Ajanta wrote:

Is there a good set you'd recommend for vegetarian cooking?

That's a tough question to answer, without knowing your budget.
Knives have enormous variations in price & quality, and you really get
what you pay for. Generally, you'll be in pretty good shape with
an 8" chefs knife, a 4" paring knife, and something in-between.

If you're on a shoestring budget, I'd say get the cheapest thing you
can find that'll meet your needs in the short term and then save up;
the middle-of-the-road stuff just isn't worth it, IMO. Then get
good knives, as you can afford them.

If you're willing to spend the money on it (and good knives last forever,
so think of it as an investment), I'd recommend going to a knife shop
and asking to hold ones that look useful to you. The knife should feel
solid and well-balanced (ie, not all the weight in the handle; it should
feel like it 'wants' to chop, without being so forward-heavy that you
feel you can't control it).

You'll do well with Wusthof classic and Henckels pro-S/4-star; *sharp*
and unserrated (and thus sharpenable) is what you want for anything
other than bread. I also have a Global 6" chefs knife that I adore
(I have small hands). Make note of what you like, but don't buy them
right away; the prices will be shocking, and you can often do better
on line & on ebay (still it'll be $100-150 for what I've mentioned).
Take good care of them and they'll last forever. Oh: and use a ceramic
disk sharpener, not a steel... it's easy to blunt a knife on a steel if
you don't have the skill & strength to do it right, but the ceramic
disk thingies are foolproof.

YMMV, as usual But that's what I did and I'm very happy.

-myrrh
(strike strike.)