I am looking at knives myself, is ceramic the way to go? or does it not matter for a rank amateur?
You mean a ceramic steel - I should have elaborated - Ceramic/diamond steel should read
sharpening steel ? Ceramic and diamond steels are for ice hardened (high carbon) steel knives (like my J.A.Henckels and Global). A regular steel isn't hard enough to use with ice hardened blades...conversely ceramic and diamond sharpeners chew through standard moly vanadium stainless knives like an angle-grinder through an aluminium beer can.
Rule of thumb is to just get knives that are comfortable for you. I prefer J.A.Henckels because the ergonomics and lightness lend themselves well to long continuous periods of usage -they also have excellent balance. Globals are also ice hardened -some people deride them because they seem showy, but their Japanese veggie knives and sashimi knives are first rate (laser sharpened- if you keep the edge keen they remain as sharp as surgical scalpels).
If you prefer some heft to a knife (esp. filleting and all purpose chefs/carving knives) then the Wusthof Trident range are good all-rounders (standard stainless steel)
Ice hardened knives tend to keep their edge longer, but if you let the blade dull too much it becomes a big job to bring back the edge using a ceramic whetstone or diamond block.
Hit you local commercial kitchen supply outfits and see what feels right. I wouldn't get carried away with buying a whole knife roll's worth of knives. A good multi-purpose knife like the
Global GS-5 is incredibly versatile, along with a good quality cooks knife (8-10") will get you through most kitchen prep. If you do (or plan to do) a lot of sushi/sashimi then a good sashimi Yanagi or Tako would be a very good investment- I use the
Global G-14. Because it's a sashimi knife it has one flat (very slightly concave) side and one bevelled edge side- which is the side shown in the pic.
You will notice the difference between a bog-standard knife and a good quality one. The craftmanship and design you should be able feel as soon as you use it.