depends what you are looking for....about a year ago i began my search for my first "good" set of kitchen knives, and discovered the GW brand....at first i was very excited because they seemed to be quality knives that look nice, are decently priced and have a great warranty....
and all those things are still true (they are prob on par with some of the better henckel and wusthoff lines)....but, during my search, i also discovered the world of "performance knives"....now, the GW knives are good for someone who wants a decent blade, that is easy to maintain, but isn't neccessarily the sharpest thing around (still sharp, but knives can get sharper)....they are made of relatively soft steel for the average consumer who isn't neccessarily seeking scary sharp blades....so if you want a no fuss knife, that will get the job done well, they are worth considering....and, as a plus, managment seems to be very friendly (i sent them an email asking about the knives because i was considering asking for them as a wedding gift - once he knew i was getting married, he offered me a discounted price and a free knife!)
now, if you want "the best" knives around, you will want to consider japanese knives....they are made of harder steels that can hold steeper, sharper edges for longer periods of time....these knives also require a little bit more care, which is something to consider...in the hands of a good sharpener, the blades can really be "scary sharp"....the most commercially availabe japanese blades include brands like shun and global...now, these are excellent knives, but some hardcore knife nuts consider these brands to be good "gateway" knives - according to them, they aren't the BEST japanese blades, but good brands that will lead people away from lesser german knives, and into the world of better japanese cutlery brands...personally, i love my shuns, and ignore the haters....(personally, i think they just dont like shuns because they are "too popular", and prefer to buy the lesser known brands)
so, like i said, it depends what you are looking for...most people will be perfectly happy with a good german knife, that they can steel once in a while, and get the job done (and these do seem to be good knives)....if you really want to see what a knife can do, and are willing to put a little more effort in, at least consider the precision japanese blades
i hope you are happy with whatever your choose!
im still a relatively new to the world of knives, so maybe someone else will chime in.....