The best Stainless Steel Knife Block will have the basic three - the Chef's knife - the large knife that looks a bit daunting to hold, the Paring knife - the little knife used for peeling apples etc and the Serrated Bread knife. The most basic knife block will include a Utility knife (which is somewhere in between the Chef and the Paring) and a Slicing knife which is mainly used for slicing cooked meats such as roast pork or beef.

 

It can be a minefield picking your way through the vast choice though, so I would recommend that you really only need the basic five knives above as they should accomodate most of your day to day cooking needs. 

 

Here is a selection of some of the best Stainless Steel Knife Block sets that I have come across, after a lot of searching I settled on the Rachael Ray set below with the orange handles. The knives are simple, yet sharp and easy to hold and work with.