The 9 Best Silverware Sets, Tested and Reviewed

Generally speaking, flatware has one job: Get food from your plate to your mouth. But it’s also part of your whole dining room presentation, so it should also look good and hold up to everyday use. To find the best silverware sets that succeed in both form and function, I overloaded my silverware organizer with 9 popular flatware styles and used them all for a few weeks to see how they felt in my hand—and how well they held up in the not–so-delicate hands of my kids. And, yes, I put them all in the dishwasher. Repeatedly.

Before I ordered enough flatware to supply a small restaurant, I spent a lot of time researching different sets, with a goal of offering a variety of styles, finishes, and price points. I narrowed down my shortlist based on materials, versatility, variety, popularity, and cost. I also spent a lot of time reading customer reviews to ensure that, overall, the people who’d been using these sets at home were happy with their purchases; if a set had a lot of negative reviews, I didn’t even bother testing it for inclusion on this list.

Whether you like your flatware shiny, matte, ornate, or completely unadorned, there’s a set for you below. Keep reading to see how each of the nine best silverware sets lived up to the hype.

Made In’s DTC cookware and tableware is manufactured responsibly in partner facilities around the world,and is used in restaurants from New York to Los Angeles and in between. The brand’s restaurant-quality stainless-steel flatware is my top pick for silverware sets to use at home, too, because it’s both casual and elegant. The handles have a curvy, timeless shape and there are zero embellishments (save for the tiny “made in Italy” stamped on the forks and spoons) so it would work with just about any kind of tablescape from shabby chic to super modern. Each piece is well balanced and substantial without being too big or heavy and the polished 18/10 stainless steel makes it resistant to corrosion and scratches. Given the quality and timeless appeal of this flatware, the price is pretty reasonable too; at the time of publishing you can get four five-piece place settings (20 pieces total) for just under $200. I’ve used this set at home for more than a year now, and though it shows some very minimal signs of heavy use, it still looks great.

Material: 18/10 stainless steel
Pieces in each place setting: Dinner fork, salad fork, tablespoon, dessert/teaspoon, dinner knife
Additional pieces available: No
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

It's hard to find colorful bistro-style flatware without those cheap-looking silver dots on bloated plastic handles, and it’s near impossible to find any two-tone flatware that doesn’t have at least a handful of customer complaints regarding subpar materials and durability issues. But this popular Italian-made line from Mepra is high quality—it’s made of 18/10 stainless steel with resin handles—and there are a number of color options, though the color availability varies by retailer. It’s also dishwasher-safe. Overall, it’s a great little set and, I do mean little—while most of the pieces are fairly comparable in measurement to the corresponding pieces in other flatware sets, the teaspoon is practically toddler-size and more like a dessert spoon or sugar spoon. But perhaps it was always meant to stir a tiny little cup of Italian espresso.

Materials: 18/10 stainless steel and resin
Pieces in each place setting: Dinner fork, salad/dessert fork, tablespoon, teaspoon, dinner knife
Additional pieces available: Yes
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

Sometimes I look at super modern flatware and just know the artsy shapes are not at all conducive to getting sufficient amounts of food from a plate or bowl into my mouth (Exhibit A: the three tiny tines on this fork, which looks like some sort of awful spork I’d be forced to use on a camping trip before giving up and using my bare hands to scoop cold beans straight from a can). No, I want my flatware to be as functional as it is stylish, which is why I love the Jaxson line from Fortessa. It gets its modern look from slender four-sided handles, which are nicely weighted and uniform across every utensil in the five-piece place setting (the knife handle is just barely bigger than the others) and almost perfectly round spoon heads. Importantly, the parts that are meant to hold food, like the fork tines, actually do. This flatware is made from 18/10 stainless steel, and though some retailers offer it with mirror-finished handles, I prefer the brushed handles for the contrast and visual interest.

Material: 18/10 stainless steel
Pieces in each place setting: Salad fork, dinner fork, table knife, soup spoon, teaspoon
Additional pieces available: Yes
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

If you’re looking for an elegant, minimalist silverware set, the Lenox Pearl Platinum has just enough embellishment at the neck of each piece to make it stand out but not so much that it feels ornate. All of the pieces are both nicely sized and weighted—though the knife does have a hollow handle. The mirror polish on the 18/10 stainless steel adds a refined luster and is highly resistant to rust, staining, and scratching. This flatware also comes with a lifetime warranty from Lenox.

Materials: 18/10 stainless steel “with platinum accents”
Pieces in each place setting: Dinner fork, salad fork, tablespoon, teaspoon, knife
Additional pieces available: Not currently, but you may be able to find some second-hand or backstock
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

At first glance, this stainless-steel flatware set by Mikasa (perhaps better known for its dinnerware sets) is nearly identical to the Lenox Pearl Platinum. That’s due to a similar minimal embellishment slightly further down the handle on the Mikasa. Like the Lenox, this flatware is made from polished 18/10 stainless steel and the pieces are elegant and well balanced. But if you want matching serving pieces included in the set. Both the 45-piece and 65-piece stainless-steel flatware sets come with the standard five-piece settings (service for eight and 12, respectively) as well as a five-piece serving set.

