Cutlery Buying Guide: Choosing the Best Material

This article is going to be about a cutlery buying guide based on different materials and their types. Cutlery is the equipment used for eating and serving food. It can also be defined as eating or serving utensils. Using cutlery has become common over time. In earlier times, cutleries were made up of only bones, stones, and leaves. But now, we can explore a wide variety of cutleries, depending upon their type, material, shape, size, color, and design. A perfect guide to buying cutlery must include all these factors. 

Cutleries usually look classy and luxurious, when stored and used properly. Many people love to have collections of expensive and imported cutleries. But choosing the right cutlery set for your family or any occasion is a matter of importance. If you will not pay attention while buying them, then they may be harmful or useless for you. A good and designable cutlery set also enhances your class and home décor. Not only this, but you should also know, how to use them with care and perfection. This is also explained below in this cutlery buying guide. 

Types of Cutleries

We always use cutleries depending on our needs and the type of food we are having. Each type of cutlery is made for some specific purpose. We must analyze our purpose in buying cutlery. You will get each kind of cutlery explained in this article with its purposes. Basically, there are three types of cutleries: Spoons, knives, and forks. Here is a detailed buying guide for three basic cutleries:

Spoons 

Earlier, spoons were made up of several layers of leaves, rocks, woods, and bones. But as time evolved, people started using metal spoons of gold, silver, steel, and plastic. Not only metals, but they also vary in the aspect of sizes, shapes, and purposes. These are some commonly used spoons, that you can buy depending upon different needs:

Spoons
  • Tea Spoon: Its size is actually similar to those teaspoons, we use for measuring detergents and ingredients. It is also known as a coffee spoon, which is slightly smaller than the size of a tablespoon. It is used to stir sugar, milk, cream, and coffee in a tea or coffee mug.
  • Soup Spoon: It is a specific ceramic spoon, specially designed for having soups. We generally drink soup in large bowls, and hence, the soup spoon is made quite deeper and wider than usual spoons. It avoids the spillage of soup on cloths and placemats.
  • Dessert Spoon: It has a slightly pointed bowl than a normal spoon’s bowl. It is specifically designed for having desserts like ice creams, sweets, and puddings. It is mostly used for formal dinners and is not daily-used cutlery. 
  • Beverages Spoon: It is made up of large handles, and is considered to be the longest spoon among all. Also, it has a very small bowl at its end, which may look quite weird, when seen in restaurants and parties. It is mostly used in pubs and parties for stirring cocktails and mocktails. It is purposefully designed for tall glasses.
  • Grapefruit Spoon: It is specially designed for having fruits with seeds. It comes with a zig-zag pointed serration, that can even cut your finger, if not handled with care. By using it, you can easily remove seeds and rinds from the fruit without using your hands. 
  • Baby Spoon: The baby spoon is specially made for those kids, who have recently started eating solid foods. To ensure smaller bites, its size is kept smaller than a normal spoon. You can buy it in silicone and rubber form, for complete delicacy and smoothness.  

Forks

Forks are very common in our day-to-day life. We mostly use it for having noodles, pastries, and pasta. But, there is a wide variety of forks, which are used for specific purposes. These forks are: 

Forks
  • Spaghetti Fork: It is generally used for eating pasta and spaghetti. It enables you to twirl the spaghetti around your fork’s edges, because of the little ridges made between the tines of a spaghetti fork. This makes eating such foods really enjoyable.
  • Dessert Fork: It is used for having a perfect slice of the desert. You can use it for slicing cakes, pastries, and pies at parties or restaurants. It is offered with a dessert spoon during a formal dinner.
  • Toasting Fork: You must buy a toasting fork if you love to grill food and have a barbeque at your home. It makes holding meat easier and safer over the flame. It is available in two options, one is with two tines and another one is with three tines.
  • Dinner Fork: It is generally known as the main course fork. It is made quite long, to easily grab the food on the dining table. It usually has four equal lengths of tines. It is the best fork for eating main course meals, meat, beef, and chicken.

