I've been through the gamut, and spent a fortune on knives. Now, my collection is skimpier and has no "standard" brand. My principal knives are a 10" Sab chef's, and a 4" Wusthof paring knife. I do 80% of my work with these two tools. I've got drawers full of Henkels, Wusthofs, Global, Kershaws, Sanellis, et al. If I had a brain in my head, I would have tried before I bought. But I just couldn't resist owning every expensive knife I saw. Mental illness. I have about 8 Santokus. Hate every one of them. Want one?
A knife is a personal thing. It has to fit, and do what you need it to do. Just because you like a Sab for a chef knife doesn't mean that same brand will do for a parer. It's a personal thing. Try them all and pick what fits, not what you want to fit.
I use vintage stainless knives, incidentally. I find most modern stainless to be too hard to get razor sharp, and I'm too lazy to be 100% reliable in taking special care of carbon steel. I ruined one very special Chicago Cutlery 12" vintage chef knife by not taking care of it one dark night, leaving it on the counter after being distracted and forgetting about it. Not good.