My tools serve me, not the other way around. It’s not worth the time and effort to wash by hand or sharpen on a whetstone. I don’t need an expensive knife to cook at home. A pull through sharpener and honing steel are adequate. Get the right material and you don’t have to worry about the metal in the dishwasher.
I agree they aren’t needed. But oh man. Once you buy a really nice (often expensive) set of culinary knives, you realize what the hubub is about. They’re wonderful.
I had a girlfriend that filleted the tip of her finger off using one of my knives. As I drove her to the hospital, she tried to say my knives were way too sharp. I told her that was on her.
She bled out while trying to argue with me about whose fault it was. RIP Jessica. It wasn’t the knife, it was your lack of respect for the knife.
My girlfriend did the exact same thing. That knife had literally just came off the stone. Sliced right thru the tip of her finger including the nail.
When it comes to the quality of the knife itself I think you’ll see diminishing returns after you pay more than 70 euros for one. The jump from a dollar store knife to a Victorinox is huge but from Victorinox to a japanese hand made one is much less different.