Would the plastic handle be of any issue. I look at wood handle knives but most of them are 70+ unfortunately.

I got my victorinox knives from cooking school. That was 25 years ago. I use em daily.

Kiwi Knife

I have a few really nice knives I thrifted/bought second hand. They’re not fancy brand names but they have all the features of a quality knife, and once sharpened they’re good as gold. Even if you buy the knife then pay someone to sharpen it, it’s cheaper than buying a quality new knife.

This ^ and if you have another 20ish bucks to spend, a commercial brand carbon steel pan

The goat. Mercer knives are solid too

For sure you can get a good paring knife . I love decent paring knives.

Scissors! I use them for everything. Cutting up raw chicken is so much easier with scissors. I use them to cut beef into chunks for soups and stews, to cut up celery, fresh herbs, even pizza. I have probably 5 or 6 pairs in my utensil drawer!

My meat thermometer- totally saves me from totally over cooking chicken!

Infrared thermometer

Vegetable peeler

kitchen scale

Small stainless steel bowls for pre mixing spices and chopped herbs

If you like melting cheese into stuff, then getting a hand crank cheese grater is amazing

Cast iron pans

Love at first slice.

How I look after slicing potatoes

r/castiron. Ask there for info.

An immersion blender - forget about any different heads just get a good heavy duty metal immersion blender. Make everything from creamed hot soups, to pasta sauces to smoothies, all with less mess, less likelihood to burn yourself transfering hot liquids/food into a blender and back etc.

Or one good caste iron pan. People don't realize how useful these two things are.

Cheap, but microplane. It will transform your garlic, ginger, citrus zest, and hard cheese game.

Edit: And is essential for nutmeg. Try just a touch in your tomato sauce, especially for pizza.

The oxo scale is awesome, get the one that goes to 11 lbs because you can and you'll end up using it.

It transformed my baking and I will gleefully never ever pack brown sugar again.

Yes! Both of these (good digital ones) and a decent immersion blender. You could probably manage all three for under $100.

Looking at your list you're probably going to need a pair of tongs, a pancake flipper (most people call it a spatula) a couple big spoons and an instant read thermometer.

Find a restaurant supply house and buy there. A couple bucks each.

When you start cooking you'll figure out if you need more stuff. I like having 2 pancake flippers so one could be in the wash but its not required.

I like plain tongs but not cheap ones if they bend at all when you try them they're no good. The ones we've got that I really like came from a kitchen supply house.

Probably ought to buy one good chef's knife while you're there. It'll be the most expensive thing but ought to last your whole life. Oh, get a sharpener too, one of those with 2 ceramic things you draw the knife through. Sharpen the knife every other time you use it or if it feels dull.

Edit: somebody else mentioned measuring cups, that's good, a set of dry and one for wet. You could get away with one or the other but they're not expensive. A plain set of metal measuring spoons too. Plastic ones suck.

Chef here. Full-kitchen sets are for suckers.

Honestly, buy a set of bamboo kitchen tools, a good flexible silicone scraper, a metal spatula, a set of measuring spoons, a set of metal dry measuring cups, a 2 cup/500ml glass liquid measuring cup, and a kitchen scale. Maybe a pair of kitchen tongs if you think you're going to be flipping things regularly that you can't do with a fork or your hands. You'll be good to go for almost all of your kitchen needs for years to come.

Go to your local thrift stores and check for uppercase Pyrex! That will last you a lifetime and is still floating around in most places. I was able to get two bowls and a bread pan just last week.

went through so many diffrent plates over the years. Correlle Vitrelle is by far the best.

Not too thick heavy or bulk when stacked. Microwave (do not get burning hot either) and dishwasher safe.

pretty good with short drops too.

I find sets of utensils often have items I don’t want / need included in them, so you might think about it on an individual item basis instead. Here’s what come to mind for me as must haves:

-wooden spoons. I have multiple in different shapes/styles. Sometimes you’re cooking more than one element of a meal that needs to be stirred, one with drainage is helpful to have on hand, a flat topped one for scraping and turning small things, a more spoon shaped one, etc.

