I tell people to avoid knife sets altogether as they include 3 or 4 knives that you may never use. Look at buying a good chef's knife, paring knife, bread knife and boning knife. Optionally, I also use a slicer for larger meats, a santoku and a longer thinner utility knife which can be serrated or not. Get a magnetic strip and mount it on the wall instead of having a block that takes up counter space and collects bacteria. Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma carry a wide variety of brands that are all quality knives. They will get them out of the case and allow you to cut with them. Do this and try a few Asian style and European style knives to see what fits your hand best and if you prefer an 8" or 9" or 10" blade length. If you want to spend less, get a Victorinox chef's knife or Mercer Genesis santoku that will run you $40 and will be solid for years. Lots of people get Cutco knives or other household brands like Cuisinart or oxo and they probably work fine, but you won't enjoy them as much as a knife that you try out and select after handling it. I use a knife to prep food almost every day of my life, so it matters way more to me than most of my friends. If you don't like cooking or really hate chopping onions and the like, you may want to just go get a set of knives from Costco and call it a day.