Material: 18/10 stainless steel
Pieces in each place setting: Dinner fork, salad fork, tablespoon, teaspoon, knife
Additional pieces available: Yes, and they’re included with the set (serving spoon, pierced serving spoon, cold meat fork, sugar spoon, and butter knife)
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

As a rule, wood utensils shouldn’t go in the dishwasher. It’s a rule I break with regularity, but at least I’m aware of it, which is why I was shocked to find this truly dishwasher-safe wood-handled flatware set from Blue Pheasant. As the product description states, putting it through the dishwasher may affect the color and texture of the maple wood handles a bit (nothing a little mineral oil can’t fix), but after several cycles, I’m pleased to report that mine still looks brand-new. The composition of the stainless steel isn’t disclosed, and while it feels durable enough, it isn’t necessarily heirloom-quality. But if you want something with the warmth of wood and a nice weight—that you can also wash in the dishwasher—this is definitely the best option.

Materials: Stainless steel and maple wood
Pieces in each place setting: Knife, dinner fork, salad fork, soup spoon, teaspoon
Additional pieces available: No
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

If you find an unadorned flatware set boring and want yours to bring a little something more to your tabletop, Zwilling’s Vintage has just the right amount of detail. This flatware is adapted from a line of Zwilling J.A. Henckels silverware originally made in 1876, and the 18/10 stainless steel has a beautiful mirror finish. It also manages to have a nice weight to it without being bulky or unwieldy. Like the Mikasa, the Zwilling Vintage sets also come with serving pieces. The 23-piece set includes three serving pieces (serving spoon, meat fork, and butter knife), and the 45-piece set has five serving utensils (serving spoon, slotted serving spoon, meat fork, butter knife, and sugar spoon). Given the fact that Zwilling is known for knives and knife sets, it’s a bit surprising there aren’t coordinating steak knives, though.

In addition to the complete sets, this tableware is also available as open stock, meaning you can buy individual pieces if you need extras or replacements.

Material: 18/10 stainless steel
Pieces in each place setting: Dinner knife, dinner fork, salad fork, dinner spoon, teaspoon
Additional pieces available: Yes.
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

Part of the Zwilling J.A. Henckels family, Henckels is more of an entry-level brand than Zwilling, and the Henckels Alcea flatware set is a more affordable, lightweight alternative to the Zwilling Vintage line above. This is still a high-quality set with a nice luster thanks to mirror polished 18/10 stainless steel, but it doesn’t have the heft or the timelessness of the Vintage line. If you’re just looking for a lightweight everyday flatware set that will last, though, this is a great option.

Material: 18/10 stainless steel
Pieces in each place setting: Dinner fork, salad fork, dinner knife, dinner spoon, teaspoon.
Additional pieces available: No
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

This is not your grandmother’s silverware, but it just might be your mother’s—or something like it. If this Oneida Colonial Boston flatware looks familiar, that’s probably because it’s an ever-so-slightly modernized version of a pattern that was part of seemingly every table setting in the ’80s and ’90s—all modeled on early American silverware. Oneida’s contemporary version is made from 18/0 stainless steel and has a brushed satin handle, which will show small scratches, but I think that adds to the charm. It’s available as a 20-piece set (service for four) or a 45-piece set, which is service for eight plus a serving spoon, pierced serving spoon, sugar spoon, serving fork, and butter knife.

Material: 18/0 stainless steel
Pieces in each place setting: Dinner knife, dinner fork, salad fork, dinner spoon, teaspoon
Additional pieces available: Yes, and they’re included with the 45-piece set (see above)
Dishwasher-safe: Yes

If you came here looking for the best gold flatware for everyday use, I have some bad news: It doesn’t really exist. Unless you buy flatware made with actual gold (which does exist), the faux-gilded finish will come off eventually, so tossing it in the dishwasher after your weeknight dinners is going to dull your fancy forks. Even the pricier sets will lose their golden glow with time and use. Polished gold may last longer than brushed gold or a matte champagne, but unless you hand wash and handle it with the utmost care, it’s not a matter of if, but when the golden glow will start to fade. So my advice is to buy a set you like but only spend as much as you think you’ll feel comfortable spending again in several years after the shine is off. And don’t ever, ever put it in the dishwasher because those powerful detergents will only speed up the wear and tear—yes, even if the manufacturer claims the pieces are dishwasher-safe. Better yet, use it only for dinner parties, holidays, and other special occasions (and even then, still hand-wash it exclusively). With those parameters in mind, the Cambridge Silversmiths Beacon flatware is a decent choice with affordable-enough basic flatware sets available in gold, matte black (same deal as a gold finish, sorry), and silver.

Material: 18/0 stainless steel
Pieces in each place setting: Dinner fork, salad fork, knife, dinner spoon, teaspoon
Additional pieces available: No
Dishwasher-safe: “Yes” (but actually no)

Though it’s common to use the terms interchangeably, most people I’ve encountered using the term silverware (which actually means forks, knives, and spoons made with silver or silver plating), mean flatware, because most of them didn’t really buy $1,700 silver-plated or sterling silver flatware sets. Everything recommended here (except the gold set) is colloquially silverware, though, in the way that people tend to use that word.

Throughout the reviews above, flatware material is listed as either 18/0 or 18/10 stainless steel. Those numbers refer to the chrome and nickel content in the steel alloy. Most stainless steel has 18% chromium, which hardens the steel and makes it less prone to corrosion (a.k.a. stainless). When 10% of that steel alloy is nickel, the flatware becomes even more resistant to corrosion. It’s shinier, too, though some 18/10 flatware is brushed for a matte or satin finish.