The 3 Best Carving Knife and Fork Sets of 2025

A lot of carving sets are available, ranging from cheap to luxe. To help narrow the field, we focused on the following criteria:

Price: We set $75 as the rough limit for a functional, attractive, basic set, and we aimed to find something great for less. For special sets — the kind you might buy as a gift — we kept $200 as a ballpark but looked above and below.

Functionality: If a lot of owners complained about performance and/or durability in reviews, we eliminated the set.

Materials: Stainless steel blades were a must, and we favored handle materials like POM (a durable, food-safe resin) and pakkawood (resin-impregnated wood, also food-safe and time-tested). These materials require less care than carbon steel, which rusts easily, or wood, which can swell and split when wet.

Ergonomics: We’ve done enough testing to know the handle designs that tend to be comfortable: generally simple ones like those found on classic German and Japanese knives. Therefore, we eliminated overly creative designs where function was obviously secondary to form.

Availability: We stuck to widely available sets from established manufacturers. We likely overlooked a gem or two from a smaller outfit, but if you can’t buy a set because it’s sold out or slow to ship, it’s no use — especially if you’re shopping a few days before a holiday dinner.

A number of factors did not come into play in our decisions:

How the blades were made: Though forged blades were once clearly superior to stamped blades, that hasn’t been true for some time. In fact, our longstanding top-pick chef’s knife is stamped.

Blade length: We found that virtually every carving set comes with an 8- to 9-inch blade, which is a shame, because 10- to 12-inch blades slice more easily and neatly. That’s why most stand-alone slicing knives have longer blades and why we recommend the Tojiro Bread Slicer for people who cook poultry or meat frequently.

Fork shape: The majority of well-reviewed sets have forks with straight tines. Though in the past we’ve preferred the curved tines of the Mercer Culinary Genesis Carving Fork for serving, given the options, we didn’t dismiss straight-tined forks.

Though we were initially skeptical of electric knives, we found they have a loyal following. Most cost under $50 and many are strikingly similar, so we chose to test the two best-reviewed, basic electric knives from well-known brands.

To try out the carving knife and fork sets, we piggybacked on roasting pan testing, and had the perfect materials to work with: five turkeys, two top rounds of beef, a pork rib roast, and a huge bone-in ham.

We gathered a group of colleagues, including members of the Kitchen team, with a diverse range of hand sizes — big, small, and average — to help us understand how ergonomics and anatomy affected each tool’s performance.

We carved the turkeys two ways: First, we divided two birds into drumsticks, breasts, and thighs before carving the meat, following this popular New York Times video tutorial. We then carved a couple of turkeys off the bone, as you’d do at the dinner table — cutting slices from the breast.

We then sliced boneless beef roasts and bone-in ham. These are relatively simple compared with turkeys, but they look best when sliced evenly and thinly, which can be a challenge with a subpar knife.

Throughout, everyone tested how the forks helped pin down and manipulate the roast for easy slicing and moving slices onto plates. We also considered subjective factors like appearance, weight, and balance.

Finally, I used two electric knives to carve ham, slice turkey breast from the bone, and attempt to break down a turkey carcass.