Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife 8 Inch

Victorinox Fibrox are fairly indestructible, easily in your budget, available worldwide, and while the handles are not pretty they are pretty grippy. Fairly light for a western knife as well. So I think the Pro Chef 8 inch would tick most of your boxes.

Victorinox 8-inch chef knife. Plastic handle for cheap or wood for a bit more money. Holds its edge, relatively easy to sharpen. I used various victorinox knives in pro kitchens for 40+ years.

These are very popular Japanese brands, and both high in quality and exactly what you are looking for. I have MAC Mth-80 gyuto and Tojiro classic santoku. The MAC is slightly lighter to me, more nimble, but differences are not great. Tojiro is considerably cheaper, maybe $130 for an 8 inch gyuto the

Couple things to note: get one 1000 grit stone, not a combo stone. Neither a kiwi or Victorinox will benefit from a higher grit. Sharpton pro is recommended a lot (splash stone so don't have to soak) but I don't have personal experience. I have a soaking stone and it's fine (just have to soak for li

The 10-inch is a step in the right direction for me anyway. I can't do the Fibrox plastic handles but that is my choice. It is better than a short MAC Pro handle. Rosewood might work. I prefer Wusthof knives to Victorinox knives. I had a couple of Victorinox fishing knives with Fibrox handles years

The Victorinox that everyone seems to love is the extra broad 20cm with the Fibrox Pro handle. They're about £33 on Amazon at the moment, but pre-Covid you could buy one for £20. The other commonly recommended beginners knife is the 8 inch Mercer Renaissance. At around £40 it's less than half the pr