I have a lot of very expensive knives, and I love them dearly. BUT. I gotta say, if I needed a quality knife for cheap, I'd pick up (another, because I've owned several!) an Ontario Rat 2 or Utilitac 2. Both of those are honestly all the knife a casual user would need, with excellent fit, finish, and action. I still have three Rats kicking around in my backup knife chest. I've owned and given away several Utilitacs over the last few years, and currently don't own any. Man, I need to rectify that.
I won't mention SAKs in this, because all of mine are ALOX models and they weren't exactly cheap, although most were under a hundred dollars. When I think "cheap", I think "What could I get for $30 or less".