Another, "which Steel" question...

i saved 5 of my shun knives from being thrown in the dish washer on saturday. My wife was just throwing them in with the silverware

BLADE DOWN!!!... I think she hates me
 
Definitely something stainless would be good. S35VN maybe? Probably not S90V since that's hard to sharpen. M390? 154CM or CPM154 if you want a step up. That being said, even something ostensibly crappy like 440A can be pretty darn good. I've got a set of Cutco knives that have consistently surprised me with how good of an edge they hold, how long they hold up (done the tests against Shun and Henckels Twin Select, and was pleasantly surprised), and that's 440A, which everyone poo-poos. Also, Cutco's marketing is generally looked down upon.

I think ESEE's got a set of kitchen knives out as well in collaboration with Ethan Becker. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that those are great. For that matter, Kershaw's cheap kitchen knives are actually quite good, all things considered.
 
In response to the question,

Another "It depends" answer.

From what you are describing, surgical stainless would work well. And don't spend much money on it.
 
I have a Spydercos kitchen nife in VG10 that my daughter loved to cut up abrasive pads with. I hid it. I got really upset when the family thought it was ok to try to remove the hard chrome plating from my M2 Gerber.
I was able to get my daughter to use the Victorinox 6" chef knife. The blade is very thin, so the stainless holds an edge reasonably well.
I highly recommend the Victorinox knives for families that abuse knives.
 
DoctaD said:
I tend to be very careful with my good kitchen knives, but others in the family...well, sometimes get a little careless. I have some very hard japanese knives that get very sharp, and are very abrasion resistant, but if accidentally thrown in with the forks and knives, tend to chip. I'm just looking for some beater knives that will stand up to as much abuse as possible. Might even consider making some myself for fun.
Click to expand...

if the knives are going to get abused, just buy some decent run-of-the-mill workhorse knives like: victorinox fibrox, basic dexter russell or mundial, and a coarse diamond stone to quickly fix the edges up.

no need to spend a lot of money on high quality knives knowing that they will be banged into the sink, silverware, ceramic plates or cup, etc.
 
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Re: Training the family
My family is getting better...they now leave the knives on the counter for me to clean, which I prefer to having them all nicked up. Plus, the sound of knives on a whet stone is like fingernails on a chalk board to my wife.
 
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