Really? What about ZDP 189 and HAP-40? Aogami Super? Even BD1N for a lower end option?
I'm not a kitchen pro, though I am a 'kitchen hobbiest'. I enjoy making great food that is nicely presented. I cook pretty much every day and base my menu on trying to recreate things I liked at various restaurants. I bake my own bread, make my own deserts, hunt, butcher, and prep nearly all the meat my wife and I consume. I end up butching a few animals a year ranging from big deer to ducks, squirrels, and doves; and prep untold amounts of onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, and so many other vegetables.
In the kitchen (and this has translated to pretty much every other area*) I prefer knives that are relatively soft and tough. I absolutely will not stand chipping (no one wants to eat a piece of knife steel) and prefer a knife that I can easily bring back to razor sharp with a few swipes on a steel. When it comes time to sharpen (no where near as often as most people think with such 'low end' steels if you do a good job of maintaining your edge) I prefer knives that I can easily and quickly sharpen on my waterstones instead of knives that require more time and require that I buy a different set of diamond stones. I would rather spend a few minutes sharpening my kitchen knives a few time a year than 'more than a few minutes' sharpening my kitchen knives a couple of times a year.
That being said, I don't care what the steel is for the most part as long as I can easily get it sharp, easily keep it sharp with a regular steeling, and it doesn't chip. Not rusting is nice, but not necessary, and I find carbon steels seem like they get sharper (at least to me).
*edit to add: This is in general true for my pocket knives as well. I stopped looking at more wear resistant steels after S30V, and in general prefer stuff that's even easier to sharpen than that.
