No list of the best stainless flatware is complete without including the Alessi Nuovo Milano designed by Ettore Sottsass and quite affordable at about $75 a complete setting. It's great looking and feels perfect in your hand. A true modern classic (unlike much of the kitsch from Alessi).

http://www.retromodern.com/item_detail.asp?1815.

Crate and Barrel actually has a nice, inexpensive modern choice.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=100&f=4269&viewall=1

$90 for 4 settings!

Honestly, I think I got my silverware at either Walmart or Target, and it looks fantastic. And it's sturdy. And it was only $20 for four five-piece settings. I also got some fantastic teaspoons at Ikea. If you just keep your eyes peeled, you can find modern stuff anywhere for a hell of a lot cheaper.

Crate and Barrel also has the Dune set for about $60. The knives are particularly vulnerable, but it is a gorgeous set.

For super simple pared down flatware, I have always been a fan of Calvin Klein's Burton line. It has a very utilitarian look but a very nice finish.

Every time I see a list like this I know it'll have some of the usual suspects e.g. Arne Jacobsen 1957, which it deserves. Renzo Piano designed some nice stuff which I never see mentioned & I always notice that Dansk is absent as well. I picked up an enormous set of Dansk Variation IV from the sixties that is very cool & graceful looking.

I agree with some of the posts here. While I love the designs on most of the flatware pictured above, as well as when I see similar articles in magazines, etc. I just WISH I was rich enough to afford a $920. place setting! (Enough for eight, dinner parties and the such, you know.) But alas, I can't. I also purchased a really clean, modern set of flatware at Target, a setting for eight for $80! I can't remember what the line was called, darn! But there is another set on their website (unfortunately not in the stores) that I think is very modern, and gorgeous! (The address is LONG! Sorry.) And it's only $39. for a four piece setting!

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-10/qid=1164822064/ref=sr_1_10/601-2829171-9267329?ie=UTF8&asin=B000BHL8Y4

a few of these just look like riffs on the Jacobsen set (classic mid-century)... Which I suspect is really more about form than function. The forms of some everyday items have evolved over the centuries for sertain reasons, and futzing around with the shapes of things without considering how it fits and feels in both hand and mouth can be a challenge. Flatware that compromises the ease of nourishing yourself is *not* cool.

This array you've given us is actually pretty homgenous to the point of boring. Every set is sleek and smooth... with little to no detail on the handles... there MUST be some variation that is also modern out there.

The Josef Hoffman flatware is conspicuously missing. It might be pre mid-century, but that don't mean it ain't modern.

Doesn't Moss have a collection that should be browsed over?

Anyway, was looking through Gourmet (Nov.) recently (for decent-looking flatware) and found an interesting set with plain handles that terminated with three round beads at the end... He source is here in NYC... Will try to follow up on this.

Any opinions on the Dansk Rondure flatware, which I've been agonizing about buying for some time now? It matches perfectly with the sensibilities shown here, and is rather on the reasonable side at $90 for four place settings (I am a comparison shopping whiz). http://www.homeclick.com/showpage.asp?itemid=65263&cm_ite=Dansk%2DFlatware%2D65356&cm_ven=Nextag&cid=BDFB67DF58D581DA5A04CDA5FC5E17A4&cm_cat=Tableware&cm_pla=Dansk

I'm wondering if it will stand up to/be comfortable for everyday use, particularly since there's nothing wrong with the boring black-handled bistro set I got from PB for around $20/4 place settings five years ago.

I must chime in here because I am crazy about my flatware from vessel inc....

http://www.vessel.com/prod_table_fwalc.html

check 'em out!

eeeck, we've had Rondure for five years now and can't rave about it enough. The design of the knife was what initially attracted my husband and I, but the spoons have proved to be the most coveted of the bunch...great for soup lovers. No complaints for any of the pieces and they've held up well. I highly recommend it.

Isn't this from Dwell Magazine?

lucy:
nope, the starter list is not from Dwell, just from my searching around, looking at old and new favorites...

the top ten posts are intended to be a launching point for everyone to add their favorites to the list, and I have to say I really like all the additions that the commenters have made to this one.

Gourmet Settings make really quality and affordable flatware; great design and great weight. I like the Traffic pattern for pure heft and uniqueness.

http://www.utilitieshome.com/store.php?crn=88&rn=565&action=show_detail

http://www.gourmetsettings.com/

I have a set of Georg Jensen's Prism which my grandmother bought in Denmark in the early 60s. http://www.unicahome.com/p2734/georg-jensen/prism-from-georg-jensen.html It's still in production and I absolutely love it, but I need some more place settings and can't afford them. Oh well. In any event, I think it's a great choice for someone who can afford more of it!

you left out Castiglioni's Dry cutlery -- it should definitely be on the list!

http://themagazine.info/56/Pictures/Alessi/Dry41801Three.jpg

Thanks Erin - I think maybe I will request it as a Christmas present this year. I can convince myself that those black handles on my bistro set are getting a little scratched up I guess. . .