Best Kitchen Knife Sets Under $100 - 2022 Update (2023)

A Few of The Best Budget Kitchen Cutlery Block Sets under 100 Dollars in 2022

Cutlery is one of the most important food prep tools in the kitchen, and it is possible to get good knives on a budget in 2022 thanks to modern manufacturing techniques. When it comes to kitchen knives you have a lot of choices ranging from really cheap ones to premium kitchen knives that cost more than a house payment. While it is quite clear that you can save money when purchasing a knife set compared to buying individual knives, it’s still hard to know where to begin. With this in mind we tested many different budget friendly knife sets, so we could showcase the best kitchen knife block sets under $100 in 2022 from top brands.

Knife sets are an important investment even if you spend less than $100. I have included a cutlery care and handling guide at the end of this article to help you get the most of your knife set. Even a budget cutlery set should last for many years if the knives are properly cared for.

There have not been a lot new knife sets released in the sub $100 price range in the last year. I assume this has something to do with the unique manufacturing challenges companies have faced. However, it looks like cutlery companies are beginning to release new products at a faster rate this year. I will continue to update this article as I test new products throughout 2022.

Here are our top picks for the best knife set under 100 dollars in 2022.

Cuisinart C77WTR-15P Classic White 15 Piece Knife Set

Specifications

Pros

Cons

Set Includes – one 8″ chef knife, one 8″ slicing knife, one 7″ santoku knife, one 5.5″ utility knife, six 3.5″ paring knife, one 2.75″ birds beak paring knife, six 4.5″ steak knives, one 8″ sharpening steel, one pair of kitchen shears and one wood knife storage block.

This set offers a lot of bang for the buck. For less than $100 you get full tang knives with forged blades and triple riveted handles. Usually those specs come at the cost of quantity, but this set is actually pretty big. It also looks great. The knives have a decent fit and finish for budget knives and the storage block is one of the better looking ones in this article. Obviously the overall quality is less than higher priced sets, but Cuisinart has done a good job from a performance and looks vs value standpoint.

The smaller knives of this set do feel a little flimsy compared to the larger hero knives, but that is pretty typical of budget sets. These knives should always be hand washed and dried right away to ensure years of use and spot free blades. If the included honing rod is used regularly these knives will not to be sharpened often.

All in all this is a good kitchen cutlery set, and you will be hard pressed to find a better designed, more durable set at this price point. If you can get by with a smaller set I would recommend the Cangshan set we listed earlier in this article, but if you need a big set that looks great on almost any kitchen counter this Cuisinart set is an excellent choice at it’s current sub 100 dollar price point.

Mercer Culinary Millenia 5-Piece Knife Set

Specifications

Pros

Cons

Set Includes –one 8″ chef knife, one 8″ serrated bread knife, one 7″ santoku knife, one 3.5″ paring knife, one and one magnetic wood storage board.

The Mercer Culinary Millenia 5-Piece Knife set offers great quality and extremely comfortable handles at an excellent price. This set does not have the classic look of the typical wooden handle knife set in a hard wood block, but if you like the unique aesthetic of this set it is a great option for anyone trying to spend less than $100 on a kitchen knife set. It is also a great option if you are looking for a knife set for an RV, because the whole set can be easily stored in a drawer, and the magnetic storage board does a great job of holding the knives in place.

The blades of the Culinary Millennia knives are made of X30Cr13 Japanese steel. This steel is fairly rust resistant, but it generally does not hold it’s edge for a long time. Fortunately Mercer’s heat treatment seems to have made the blades of these knives hold an edge better than the average X30Cr13 steel blade.

This set uses a magnetic board for storage rather than a wooden block. The magnets on the back of the board are really powerful, and they hold the knives firmly in place. The following wood types available for this set’s storage boards: Acacia, Bamboo and Rubberwood.

As you can see in the picture above the Millennia series knife sets are available with a variety of handle colors, so you can choose the one that works best for your kitchen. However, the best feature of these knife handles is not the color options of the handles. It is the comfortable shape and feel of the handles unless you are using a pinch grip. These handles are made of a Santoprene/polypropylene combo material that is extremely grippy even when wet.

J.A. Henckels International Definition 7 Piece Block Set

Specifications

Pros

Cons

Set Includes – one 3″ paring knife, one 5″ serrated utility knife, one 8″ bread knife, one 5″ hollow edge santoku, one 8″inch Chef’s knife, four 4.5″ steak knives, one 9″ sharpening steel, one pair of kitchen shears, and one Cherry wood storage block.

