OK, I'm a bit of a knife junkie. I had Kershaw Shun as a sponsor for many years and got a TON of knives from them. They are fantastic. Not cheap, but fantastic. Of all their different lines, the
classic line is my favorite. The handle is amazing, unless you are left handed. They are asymmetrical which is the way our grips are shaped. They just came out with the
classic line with a blond handle.
After I left Shun I started collecting carbon steel knives. Some of them run north of $700 a knife. Then I went to small batch handmade stuff from different blacksmiths from around the world.
I have a very broad and eclectic collection of knives. I'll give you a couple more brands to look at. But first, I have to echo what was said above. If you buy a block with a dozen knives, you will use 3, maybe 4 and the rest will just be a waste of knives and money. Better to go higher end on those three or four that you will use. I would recommend a good chefs knife (8 or 10 inches depending on which feels better in the hand), a santoku (6 or 7 inched) and a long, slender utility knife (maybe 5-6 inch blade) and then maybe a serrated bread knife. Maybe add a paring knife. The utility and paring knives are usually cheaper for the pair than a single chef knife or santoku. A nakiri for chopping veggies is nice and maybe something with a nice curved blade/rocker knife that allows you to work back and forth in a rocking motion quickly. But those last two are luxuries, not necessities.
OK, so the other knife brands that I really love and use more than pretty much all of my other knives are, well, I'm gonna have to circumvent the language filter. The knives come from a German company named after their founder Friedrich D1ck. They are called F. D1ck knives. Not sure that will sidestep the language filter so I'll just link them here on Amazon. The Red Spirit Ajax knife is one of my absolute faves. It is like the best of both worlds of a cleaver and a chefs knife. Usually a hybrid knife like that doesn't do either role well. This one does both of them beautifully.
Another brand is
Bokashi Steel. They asked me to do some promotion in 2019 and I liked the knife fresh out of the box, but every knife fresh out of the box is usually great. The better the knife the longer it stays that way. These stay sharp for a very long time. I have their chef and santoku. I love them. And my wife loves them. They are her favorite knives of all that I have. They are not crazy expensive and they are fantastic.
And the final one, is
Heston Blumenthal knives. These are huge in Australia and Europe. I was invited to help with the launch in the States. I liked them so much I bought a bunch of them and gave them as gifts. Again, not crazy expensive, they are really well made and look phenomenal as well.