Cooks also does some good equipment testing.
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews [Free trial membership can at least get you to the knife and cookware sections. Or check out your library collections online.]
I agree with everyone, what you buy depends on what you need to do. Cookware are tools. I have a LC dutch oven purchased more than 10 years ago and I use it constantly for dutch oven-type applications (braising and soups, stews, and pasta sauces). My workhorse. But I would only buy LC for the dutch oven and certainly it is worth trying to find it used. Put feelers out with friends and family and on Nextdoor or Freecycle-type places. We also have yard sale purchased good quality cast iron frying pans for high heat searing (steaks) and pancakes, etc. We have cheap large pots for boiling water, canning, etc.
My knives are a combo of a cheap paring knife, cheap serrated bread slicer, cheap large hacking/sawing knife for hard things like acorn squash/pumpkin/frozen shit I need to hack at, and a high-end, persnickety, carbon steel traditional Japanese vegetable knife for the endless vegetable chopping I do. Buy the tool for the job that makes sense and makes your work easy, safe, and efficient. Don't buy for looks.
I notice you said "bakeware" too. Wha are you baking? Same deal with bakeware as other tools, depends on what you want to do. If you are doing bread, a basic metal loaf pan is fine. For baking sourdoughs, a cast iron dutch oven is great. Enameled is not needed.