J.A. Henckles, does a great job of making quality budget knives, and this set is absolutely one of the best under $100 on the market. The biggest downside of the set is that it the steak knives are a weird combination of serrated and straight edge. Others opinions of this may vary, but we are not a fan. Fortunately the hero knives of this set, like the 8 inch chef knife pictured above, offered such great performance for the money that I was willing to overlook the weird steak knives and include this set in this article.

All the knives in this set are full tang, the blades hold their edge well for a budget set and the storage block looks great in almost any kitchen. I did find that people with small to medium sized hands like the handles of this set better than those with large hands. That is not to say that those with large hands disliked the Henckels Definition handles. They just didn’t like them as much as those with small hands.

Even though the paring knife in this set was a little bit duller than the rest of the knives, it was still more than capable thanks to it’s good blade geometry and comfortable handle.

The bread knives in budget sets are often the most disappointing knife in the set. Fortunately the 8 inch bread knife included in this set was more than capable. It cut cleanly and evenly, but we did find that I wished it was a little longer.

Overall the Henckels 12 Piece Definition knife set offered better performance than most other large sets at this price point. The knives also had better overall fit and finish than most budget knives. We have no problem recommending this set in spite of it’s weird looking steak knives.

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Cangshan S1 3-Piece Knife Set

Specifications

Pros

Cons

Set Includes – one 8″ chef knife, one 3.5″ paring knife and one Walnut knife storage block

This 2 knife set from Cangshan is obviously much smaller than any of the of the other sets in this article, but the two knives in this set are by far the best knives in this post from a quality and performance standpoint. The knives are both full tang and the blades are made of X50Cr15MoV German Steel. Cangshan’s great heat treatment ensures that the knives have excellent edge retention.

The tapered handles are comfortable and easy and lend themselves well to multiple grip types. They also look great. This set is perfect for anyone who prefers quality over quantity. It is also a good set for a small kitchen in a boat or RV, because it takes up very little counter space. Overall this set feels like a much more expensive set when you are using the knives. This is especially true of the 8 inch Chefs knife which handles like a knife from ahigher end knife set.

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Ginsu Gourmet Chikara Series 5 Piece Cutlery Set

Specifications

Pros

Cons

Set Includes – one 6″ chef knife, one 5″ Santoku knife, one 5″ utility knife, one 5″, one 3.5″ paring knife” and a bamboo storage block block.

This is a small knife set with small knives. Initially I didn’t add it to this article, because the chef knife is only six inches, but it really is a good super affordable set for tiny kitchens. I have been recommending this set to anyone looking for a budget knife set for a small space like and RV or cabin kitchen. The set takes up very little space, and it is easy to store in a an RV or boat drawer while traveling.

The five inchsantoku knife is a standout performer in this set and the utility knife is surprisingly capable of handling a variety of tasks. It is not quite on par with the much more expensive Wusthof Classic 4183 santoku knife, but it is closer from a performance standpoint than I expected it to be. It is an excellent knife to take for meal prep on camping trips, picnics or road trips, because it is capable of handling a large variety of tasks, and it is relatively small and lightweight.

Overall the GinsuChikara Series is an great value buy, and it should provide years of use especially if it is used as a travel set in a RV, houseboat or vacation cabin.

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J.A. Henckels International Statement 12 Piece Knife Set

Specifications

Pros

Cons

The triple rivet handles of this set are really durable for a sub $100 set. They can take a beating and are designed well enough from an ergonomic standpoint to not cause discomfort when used for an extensive period of time. However, they are not quite as comfortable as the handles of the J.A. Henckels International Statement set I wrote about earlier in this article. The blades are stamped rather than forged which is not ideal, but it is the standard on knife sets in this price range, and J.A. Henckles precision stamping process turns out some impressive blades.

J.A. Henckels states that this set is dishwasher safe, but hand washing is ideal. We highly recommend that you hand wash these knives if you get them, because like all carbon steel knives, they are prone to getting rust spots if they are wet for an extended period of time. This is the downside of high carbon steel blades. The upside is that they hold an edge well.

All in all this is an excellent kitchen cutlery set at this price point, and you will be hard pressed to find a better designed, more durable set at this price point.

Cangshan V2 Series 5 Piece Starter Kitchen Knife Set

Specifications

Pros

Cons

Set Includes –one 8″ chef knife, one 5″ serrated utility knife, one 3.5″ paring knife, one pair of shears and one acacia wood block.

