Looking to buy one or two quality kitchen cutlery sets? Then you’re taking the right first step – research! Each knife in any of the different types of kitchen cutlery sets on the market has its own unique function.

Here are the knives you must have:

Chef’s Knife

You will use The Cook’s Knife, also known as the Chef’s Knife, for difficult jobs like dicing food. This knife, in length, generally ranges from 6 to 12 inches. You’ll find that the blade is curved, which will help you perform tasks on the cutting board. Think of it as the “work horse” knife. Yet, and this is a little knife trivia for you, the Chef’s Knife is somewhat infamous as the knife used in the movie Halloween.

The Bread Knife

I’m sure you already know the Bread Knife’s life purpose in any of the good kitchen cutlery sets. Correct! To slice bread. It’s 8 inches long.

The Paring Knife

At only three inches long, you may think the Paring Knife doesn’t bring much value to your kitchen cutlery set. However, don’t underestimate it. You’ll use it for coring and peeling, which, as any chef knows, is an imperative kitchen task.

The Utility Knife

At around 6 inches, on average, in length, the Utility Knife is somewhat of the kitchen cutlery sets' “step child”. It has no specialty but is often used for random tasks.

The Steak Knife

Perhaps a favorite knife is the Steak Knife – favorite because, other than your personal dining knife, it’s the knife closest to the food at meal time. It’s used to slice meat at the dinner table prior to serving, quickly easing the hunger pains of your family and dining guests. It’s about 5 inches in length.

The Cleaver

The Cleaver, which, to its chagrin, looks rather ominous, is actually a helpful tool to have in the kitchen. It’s used for chopping and is durable enough to cut through bone, when necessary.

The Boning Knife

A Boning Knife, with its flexible blade, is ideal for removing bones from meat. At around six inches in length, the Boning Knife snakes its way in between the meat and the bone and literally “pops” out from the meat. While the Cleaver can cut through bone, the Boning Knife is a little more elegant – it “flips” the bone from the meat.

The Fillet Knife

Looking to fillet fish? Then you need the Fillet Knife, which, at around 10 inches in length, is a bigger version of the Boning Knife described above.

So many knives! But now that you have passed Knives 101, the course they never gave you in high school Home Economics but should have, you are prepared to purchase kitchen cutlery sets for you, your friends and your family!