Way back when, in the summer of 1963, I bought a complete set of CUTCO knives. The salesman actually sold my Mom -who was frugal as all get out, normally -on them via his demonstration. The price I paid at that time was $188 -a lot of money to someone only earning $1.25 an hour (minimum wage job) back then. But I still have most of the set and use them frequently. (The knives I am missing from that set -the trimmer, the chopper and all of the steak knives. My son managed to mangle the chopper by using it to trim the base of a Christmas tree one year and the trimmer and steak knives all gradually went missing in action -a fate probably due to my son's incessant use of anything sharp to dig in the yard. I wonder if I got one of those metal detectors and went through our yard if any of my knives would be found?)
They are pricey -to that I will agree. But they do have a great warranty too -I just couldn't bring myself to sending back that Chopper knife to the company, knowing full well it wasn't damaged my normal usage nor was it faulty -other than via my son's hands.
I know they cost a whole lot more than the $188 I paid for mine 45 years ago, but all things considered, they have been worth the price.