I would love some more input. I'm not terribly crazy about the look of the Opinel, but hey, if they're good inexpensive knives, I'll take em. I don't want to shell out the money that the Shun ones cost (which would match my kitchen knives)...

My wife and I purchased a set of the Henckels Pro S. I realize your stated budget was $100 and I am no where near any kind of expert on kitchen knives. But...we love them! Our hopes are that they will last our lifetime and are a pleasure to use. Knowing I can keep them sharp on my wicked edge helps too! If you can swing it by holding off and saving up a bit I think you would enjoy them. Steaks even taste better after cutting them with these...just kidding!

So, to be more specific, I was basically looking at:

www.amazon.com/Wusthof-Gourmet-4-Piece-S...Knife/dp/B0000631ZJ/
www.amazon.com/Ginsu-Japanese-Stainless-...-7104/dp/B001CLFZZG/
www.amazon.com/Ginsu-Japanese-Damascus-S...Steak/dp/B0027LQEY6/
www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Straight-Edge-...andles/dp/B000PL1A2Q

I know Wusthof makes decent knives (I prefer them to Henckels), and I know the Gourmet aren't as high a quality as the classic's, but they're also about 1/3rd the price.

And Ginsu, I know NOTHING about other than I remember them being a bit like Cutco back in the 80's. I don't know if they're decent, or crap. I picked those couple because they didn't look terrible, and they were straight edge.

Also realize the second set of Ginsu's is more than my $100 mark, but they look a decent amount like my Shun's, so I threw them in just since they "matched".

Then the Victorinox since they also seem to get decent reviews, and it's 6 of them... though, like I said, I mentioned not liking wood handles much. =/