-spatulas / turners. A wide nylon one is super versatile and most common. I also find a fish turner to be very helpful for turning anything more delicate, mine are stainless steel. I also love having multiple rubber spatulas on hand (although I think they are all silicone these days), basically has a smaller more flexible head, more for scraping and folding things together than turning foods. A must if you’re doing any baking at all. I like ones that are a single piece of silicone. I’ve had wooden handled ones with silicone heads that slide off in the past and I find it gets moldy at the connection point.

-tongs. I have multiple pairs because sometimes I need more than one at a time. Fully stainless steel and I have some that have silicone covers on the ends for when I use them on more delicate cookware, it also helps for slippery items.

-larger spoons and ladles. If your eating utensils have serving spoons you might not need anything separate here. But it’s helpful to have bigger scoops sometimes. I have serving ones and one nylon one, plus one stainless steel ladle

And that’s it! There’s definitely other stuff I use, but most of my tools are variations on these items (I find mini versions really useful for certain stuff!) and I think you can do most anything with those utensils.

If you’re baking, I’d add a set of stainless dry measuring cups and spoons, and some kind of liquid measuring cup(s). I have a glass Pyrex one, but I recently got some oxo silicone ones and I actually think I love those more. These can also be useful if you’re not comfortable just eyeballing things while cooking lol.

In terms of brands, oxo is a solid, but I think it’s more about quality materials, I’ve tried to mention that about each of the utensils above. I get a lot of my stuff at home goods, but I’ve also splurged at places like sur la table for some things (measuring cups and spoons was one that’s been worth it).

If you're cooking for just you pick up a 10" cast iron skillet and an inexpensive 4-6 qt stainless saucepan. Even buying new this won't cost more than about $50 and covers a surprisingly wide breadth of cooking scenarios.

Check your local thrift store. Sometimes you can find higher quality stuff like stoneware pans and enamelled Dutch ovens for really cheap

No need for a cooking set!

One pan, one pot, one "big" knife, and one "small" knife. Anything else you need, you can just buy piece by piece.

There are a lot of restaurant supply stores that sell relatively cheap cookware. Alternatively, a Ross/Marshall's type of store will also work. You can just buy what feels right for you. If you're cooking just for yourself vs for additional mouths, you'll need a different sized pan/pot.

Note: People still debate on the safety of plastic vs wood cutting boards. I'm on Team Wood Cutting Boards For Life. Just get what you like and what you're comfortable with.

Don't get a set. Especially under $50. Under $50 you should be at a thrift store. For under $50, you should get:

A frying pan

A small pot

A large pot

Your options are severely limited by your budget. You will just have to get the cheapest of each of those.

Thank you all for the suggestions! I hadn't thought of just getting individual pans. I'll check out Ross or another discount/thrift store and see if I can find a few that work!

I second Ikea. On Amazon, I just got a Chinese knockoff set of silicone utensils for like $25. They are amazing and ridiculously easy to clean. They were one of the first results that popped up

I bought a nice stainless steel saucepan with lid from Target. Actually their entire line of stainless cookware is good, and quite inexpensive.

You can get a 12 inch cast iron lodge pan from Walmart. Best purchase I've made in years

OXO brand gear is generally good quality for the price. A couple of essentials:

https://www.amazon.com/OXO-1190600-Grips-Nylon-Spoon/dp/B003L0OOUS/

https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Silicone-Flexible-Turner/dp/B000JPVCYE/

Victorinox, Sabatier because both are good bang for the buck.

Victorinox

Fujitora is the house brand from tojiro

You can generally find their basics series and even sometimes the dp series on Amazon imported from Japan for cheap

Mercer on Amazon

Victorinox Fibrox - inexpensive, no frills, sharpens up like nobody's business

Get you a fish turner spatula. I love mine.

If you have access to a belt sander, square up the edge of that spatula then, slightly sharpen it. Total game changer

The $30 I spent on a Victorinox chef's knife fifteen years ago might be the best money I've ever spent.

My $1 IKEA vegetable peeler I got 6 years ago. My mother has had hers for a little longer.

$5 Kuhn Rikon peelers are the best out there

IKEA also makes a beast of a garlic press

I have a Swing-A-Way can opener that is over 40 years old that I still reach for every time I need to open a can or bottle.

The thing is built like a tank.

There was a pot holder in my house that had seen at least 15 years of service, recently got replaced,no brand but it still worked