I have a Cold Steel block of kitchen knives. I use the Chef's knife the most. Excellent design. The serrated bread and silicer, I use every so often. I hardly use the serrated steak knives. They are a bit long.
The non serrated edged knives are made from 420HC stainless. It is a good choice as when it is properly heat treated, it takes an excellent edge. However it is not so hard that you cannot restore the edge quickly. Most folks just cannot restore RC 60 edges at all.
I find this four inch Cold Steel knife to be an excellent knife. Use it all the time. The steel is a bit harder than their kitchen block knives.
Kershaw Shun Santoku: Marvelous knife. Expensive. Hard to say it is better than a lesser priced Masahiro Santoku, but it is real showy.
This is a Japanese version of the Chinese Cleaver. I use this one heck of a lot. I don't know the steel. I can't read the Japanese on the box. It is stainless, a little softer than my Cold Steel Chef's knife, takes a good edge. If you have never owned a Chinese Cleaver, get one. The Chinese knew what they were doing when they made this blade shape. And the Japanese knew a good thing to copy.
You will find that it is perhaps the most used of your vegetable knives. There is no point to prick yourself, you quickly slice and chop through vegetables, meats. Then you use the flat blade to scoop every thing up and dump in the pot.
Frozen vegetable packages are vigorously bashed with the knurled back. With no damage to the knife. My Cleaver hangs on a hook next to the sink.
The price on epay is $18.35 shipped. I don't know a better deal anywhere.
http://cgi.ebay.com/MEAT-CLEAVER-BK...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262
World Knives carries Masahiro brand kitchen knives. These are moderately prices and excellent steels, worksmanship, and materials.
I have a couple of Masahiro knives. The Japanese put a lot of thought into these knives which make them very useful. For example, on the sankotu, the back of the blade is not perfectly flat: it has a slight curve. This feature keeps the vegetable from sticking as you are cutting.
http://www.worldknives.com/manufacturers.php?i=40