You had a couple of specific questions. About knives. Don't go out and spend $100 on a knife. That's crazy at your level. It's crazy at any level, if you can't say just why it's worth $100. There's a lot of buying expensive toys among serious cooks, and it's not necessary, even if most of us do it. You can do very well with very modest brands, like Chef Style and OXO. But do buy a sharpener and learn to hone a blade. You'll discover something of why some knives are expensive, but holding an edge for an extra long time isn't your real big concern right now. You need the practice. An 8-inch chef's knife will do you. Keep it sharp, all the time. Sharpen it before you know it needs it. The wisdom that dull knives are dangerous and frustrating was dead right.
Yes, there's a notion that "serious" cooks like gas. But that's not entirely accurate. Gas has some good points, like fine and instant control of heat. But among home ranges, electrics will usually boil water faster than gas, because of the way residential gas ranges are designed. Commercial ranges are entirely different. A commercial gas range is vastly more powerful than the home version. Your home doesn't even have the gas supply lines to run one.
Just get to know your own range. Test the accuracy of the oven with a reliable thermometer. Discover which low settings on the different burners will "simmer," keep a pot of water in a state of just barely generating tiny bubbles. The labels LOW, MED. and HIGH on the knobs mean little and certainly don't mean what they mean on the range used by the person who wrote the recipe.
You can pick up a whole kitchen full of tools and cookware from yard sales and flea markets, and you'll learn what you like and don't like about each. There are several kinds of cookware. What I can tell you for sure is that it is ALL "non-stick" when it's used properly. If you're sticking food to any pan, something's wrong with your method.
There are many paths to learning to cook well and in many styles. General cookbooks like the classic Joy of Cooking are still good. And yes, watching cooking shows is a great way to learn things the cookbooks won't normally tell you. Like how to deglaze a pan. And there's a ton of stuff on YouTube.
Like most people who learned in some particular way, I can't tell you how to learn. I began cooking when I could reach the top of the range, and I take a pretty scientific approach to new techniques now. All I can say is begin simply. Don't try to go nuts with spices. Good, basic food has plenty of flavor for you to bring out. Chicken parts tossed in olive oil with salt and popped into a 400F oven on a baking pan for a bit over an hour tastes great. And then, after you see how good simply is, you can move to rubbing butter with garlic, rosemary and lemon under the skin first. That sort of thing. Learn how to cook a steak and a pork chop properly, and you're ahead of most people. (Hint: They're very different.)
. This is what I would suggest. Pick ingredients, something you like. Whatever it might be. Plan something simple, very simple. The first thing I ever cooked was chicken soup. I love chicken so I decided to start with that. OK, what came out of is another story. To say the list I ruined it. But I learned what I did wrong and my next soup was much better. do not get discourage if you ruin something. Next time it will be better, I guarantee. 
