts, while a slight flexibility gave a feeling of control. The thin, tapered, razor-sharp blade was long and wide enough to draw through a large roast in one stroke.
Model Number: 47645
Price at Time of Testing: $49.95
This “basic, but well-made” knife was our favorite for a number of reasons: Moderately heavy, it had enough heft and rigidity to make straight cuts, while a slight flexibility gave a feeling of control. The thin, tapered, razor-sharp blade was long and wide enough to draw through a large roast in one stroke.
Model Number: 47645
Price at Time of Testing: $49.95
Recommended
Victorinox Fibrox Pro 6-inch Straight Boning Knife: Flexible
In our most recent testing, our old winning boning knife still performed admirably in every task, hugging the curves of bones and joints just as closely thanks to its moderate flexibility. Its textured plastic handle made it particularly easy to hold even when wet or slippery with fat. Several testers found the thicker handle to be a touch unwieldy, preventing them from changing their grips as readily, but large-handed testers preferred it.
Model Number: 5.6413.15
Price at Time of Testing: $19.95
In our most recent testing, our old winning boning knife still performed admirably in every task, hugging the curves of bones and joints just as closely thanks to its moderate flexibility. Its textured plastic handle made it particularly easy to hold even when wet or slippery with fat. Several testers found the thicker handle to be a touch unwieldy, preventing them from changing their grips as readily, but large-handed testers preferred it.
Model Number: 5.6413.15
Price at Time of Testing: $19.95
J.A. Henckels International Take-Apart Kitchen Shears
With relatively long, narrow, sharp blades, these ambidextrous, take-apart shears were nimble and made nice smooth cuts on all foods. Lots of tiny microserrations on the anvil blade edge helped ensure a secure grip on slippery foods. And its plastic finger bows were comfortable for hands of all sizes. But because they were the lightest shears in our testing, with a fairly loose level of tension between the blades, some testers found them to be less powerful than our winner; a wider blade angle contributed to a slightly less keen-feeling edge.
Model Number: 11517-100
Price at Time of Testing: $14.94
With relatively long, narrow, sharp blades, these ambidextrous, take-apart shears were nimble and made nice smooth cuts on all foods. Lots of tiny microserrations on the anvil blade edge helped ensure a secure grip on slippery foods. And its plastic finger bows were comfortable for hands of all sizes. But because they were the lightest shears in our testing, with a fairly loose level of tension between the blades, some testers found them to be less powerful than our winner; a wider blade angle contributed to a slightly less keen-feeling edge.
Model Number: 11517-100
Price at Time of Testing: $14.94
Schmidt Brothers Midtown Block
This smaller version of the Downtown Block secured all our knives nicely, though the blade of the slicing knife stuck out a bit. With a base lined with grippy material, this block was very stable. An acrylic guard afforded extra protection against contact with blades but made it a little harder to insert knives and to clean; the wood itself got a little scratched during use.
Model Number: SBCMTBAC3
Price at Time of Testing: $79.99
This smaller version of the Downtown Block secured all our knives nicely, though the blade of the slicing knife stuck out a bit. With a base lined with grippy material, this block was very stable. An acrylic guard afforded extra protection against contact with blades but made it a little harder to insert knives and to clean; the wood itself got a little scratched during use.
Model Number: SBCMTBAC3
Price at Time of Testing: $79.99
*All products reviewed by America’s Test Kitchen are independently chosen, researched, and reviewed by our editors. We buy products for testing at retail locations and do not accept unsolicited samples for testing. We list suggested sources for recommended products as a convenience to our readers but do not endorse specific retailers. When you choose to purchase our editorial recommendations from the links we provide, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices are subject to change.
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. Have a question or suggestion? Send us an email at atkreviews@americastestkitchen.com. We appreciate your feedback!
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