Are kitchen knife sets worth buying, or should I buy knives individually?

This is the single biggest disagreement in the data. Specialist communities such as r/chefknives and r/BuyItForLife repeatedly advise buying two or three quality knives individually rather than a block set, arguing sets pad the count with low-use pieces. Verified-purchase reviewers and value-focused testers counter that a good budget set delivers most of what a home cook needs at a fraction of the per-knife cost. If you want maximum quality per dollar, buy individually; if you want a complete, gift-ready kitchen quickly, a well-reviewed set is reasonable.