We have mostly Henckels, and I like them. There are other brands, like some Japanese knives of Damascus steel that are scary sharp - at least when new. But then you're talking two or three times the price, and I'm not sure that they are better kitchen tools over the long haul. One of my daughters has a few that her husband brought back from a business trip to Japan, and now, a few years later, they're not appreciably different from the Henckels.