I'm at the point in my cooking "education" (part self-taught, part watching a lot of YouTube videos) where I'm starting to get fed up with my cheap knife set. Several of the knives are on their way out or were never really good to begin with, and the one knife still worth my time —a Santoku model—isn't the most versatile tool around.

After doing some research for potential replacements, the Victorinox 8" chef's knife with Fibrox handle seems like a good place to start. From everything I've read, it's nearly as high-quality and comfortable to handle as the competition, but for a third of the price. Check out this review by The Sweethome for more details.

$40 on Amazon.