Your chef's knife analogy is a good one. My Victorinox works just fine for watermelon, squash and I reach for it for those. It's been hand sharpened at a much narrower angle than stock (like adding "mod X" to some stock machine). A stock Victorinox would be annoying to work with (dull), as would be a Cutco. The Victorinox is OK for coarse dicing onions, but I'd much rather be using my Konosuke. Slicing raw fish, the Victorinox tears it into rough pieces. Functional, edible, but certainly not a pleasant result. If all I had was the Victorinox, I'd always have the market slice it for me.

If you're going to stick with comfort roasts, typically darker beans, typically blends, dominated by "roast" flavors, then any of those machines will get you a good espresso. Having good temperature control (dedicated boiler with PID, HX with group-head thermometer and the water dance, the Mara X' unique system, or more advanced controls such as with the BDB, Decent, or a host of pro-level machines with saturated groups) will make that easier.

With the exception of the Anna being in a different class (and beware it's non-standard portafilters for accessory availability and future upgrades), the others all likely will make very good espresso from medium and darker roasts, with a reasonably smooth learning curve. Though "only" $370 more for the Victoria, that's 50% more at the price point of the Anna.

If I were going to be pulling shots from things not labeled "espresso blend", then I'd tend toward the Mara X with the hope that somebody tightens up the temperature control even more. I'd probably add a valve permit manual preinfusion. I'd definitely miss the temperature accuracy and ability to change temperatures, shot-to-shot, that a "straight-up" E61 HX with an EricS thermometer can hit, at the cost of 5-10 minutes of time between shots watching the temperature climb, then, oops, missing it, flushing again, waiting, then pulling at the right time to get "196" vs. "198" or what have you.

Also in that price range, if you aren't looking for "classic" styling, the Breville double boiler (BDB) is worth looking at very seriously. Like most machines and grinders, their owners will almost always tell you how fantastic they are. Here's a informative discussion of why the BDB is such a great machine, from someone that I believe has a good understanding of how espresso is brewed what impacts the flavor in the cup, and, as far as I know, has no financial interest in selling them or pride of ownership involved. At least "food for thought" after the cooking analogies...

Even if you're not interested in the BDB and find the Decent either out of your price range, abhorrently ugly, or just not what you want in your kitchen, the explanation of coffee extraction and some of the things that impact it (which is the flavor and texture in the cup) is probably worth the ten minutes to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYCp__RdVCI

Edit: If staying within the Lelit line, see also the suggestion of the Lelit Glenda PL41 PlusT as an alternative to the Anna at Talk me out of the Lelit Anna (PL41TEM)