This is such a personal decision, that it's kind of impossible to answer. It's like asking for a definitive holster recommendation - You're going to have a drawer full of them, before you finally figure out what you like best.

I will say this - I've come full circle on knife nerdery. After ~10 years of lusting after this or that, I eventually came to realize what was truly important to me:

1. That I like how the bolster and handle feels, when holding the knife with a proper pinch grip
2. That I like the weight and the balance
3. That the blade profile suits my style of cutting
4. That it's the right length for the board I'm using them on, and what I'm doing
5. That the bolster doesn't extend all the way to the heel
6. That the blade and the tang are one piece, and forged
7. That the Rockwell Hardness comes in somewhere in the neighborhood of 58-60. Not hard for me to sharpen on a stone, and it tends to stay sharp - even when I'm being an asshole with it. Goldilocks zone.

Because honestly - once I learned how to quickly sharpen them on a stone and then strop them (one-time effort to learn; lifetime of reward), I sort of realized that everything else was either marketing, or just something that stroked my own ego. And there's nothing wrong with any of that - it's fun to own nice things, just because you can or you want to. But it did bring what I actually cared about into sharp () focus.

My next purchase will be a carbon steel knife. I don't need one, and it won't improve my culinary ability one iota. I just want one.

But the literal last thing I ever think about, is how sharp it is out of the box. Don't care. If it's not sharp enough, it soon will be.