I tell people to stick with stone or ceramic surfaces for sharpening. Diamond coatings, with some exceptions, are generally shit, often leaving bits of diamond in your steel. People like diamond becasue it doesn't need to be trued up or cleaned. Just accept that part of the price of getting good edges is taking care of your tools. Also, get in the habit of using a permanent marker to color in the blade's bevel. Do that no matter how you sharpen. The more I sharpened things, the more I come to believe that you need to always involve water in the job. It helps the medium do it's job better, keeps things cool, and prevents metal and grit dust you don't want to inhale (my main gripe about the WorkSharp grinder).
I use everything. From basic whetstones, Idahones, Lansky's, Worksharps, all the way up to a Tormek T-8 (still my favorite). Big fan of kits that allow you to set angles and keep them. Lansky and Spyderco make good ones, but I think if I had to steer someone towards a single method it would probably be one of the varieties of the Edge Pro Apex.
If you want to stick to stones, any basic non-cheapie will probably will serve you fine. For your rough, sub 1000 grit surface, buy the cheapest thing there is. Doesn't have to be big, you probably won't use it much. Then add to that a 1000/3000 or 1000/4000 dual stone for the rest. 1000 grit can also be your do everything grit, maybe strop it with some leather after. That bamboo and ceramic stone system from Henckel and Zwilling, I think designed by Bob Kramer? That thing is sick, it's made to ride your sink so you can have constant flowing water involved. The "stones" are large slabs of Kyocera ceramic, so hard I don't think they need to be flattened. There is a cleaning stone though, to remove accumulated metal. Like the Edge Pro it's not cheap, but you get what you pay for no?
I've never cared for the guides made for sharpening stones. My hand/wrist/elbow draw action eventually acquired a natural 15 degree angle after repetition. I use no other angle when using stones (just touching up kitchen stuff, everything else goes on the Tormek pretty much)
Found vid on the Bob Kramer system I mentioned. Good reference for technique too, notice his sequencing of draws as the job goes on and the grit changes. That creates consistency, which makes for a sharp edge.