9 knives, as I suspected... :)

..just a little study over one weekend of home cooking (enough fridgeable stuff for a week).. what did I recently say about 9 knives making a working set (there would have been more in the block)...

Tosa kawamuki (used as a ko-nakiri): Aromatics for lemon rice (because this works on a handy small board really well)

Ikea 15cm 365+ petty (semi-beater): Getting the brown inner skin off fresh coconut pieces, slicing off pieces of lime for adding lime juice at the end to almost all the dishes mentioned, prepping some avocados for ice cream base (because that was work without the main cutting board out, requiring a somewhat thin-sturdy (avocado pits - this knife can cut them right through btw!) and corrosion-proof (limes) knife).

Goko 8 inch gyuto: Veg prep for a lot of lots-of-vegetables sambhar (because lots of stuff but nothing ultra-corrosive)

Cheap chinese cleaver (improved. semi-beater): mincing coconut for thorans, cutting green beans for a bean thoran (because sturdier knife needed).

Sakon AS nakiri: julienning beets for beetroot thoran (because that is one thing a half-laser nakiri really does well)

Samura AUS-8 8in gyuto (beater): Cutting off pieces of wet tamarind block, ripping up a few unsoaked dried red chilis (abuse tasks)

Tojiro thin VG10 deba (improved): prepping a raw mango for mango pickle (stainless and asymmetric - what i love for working with fruit of all kinds)

Ryusen VS-2: All kinds of aromatics work, hacking green chilies into thin rings for multiple dishes (sharp but sturdy. chili skin takes some force!)

Cheap Sekiryu Yanagiba (8in): slicing raw seitan for a long stewed, nadan style curry (because slicing something sticky and self-rejoining. The wedge effect helps here!)

(No small peeler/parer used. I peel stuff the way that gets you told off in american cookingtainment shows: lop ends off, stand veg on board, peel downwards with gyuto.).

Then there are households like mine, with much lesser cooks, and we could get by with:

1) my gyuto
2) wife's santoku
3) petty
4) paring

We could combine 2 and 3 or 3 and 4 in a pinch, too, without really changing the output. It just gives me the opportunity to play with whatever different gyutos I'm interested in at a given moment.

Of course I could have gotten by with fewer!

Just wanted to present a counter to the "ah, yall are just collectors and just using one knife all the time" viewpoint...

Well when I say "could get by with fewer" I mean "I have no idea what I would do with a deba or yanagiba or cleaver or many of the other special shapes". Not just "could get by". You're a much, much better and more accomplished cook than I am, judging by your weekend. I just did my weekly pepper dicing session. It would be awesome to learn how to use an usuba, though.