Looking for advice/recommendations ... I won't put the S word in the title but it's a knife question

Hello everyone! First I would like to say I only decided to post after 30 minutes of going through the search list for Shun.

I was in Williams Sonoma today for some other things and tried some knives while I was there. I really like fruit and veggies and that is most of what I do, and I just eat out for sushi. Anyway the lady handed me a Shun Santoku 6" around $255, and it felt incredible. I really just dug it and tried it out. The western chef one seemed like it had too much rock to it if that's the right word and felt less balanced. Tried some Wusthof and another one along with some lower Shun but that first Santoku was great. I had never heard of Shun before, but I've had a Wusthoff 5" for a long time that I never liked

Now I see they are not the best choice, but I was just curious who has objectively better product for same price - seems like Shun is all right but everyone says buy elsewhere. I didn't see too much continued discussion in the posts to that end.

I'm a musician and have worked in service industry. Been cooking for 12 years at home but am unstudied. Especially ignorant to knives, I like to sharpen. I've been using a large knife that was probably 60 dollars for a long time and I've wanted something better and with more inspiring design and wood handle. I love well crafted tools.

I'd prefer to only have one knife as I usually am only using one and enjoy the simplicity or peace of mind. The lady told me not to cut meat though with Santoku and I thought well I wouldn't want two so I'd get a paring knife to make it 3.

I'd rather just buy one knife for 200-350 though. Seems like more than that and I might not be able to take advantage of it

I tried to preemptively provide the background info that I saw in other posts, saw you guys say send me a message for more info. Are recommendations for hand crafted makers not allowed on the post?

I have two friends that are chefs and one said theyre all right and would be ok for me, the other said no look at chefsknivestogo.


Edit: Updates below but just wanted to add sharpening preference - I would like to work at that and sharpen with every or every other use at home and not take it in often. Unsure about carbon/regular preference. Like the japanese thing from what I've been able to hold