I think having very sharp knives in the kitchen is completely reasonable, as long as you're willing to do the maintenance. Among my gaggle of knives I keep three of them extremely sharp: gyuto, slicing knife (sujihiki), and pairing knife. The last two are not super high end knives, but hold their edges for a long time, because the pairing knife doesn't get used against a cutting board and the slicing knife doesn't get used often at all. The gyuto I have to touch up often. It's my main knife, gets used every day on a cutting board, and I like it sharp like a straight razor. It makes a difference that I'm willing to put a bit of effort into.
Its level of sharpness requires at least three stones, up to a very fine-grit polishing stone (6000 to 10000 grit). Most touch ups are just with the polishing stone or with a strop.
If that's more than you're intersted in, the good news is that you can get kinda close to this level of performance with just a single stone, and very close with a two-sided combination stone. For one-stone sharpening look for something 1200 to 2000 grit. I have a Bester 1200 in this grit range. It's the one stone I use on my European knives and it leaves an aggressive, toothy edge that cuts everything well (although not with a lot of refinement). And it's fast to use. For a combination stone people love the King 1000/6000, which you can get on Amazon for under $30. I haven't used it but it's definitely worth a look.
Edited to add: I learned how to sharpen using wet/dry sandpaper, but like most people gave it up for stones. It's false economy, because the paper loads up so fast and has to be discarded. In my 12 years or so of sharpening on stones I've only worn out a couple of them.
