Here's about 70% of my batterie-de-cuisine. I have knives from Henckles, Wustoff, Global, Sabatier (au carbon), and Tramontina. I'm a cook at heart not a knife geek....OK, so I'm a cook with a lot of knives.
Here's my take from a user's perspective. Its totally anecdotal...so don't take what I say as gospel.
In terms of chef knives what you use is far less important than HOW you use it.
If you don't have an idea about the proper way to hold and cut with a chef's knife its hard to have an objective opinion about whats good and bad. VERY few people know how to properly grip a chef's knife. Google it up. Its not rocket science. BUT, it takes practice and unlearning bad habits if you want to use a chef's knife properly, with skill AND efficiency. If you want the bible on the subject order the small book on the chef's knife from the Culinary Institute of America online bookstore.
My personal go to, every day chef's knife is a 10" Global or a 10" Sabatier carbon steel blade. Why those two? Quite simply they hold their edge better than similar blades from Wustoff and Henckles AND dressing the edge and resharpening is both quicker and easier than the stainless blades. Period. I've never seen a chef's knife that didn't need to have the edge dressed at least once a day...if you cook. Perhaps more. So ease of sharpening is important.
I've tried Santukos and find them awkward. I think they are kinda trendy. 10 years ago the big craze among cooks was the Chinese cleaver...
If I know I'm going to be doing some serious cutting for the day I whip out the 12" Wustoff chef's knife. Again, most people are intimidated by the bigger blades. They do take some technique and skill to wield effectively. But they are quite literally as good as a food processor in your hand!
Most of the German brand boning knives are too thick and stiff. Global makes a good flexible blade boning knife. For the money ($18) the Forschner standard commercial boning knife is about as good as it gets. Go to a commercial meat packing operation where all they do all day long is cut meat and all you will see are Forschner commercial grade knives.
My advice is to buy a decent 8-10" chef's knife--a commercial Forschner will run under $30--and a good steel and use it to learn proper technique. Buying ultra expensive cooking knives when you can't cook and don't have your technique down is like going out and buying $2 grand in golf clubs when you haven't ever gone golfing. The Global knives are excellent but light compared to the German blades. Which is best for you? How the hell do I know? Do you play better golf with blades or cavity backs?
I'll guarantee you the flavor of the food at any 5 star restaurant you go to will have NOTHING to do with the steel in the knives in the kitchen....ZERO, zip, nada.... Is a sharp knife important to the product/effeciency of the kitchen. Certainly. But HOW its used is infinitely more important than WHAT is used.
I can make you an awesome dinner with a Boy Scout knife if I have to...it wouldn't be my first choice though.