Knives

There are various knives depending upon different needs and purposes. They are listed below:

  • Chef’s Knife:  For chopping and slicing
  • Peeling Knife: For peeling fruits and veggies
  • Boning Knife: For preparing meat and chicken dishes
  • Bread Knife: For slicing bread and cakes
  • Fillet Knife: For preparing fish dishes
  • Cleaver: For butchery tasks and cracking lobsters
  • Utility Knife: For daily household chopping and cutting

If you are looking for a classy cutlery gift set, then you must visit this link: https://www.tablematters.sg/collections/cutlery-sets 

Cutlery Buying Guide: Best material to choose

Choosing the best material for your cutlery set is very important in terms of safety. Checking a complete cutlery buying guide can be very useful for you in these terms. Inappropriate material may make your food poisonous or tasteless. Here are several materials, you can consider before buying a cutlery set:

Cutlery Buying Guide: Best material to choose
  • 18/10 Stainless-Steel: It is the most durable cutlery material, that comes at cheaper rates as well. You can use it for special occasions as well as daily household use. You can get fancy forks, designable spoons, and high-quality knives in this material. Always buy those cutleries, which have 10% nickel for cooking and preparing meals.
  • Forged Cutlery: It is usually heavier and more expensive than other cutleries. It is an evenly balanced cutlery with sharp and rigid blades.
  • Carbon Knives: It is not a good option to buy cutleries made up of carbon steel. It can be rusted, stained, and corroded easily within a few days. 
  • Stamped Cutlery: Stamped cutleries are usually heavier than forged cutleries. It should not be used for household purposes. It is generally used by chefs for chopping at a higher level. 
  • Silver Cutlery: Using silver cutlery not only enhances your class but also adds nutrients to your food. It is expensive cutlery and needs regular care and polishing.
  • Wooden Cutlery: It is the safest cutlery to buy for a house having kids. It comes in a variety of designs, shapes, and sizes. Good wooden cutlery can also last for several years. 

Table Matters is one of the best cutlery brands in Singapore, that sells high-quality cutleries.

You can buy them through this link:  https://www.tablematters.sg/collections/cutlery

Defects to check before buying cutlery

A cutlery buying guide is incomplete without this section, as it is the most important part, that people usually neglect. Buying defective cutlery will be of no use. So, here are some defects, you should avoid while buying cutleries:

  • You must check the polish of a stainless-steel cutlery, which can become rough over time. Also, avoid excessively polished cutleries, as they can have paint and harmful chemicals over them.
  • Scratched metal cutlery is one of the most reported defects. Scratched cutlery can decrease your show or class, and it can also be insulting to place them in front of your guests.
  • Always check that your cutleries may not have any dent marks. These dents can be caused because of poor molding, improper annealing techniques, and forceful compression.
  • Gas porosity is another defect to avoid while buying cutleries. It can arise due to dissolved gas during sand casting. 
  • Dirty cutleries should always be avoided, as they are unhygienic and may be defective too.

How to take care of your cutlery?

How to take care of your cutlery?

Cutleries are quite classy and expensive to buy, and hence, they need regular cleaning and maintenance. One should check various cutlery set recommendations and several factors before making a choice. Cutlery can be rusted and corroded, if not stored properly. You can consider these points for keeping your cutleries clean and safe:

  • Always wash your cutleries after every use, to avoid chemical reactions and stains. You must use soap and water to clean them nicely. 
  • Whenever you buy new cutleries, always wash them before using them for the first time. This will rinse off extra chemicals and dirt from them. 
  • Soaking cutleries in water for a long time can result in a reaction of mineral salts and metal surfaces. This reaction can easily damage your expensive cutleries.
  • You must check your cutlery set recommendations, before putting any cutlery in a dishwasher. 
  • Always wash knives, spoon bowls, and forks in different sections for efficient cleaning. 
  • You must dry your cutleries, right after taking them out of the dishwasher.
  • Never leave your cutleries in wet areas or under damp clothes.

If you are worried about where to buy cutlery for special occasions, then you must check some beautifully designed cutleries here: https://www.tablematters.sg/collections/spoons

FAQs

1.  How Can You Tell Quality Cutlery?

Quality cutlery does not corrode and rust easily, even after multiple washes. It is highly durable and flexible for easy slicing, serving, and cutting. 

2.  Is 18/10 Stainless Steel a Good Quality? 

Yes, cutlery made up of 18/10 stainless steel is the best cutlery to buy. It is a high-quality material, that lasts for years, and is very smooth and flexible to use. 

3.  How Can You Tell If Stainless Steel is Good Quality?

It’s an anti-corrosive material, that includes 10% of nickel and chromium. It also performs well with acidic and basic products without any chemical reactions. Hence, stainless steel is a good quality material for cutleries.

4.  Why is My Stainless Steel Silverware Rusting?

It can be possible, because of irregular washing or inappropriate storage. You must wash them regularly, and keep them dry, to avoid such rusting.


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