Everyone loves to have a bunch of good knives, but anyone who has ever worked in a kitchen can tell you... all you need is ONE good knife. That knife is a Chef's knife. Everything else... well every other knife is gravy.
A classic chef's knife is the most important knife in your collection. I recommend starting out with a 7-9 inch one. This is a versatile and efficient knife that works for everything that you can do in a kitchen.
At The GM Boutique, we sell Tojiro knives which come from the prefecture of Niigata, Japan. These guys have been forging knives for over 100 years.