Skip the set.

Buy a chef's knife that is comfortable in your hand, a paring knife, and any cheapo serrated bread knife that you like.

I bought a set of Wusthof classics when I was ~20. 30 years later they are still used daily. I straighten them regularly, and don't abuse them. They're probably on the expensive side.

The first knife that most people recommend you buy is a Chef's knife. Most everything can be done with one.

A good budget-friendly chef's knife is the Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife, 8-Inch at around 50 bucks (the wood handle is about 10 bucks cheaper). If I were just starting out and bought one knife, it would be this.

Any knife can be for life, they just need regular sharpening. Unless you're using some highly abrasive machine or a dollar steel knife, you will have to work hard to wear down a knife to the point of being unusable.

Knives with a full metal construction are less likely to be damaged than ones with wooden scales.

whatever one you buy keep that knife out of the dishwasher.

an expensive knife become a dull piece of shit that needs professional sharpening if you put it in the dishwasher.

All you need is a high quality chef knife and a paring knife. That will take care of 99% of your needs. No need to get a good serrated blade since sharpening them is a pain. I've had a Mac MTH-80 and a Mac paring knife for years. They make fantastic knives. Hold an edge great and sharp as hell

Mine are Global.

Unless you're doing a lot of something specialized like baking or meat cutting or fancy tournee cut vegetables, yes a good chef knife and paring knife are all you'll really use and need. The Victorinox chef knife is cheap, durable, and light and generally good quality, at least back when I was a cook.

I learned about Misen brand from the BIFL crowd.

Buy individual knives instead of sets. Also don’t skimp out on sharpening equipment

I’m not saying don’t buy a quality steel knife, but a cheap knife and a honing rod goes a long way.

Go handle a couple. Decide if you want German or Japanese style. Once you do there are tons of reviews. My mainstream favorite is the zwilling pro because I favor the German style blade and feel. To each their own. You really only need a chef’s knife and a pairing knife to start. Everything else is an add on.

I’m a Henkels guy but they have really diluted their brand. Zwilling is top notch and basically a direct competitor to Wusthof, anything else with the Henkels branding I’d avoid.

I bought the individual Global knives that I wanted and made a set. In hindsight, the chefs knife is used 85% of the time, a bread knife and paring knife get 5% and the rest barely get used.

Chicago set received as wedding gift in 1981. Still like new

We have a set of Sabatier which weren’t too expensive but have been brilliant with regular sharpening.

Until someone put them in the dish washer and the handles have cracked. Getting them rehandled is going to be about 6x more expensive than another set which is a pain.

Also we have lost 2 of the small knives; I’m not sure how that happens.

If you're looking for a top-quality kitchen knife set that offers both convenience and performance, the Calphalon 15-Piece Classic High Carbon Knives with Self-Sharpening Block (https://dealfinderhq.com/product/calphalon-kitchen-knife-set-with-self-sharpening-block-15-piece-classic-high-carbon-knives/ ) is a fantastic option. This set features 15 pieces, including an 8-inch chef's knife, a 6-inch utility knife, a 7-inch santoku, a 3.5-inch paring knife, and more, all made with high-carbon stainless steel for excellent sharpness and durability.

There are knives from many, many brands that are BIFL if you take care of them and sharpen using a method that does not remove excessive amounts of steel. Different knives require different levels of care in order to be BIFL--certain knives could last one person a lifetime who another would destroy in a week. For example...

Victorinox and Mercer (forged lines) make good quality knives for their price range at the entry level. They are not going to feature astounding edge geometry but use steels that are relatively robust and relatively easy to sharpen. They also have good handles for folks with arthritis and generally their handles will favor durability over cosmetics.

Wusthof and Henckel present more expensive Western, specifically, German options. Both brands offer some inexpensive lines that are not forged and I cannot speak to them, but the higher end forged lines that are made in Germany, such as the Wusthof Classic, represent knives that are very robust and easy to sharpen. Handles are generally both durable and cosmetically appealing. Again, the edge geometry here is not the best. Wustof has gotten very expensive in the United States.

Tojiro represents a bit of a merge between German and Japanese knives. They are made in Japan, but offer some models with Western style handles. They use steels that are harder than what is used by Wusthof and Henckel, but not as hard as what many other Japanese makers use. Shun would also fall into the category of mixing traits. Opinions on both brands can be a bit polarizing with respect to the cost vs. performance factor. FWIW, I personally think one's money can go further with some of the higher performing brands fitting the paragraph below.

There are many smaller Japanese brands making extremely high-quality kitchen knives. Generally, these are using thinner blades than their Western counterparts, with much harder steel with higher wear resistance (at the expense of toughness) and a tremendous deal of emphasis is placed on edge geometry. These steels are sometimes stainless/semi-stainless, but are often more reactive carbon steels (sometimes using different steels for the core and the edge) and they are easy to make absolutely screaming sharp to a level that most thicker Western knives simply cannot achieve. They will hold this screaming sharp edge for a long time if used on the proper cutting surface (for example, an end grain maple board). These knives necessitate someone who understands how to care for a knife with a thinner blade, thinner edges, and reactive steels. If they are not properly cared for, they can chip and rust quite easily.

My two kitchen knives are a 8-inch Wusthof Classic chef knife and a 240mm (9.5 inch) Konosuke Fujiyama gyuto in Blue #2 steel, both of which are at least a decade old. The Wusthof is used for tasks more likely to cause edge damage as its thicker blade, thicker edge, and softer steel makes it most suitable for such a task. The Konosuke, which is literally sharp enough to whittle hairs (and hardened along the lines of 63 HRC), is used for tasks where precision cuts are desired. Beyond that, I have a few paring knives--the one I use the most is a Wusthof Classic with a sheep's foot blade, and a few other oddities. However, the paring knife + two chef's knives cover about 99.5% of what I do with kitchen knives.

(There are many other good brands not mentioned producing both Western and Eastern knives.)

Rada is where it’s at. No need to spend a ton of money on knives because they are “full tang” or some MLM bs.

My favorites are Wustof and Shun. I like the sets. I now use my Chefs knife the least, so it really depends on what you cook.

Add a cheap boning knife if you trim/carve meats.

Knives are basically inherently bifl. You could make a $5 chef knife from Walmart last your lifetime if you take care of it, and you could wear a $500 handcrafted work of art into a nub if you're too aggressive with the sharpening, or chip a quarter sized shard out of your Japanese gyoto while using it to cut bread.

The biggest issue with home knives is people never honing and sharpening them, so something that cuts like a laser new is smushing tomatoes a year later.

r/chefknives has all the answers you need. Any quality knife can be for life if you care for it properly, also check out the wiki for the flowchart that recommends a knife/set

Mercer are cheap and effective

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This sub recommends ZERO knife sets, so knowing the brand name you can't think of will help you zero.