NANIWACombination Stone 1000/3000

I am new to sharpening, drawn to it by an interest of maintaining a reasonable sharpness for my kitchen knives. Initially, I was planning to buy a decent chef's knife, but after some research, I decided to invest in a couple of sharpening stones, learn how to sharpen using my low-cost knives and spend on a decent chef's knife later. Naniwa appears to be one of the best brands in sharpening stones although their range classification is very confusing. In the end, I bought this combination stone 1000/3000 together with a specialty stone 400. I opted for those two stones as a basic pack using the 400 to repair the cutting angles and the 1000/3000 combi to apply the final polish. These stones are splash 'n go and they do not need to be submerged. Nonetheless, I did placed my stones in water and used it only after any bubbles stopped coming out. I think this is normal in the first use of these stones. I was not yet able to make my knives razor sharp. I cannot blame the stone for this as my knives are made of cheap Chinese steel I still have to improve my technique. I did see a big difference however, and my knives are no longer dull. I still need to master the transition from the 400 to 1000/3000 polish as I feel that a knife sharpened with the 400 alone, cuts better than running it on the 1000 grit afterwards. In the near future, I am planning to get a sink bridge and a Naniwa Dressing Stone, A-206, grit: 600 to keep this stone in decent shape.