Hi ppina. My $0.02's worth: I've had great experience with Volkl skis over the years. Owned a number of pairs of Explosivs "R" in the late 80s and 90s, and they lasted for ever (in fact, had to change them when there wasn't any more of those metal thingies on the sides left to sharpen), then got some more mellow 724s in the mid-2000s to ski with the kids (the kids explain the hole between the late 1990s and the 2000s. :-) ), and again got my money's worth out of them. Notwithstanding the fact that I just bought myself some (very sweet) iSupershape Magnums, I'd buy Volkl again in a second, except perhaps for the power switch ones... never trusted moving parts on skis (kind of reminds me of the pre-enviro friendly days when Spalding used to put mercury in a plastic cup bonded to the tip of their Squadra Corsa skis to dampen vibrations)
Never had Salomons, so I can't comment about them. As for the K2s, my only experience is through some Apache Jr. one of my kids had. They seemed to be great skis, but their top sheet was very very fragile and I was always patching them up with epoxy resin to cover the exposed wood core. Are the grown-up versions of the Apaches (or other models of that make) any different? I couldn't tell, but I'd ask before buying.
