this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
12 points (100.0% liked)
Melbourne
2392 readers
36 users here now
This community is a place created for the people of Melbourne and Victoria. We are a positive, welcoming and inclusive community. We might not agree about everything, but we always strive to stay civil and respectful.
The focus of our discussions is based around things that affect Victoria, but we are also free to discuss our local perspective on wider issues. Or head to the regular Daily Random Discussion thread to talk about anything.
Ongoing discussions, FAQs & Resources (still under construction)
Adoption Certificate for Nellie, the Daily Thread numbat (with thanks to @Catfish)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The new cutlery set I ordered has two sizes of knives and forks. Perfect for those multi-course dinners we all sit down to every night.
It has made me wonder whether anyone these days actually uses/wants multiple cutlery sizes or if it's completely outdated outside of formal restaurants etc.?
Mostly it just brings to mind my mother's constant explaining to anyone that went near her cutlery drawer that they needed to make sure they got out the big knives and forks to set the table with. As far as I can tell she never used the smaller ones, they were just there to stress her out that someone might actually put them on the table by mistake. I tried to get her to move them away somewhere else so she didn't have to worry about it, but she never did.
I have a two size set and prefer to use the smalls just for hand size. I don't host the sort of do where both would be on the table at once. More likely fingers or chopsticks. Except for Boyo, I've given up on sticks for him.
Big knives & forks for eating dinner, smaller knife for buttering bread, smaller forks for dessert along with spooons was what I was taught as a kid. So the table setting would be big knife/fork at each side of the big plate, with the smaller knife next to the big knife on the outside OR resting on the side plate, and the smaller fork & spoon at the top of the big plate space. Soup spoon goes outside the big knife as it will be used first. Gets more complicated if there's going to be a fish course, so the fish knife & fork (which have a special shape) go inside the big knife & fork on each side of the plate. Basically you work from the outside in, except for the bread buttering knife and the dessert fork/spoon. You can put the dessert fork/spoon inside the fish knife/fork if you prefer and have enough tableroom. Note, the bread buttering smaller knife should NOT be serrated as you don't cut anything with it. The big knife can be if you like that style.
My mum uses the small knives and forks. It's like trying to eat your meal with a kiddie set.
I'm a big fan of long handled teaspoons.
I have one I use to get the chutney out of the deep jars
Me too. So useful.
They're called sundae spoons! I love them too.
I've known them as sorbet spoons. I use them for heaps of things though.
I've known them as parfait spoons. Since long before I knew what parfait was.
I have a full set of eight long-handled teaspoons which are very well used, and also use lots of standard teaspoons, I've got a couple of cutlery sets worth in the drawer and don't plan to part with any of them.
Oh yeah they've got a lot of different names.
My favourite hack for them is to cut the top off the Kewpie mayo bottle and scoop the dregs out.
Huh TIL!
My mother probably should have gone that route, seeing she moved to using small plates instead of proper dinner plates. It drives me batty. You don't need to fill the entire plate with food, but having a larger plate gives you room to do things like cut your meat without accidentally knocking it off the side.
I have the big set and use the small knives to make sandwiches and the big ones to eat dinner
the small forks I use for desserts and salads
My cutlery set has bigs and smalls and I donβt really use the smalls. I think cutlery sets should come with fork, knife, spoon, teaspoon. Optional extras are cake fork and long teaspoon/sundae spoon/parfait spoon.
I think there needs to be both soup spoons and desert spoons. I don't really understand why soup works better out of a round spoon and more solid things work better with oval, but it does.
The set I'm getting had a version with just the pieces I want for 6 place settings, but I found an 8 place set with the extra knives & forks being sold on clearance for cheaper than the small set.