Cutlery are utensils used for serving and eating food at the dining table — originally referring to just knives, whereas forks and spoons were silverware — all part of flatware (American English) or tableware, these both encompassing crockery as well. These three implements first appeared together on tables as a set in Britain in the Georgian era. A collected set of silverware is called a canteen of cutlery, typically referring to the polished wooden compartmental case in which they are stored.

The city of Sheffield in Yorkshire, England has been famous for the production of cutlery since the 17th century. An express passenger train – the Master Cutler – running from Sheffield to London was named after the industry. The development of cheap and mass-produced stainless steel in Sheffield in the early 20th century brought affordable cutlery to the masses.

Sheffield's counterparts are Thiers, Puy-de-Dôme in the Auvergne of France and Solingen in the Northern Rhineland of Germany.

The word cutlery derives from the Middle English word 'cuteler' and this in turn derives from Old French "coutelier" which comes from "coutel"; meaning knife (modern French: couteau). The word's early origins can be seen in the Latin word 'culter' (knife), still retained in the agricultural tool of a coulter.

A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. While most cutlers were historically men, women could be cutlers too; Agnes Cotiller was working as a cutler in London in 1346, and training a woman apprentice, known as Juseana.

At Sheffield the trade of cutler became divided, with allied trades such as razormaker, awl bladesmith, shearsmith and forkmaker emerging and becoming distinct trades by the 18th century.

Before the mid 19th century when cheap mild steel became available due to new methods of steelmaking, knives (and other edged tools) were made by welding a strip of steel on to the piece of iron that was to be formed into a knife, or sandwiching a strip of steel between two pieces of iron. This was done because steel was then a much more expensive commodity than iron. Modern blades are sometimes laminated, but for a different reason. Since the hardest steel is brittle, a layer of hard steel may be laid between two layers of a milder, less brittle steel, for a blade that keeps a sharp edge well, and is less likely to break in service.

After fabrication, the knife had to be sharpened, originally on a grindstone, but from the late medieval period in a blade mill or (as they were known in the Sheffield region) a cutlers wheel.