You are not beholden to the cutlery traditions of decades ago. You don't need to own the same amount of each type of cutlery.
I personally almost never use butter knives, and in any scenario in which I would need multiple they would be shared so I would at most need the same number of knives as the number of spreadable items. Not high at all. Three is plenty, and I could get away with one or two.
On the other hand, spoons and forks are constantly in rotation. I'll often need multiple just for meal prep.
If you like traditional place settings or distinguish your cooking cutlery from dining from snacking, by all means buy the full sets. For me? It's not worth it when I only ever seem to need more spoons.
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Nightly Notes
Do you think households lose more socks or spoons, on average? I suspect the difference is less than you'd expect.
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