Several years ago, my wife and I borrowed a fancy fork from a fancy hotel to finish a boxed meal while adventuring in some city I no longer remember.

I remember that fork, however. “This fork is amazing,” I exclaimed to my wife while later eating from the box. “We gotta get silverware like this!”

We never did—even though that same fork would occasionally remind me to buy something like it every time I reached for it from our kitchen drawer.

Last year while visiting my sister, I noticed she too used premium silverware. I instantly fell in love with her home’s cutlery, but not the Williams & Sonoma price tag.

So last fall I began a search for the best-value premium flatware I could find. With the help of The Wirecutter, which reviewed dozens of the leading sets before naming the best, I found a winner: Crate & Barrel’s Caesna Mirror Set (made by Robert Welch).

At $130 for a set of 20, the silverware is 5-10 times the price of cheap sets and around 1.5 times the price of midrange quality that averages $80 per 20-piece set.

Despite having the same weight and craftsmanship of premium sets (i.e. girth, rounded edges, no sharp lines), the Caesna Mirror is half the price of more expensive sets, making it the best of both worlds.

Now when I say this set makes meals taste better, I mean it. No, it can’t improve the recipe, preparation, or seasoning of the meals. But the superior spoons, forks, and knives certainly make soups, solids, and cut foods that much more enjoyable while moving them to your mouth.

My wife has remarked several times on how they’ve improved our enjoyment of food. I’ve said the same nearly a dozen times over the last two months since we started using them.

Like many of you, my family ate more home-cooked meals last year than ever before. And now we finally have the proper silverware to enjoy those meals to their fullest. Bravo!

★★★★★ (for their superior design, weight, comfort, function, and value)