My :2cents:. I don't believe that most people here think that having great knives has anything to do with being "cooler or fancy". Rather, they either (1) use them in their profession or (2) they appreciate the value of a good tool, or (3) both (most likely). From my own experience, I fall into the second category. I'm a home cook and I love to do it, and for 30 years I have used one set of Henkel 4 stars. It was only recently that I found this forum and have since learned what I was missing. Since I value knowledge (I taught college and medical school), and good tools (I still do woodworking with my grandfather's 100 year old hand tools), I value this board. Can I use a knife properly? I thought I could until I got my first good knife and quickly realized that I would be doing things a lot differently from then on, so I'm back on the learning curve. I probably will never have the knife skills to prep cases of veggies or hundreds of pounds of protein quickly, but I don't need to; I either have enough skill now to do what I need to do or will learn the necessary skills. But as Bryan so reasonably pointed out, how do I learn how to properly use a Gyuto or a Suji if I don't have one and the technique is so different than what my Henkels require?. You can't learn to sail by using a ski boat.