Everyone needs a few paring knives. This set fully equips you for a great price. Victorinox Forschner are Cook's Illustrated best buys. Stamped and lightweight (not necessarily a great thing) but great grinding and steel quality. Molded plastic handles. Great value.

Fine knives must be hand washed (true for most of the others listed here except this one). Rada Cutlery is an American company that makes inexpensive stamped stainless blades and handles of tough cast aluminum. These aren't state of the art blades, but for folks who can't help themselves putting knives in the dishwasher - these are a good pick.

Global makes a superb line of stainless knives of advanced alloy and grind. Handles are composed of the same steel stamping as the blade, hollow rolled, with a texture molded in. The entire knife is a single piece of steel. Light weight because of the hollow handle and thin (Asian) grind. However, lack of a bolster and a sharp pointy heel takes a little getting used to. It's finesse over force.

Henckel's Professional "S" line is the classic riveted handle style. The molded type is more hygenic and ergonomic, but the classic style will match your other knives and some prefer the look. These are high quality resin - not likely to shrink or warp.

Henckels 5 star is molded like the 4 star but has a more ergonomic shape and a full tang.

Wusthof makes exquisite Western grind high carbon stainless ice tempered forged knives. The Classic line has the traditional rivets with black resin handles.

Kershaw - exquisite Japanese knives that exemplify artisan Japanese obsessive quality. Shun Classic - damascus steel blades with asian style 16 degree edge grind

Alton's Angles - essentially the exquisite Shun Classics but with the handles at a ten degree angle to the blade as designed by Alton Brown for ergonomic use

Shun's Ken Onion designed line is exquisite with Damascus steel blades, exotic curves, excellent ergonomics. Catnip for enthusiasts.

Carving knives are only useful for carving roasts and fowls - but they are necessary table theater for holidays. The excellent matching two tine fork is a really nice and necessary accessory.

Wusthof's 12" steel is much more expensive - but is exquisite quality with awesome machining on the grooves, and a big beefy handle. Highly recommended.

Excellent value for a set of 3 bench stones. At 6" they are a little small for kitchen knives - but still great. Nice space saving design with it's own holder/case.

Diamond bench stones are extremely durable. Here's a fine/extra fine one with base that will put a very fine edge on.

Even bigger knife block. Really nice, but starting to get pricey. If you have a ton of nice knives, this is a great unit.

Knives can also be stored on a magnetic strip mounted on a wall. This is little more hazardous than a knife block - but your counters and drawers will be totally free.

Good knives should never be used on glass, stone, or stone substitute (i.e. corian) cutting boards. Poly plastic is the best because it's hygenic, easy to clean, impervious, and easy on your blades (your knives will hold an edge longer if you use poly cutting boards).

Wood cutting boards are beautiful, but less practical because they must be oiled, cannot be soaked, and are not hygenic to use with raw meat. Since they look good I leave one out for show and then put a poly board on it when I actually cook.