You don't really need a set of knives. You're better off just getting a good chef's knife and a paring knife, you don't need much beyond that, for example a proper full flat ground chef's knife with a good sharp edge can slide through bread without deforming it. That eliminates the need for any kind of bread knives. Japanese and American knives are the best imo material wise, German knives are nicely finished but most are made with cheaper 4116 steel. For half the price of a Wusthof or Henkels knife you could get something like a Richmond Artifex which uses 13c26 sandvik steel for half the price and get a better performing steel. With all of the money you save, even going with a $180 ZDP-189 knife for example, you could get other stuff you actually would use, like a decent cutting board and a ceramic rod for honing.