Well said! I teach my students that you need only 4 basic knives in the kitchen. A chef's knife, paring knife, serrated slicing knife, and boning knife. That's it. The butcher block of 16 knives is unnecessary. When's the last time you made steak for 10 people that you'd need 10 steak knives? Not often.

However, no matter how good you are with your knives, you'll never liquify something. My favorite kitchen tool is my immersion blender or cuisinart.

To cut a lot of items into consistent sizes, a mandolin is my second favorite.