If you are a minimalist who prefers quality over quantity this set is one of the best options at the sub $100 price point. The blades are made ofX50Cr15Mov German steelwhich is usually only found on premium kitchen knife sets. This steel holds it’s edge fairly well, and it is very rust resistant. These knives ship extremely sharp and they are surprisingly comfortable to handle. Obviously the downside to getting knives of this quality for less than 100 bucks is that there are only three of them and one pair of scissors in the set.

There is no doubt that the knives in this set are better quality than almost any other budget knife set. The combination of great balance, high quality steel and durable handles make this set a must for any budget “best of ” list. Even the kitchen shears are good quality and easy to clean. It would have been great ifCangshanhad included some empty slots in the block so the set could be added to over time, but that is my only complaint with this great looking and durable cutlery set.

Chicago Cutlery Insignia Steel 13 Piece Set Kitchen Cutlery Set

Specifications

Pros

Cons

This one of the newest knife sets from Chicago Cutlery. The first thing that differentiates this set from the other sets in this article is it’s 8″ utility knife. Most utility knives are 4 to 5 inches, but the utility knife in this set is almost twice the average size. This makes the utility knife a little less versatile, but it may be nice for a person that finds themselves using big knives more than midsized knives. A smaller utility knife could always be added to the set, but there are no empty slots in the storage block, so it would have to be stored elsewhere.While this set certainly delivers in the aesthetics department it also delivers in the performance department especially at this price point. Obviously the steel is not on par with the crazy expensive sets, but the blades all hold their edge well, and they are forged rather than stamped. However these knives do need to be hand washed and dried to avoid rust spots. This is true of all kitchen knives to some degree, but it is especially important with this set.The scissors are probably the least impressive item in this set, so if you use kitchen scissors a lot this may not be the set for you. Ideally Chicago Cutlery would have included a pair of scissors with stainless steel handles rather than plastic. In spite of that drawback this set is definitely one of the best values in the kitchen knife world especially at it’s current price point. The Santoku knife is probably the most impressive knife in this set. It cuts and slices fairly effortlessly considering the low cost of these knives.

Knife Set	Picture
Cuisinart C77WTR Classic White 15 Piece Set Full Review
J.A. Henckels International 12 Piece Definition Block Set Full Review
Mercer Culinary Millennia 5-Piece Set Full Review
Cangshan S1 3-Piece Knife Set Full Review
Ginsu Gourmet Chikara Series 8 Piece Cutlery Set Full Review
J.A. Henckels International Definition 7 Piece Block Set Full Review
Cangshan V2 Series 5 Piece Knife Set Full Review
Chicago Cutlery Insignia Steel 13 Piece Set Kitchen Cutlery Set Full Review

If you are on an extremely tight budget, and you need a knife set cheaper than anything listed here, check out the Top 5 Critic article on the top knife sets under $50.

If you think you may want to spend a little more in order to get a better quality cutlery set, check out our article on the best kitchen knife sets under $200.

If you want to take a significant step up in quality check out The Best Kitchen Knife Sets Under $300

If you think you want to spend a lot more for a better quality knife set, check out our article, The Best Kitchen Knife Sets Under $300.

Proper Care and Handling of budget kitchen Knives

While it is true that modern manufacturing in 2021 technology has greatly improved the quality of budget kitchen knives it is also true that cheap cutlery generally will not last as long as higher priced kitchen knives. However, with a minimal amount of care and maintenance the kitchen knife sets under $100 listed in this post should last for years. Here are our recommendations for getting years of use from budget cutlery sets.

1. Avoid trying to cut or chop anything frozen. This often results in a rolled or chipped blade, and it will dull the blade very quickly. Froze items should be cut or chopped with a cleaver. If you are looking for a good budget cleaver, check out our the Utopia 7 Inch Cleaver Review.
2. Never wash your knives in the dishwasher. This can result in rust spots and the vibrations of the dishwasher will dull the knives especially if they are in a silverware basket with other utensils.If you do end up washing some cutlery in the dishwasher dry them immediately and use a honing rod to get the blade edge back to it’s optimal sharpness.
3. Avoid storing knives in a drawer unless they have individual knife sheaths or guards. The wood block that ships with the set is the ideal way to store knives. If you end up needing to store knives in drawer make sure to get some sheaths for them to avoid accidental cuts and blade dulling. If you ordered a knife block set desperately from your steak knives check out our post on great steak knife wooden blocks.
4. Use a honing rod on a regular basis to ensure your knives retain their edge and perform well for years. Honing is different than sharpening, and should be done more often.
5. Sharpen your knives at least twice a year if you use them on a daily basis and at least once a year if you use them less regularly.

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