Wash your knives immediately after use to avoid food build up on the knife edge. Don’t put them in the dishwasher since the blade may become damaged. Handwash and dry on a soft towel. Do not store you knives in a drawer (unless it’s a knife drawer with a built in wooden block). Store your knives in a wooden block. An angled knife block makes retrieving the proper knife easier.
Avoid cutting food on hard surfaces like glass cutting boards. These can dull your knives quickly. Instead, use a cutting board with some give such as those made of wood or polyethylene.

Remember: A dull knife is a dangerous knife. Use a steel or diamond to keep your knives sharp. Each time a knife blade cuts through something, its edge is malformed microscopically. A few strokes of a knife across a steel or a diamond removes these microscopic bits of metal and re-establishes a sharp edge. Run your knives over the steel before every use. And, if you are planning a marathon cooking session and will be chopping veggies all day, use the steel often.

Chef Scott says: Avoid standard knife sharpeners, especially the high speed electric ones. These machines grind the knife edge down, making it thinner. Once the edge is honed in that fashion, it must be sharpened regularly.