Q:

What is the best knife/sharpener setup for an active cook?

There are several posts that get close to this but I am looking for a specific knife(ves)/sharpener(s) combo(s) that can be used routinely and that work(s) well.  My opinion is in this answer.

A:

If you have top quality knives, I generally discourage the use of any do-it-yourself sharpeners.  I take my knives yearly to a professional knife sharpener who puts that amazing 17 degree edge back on my Shun knives.
In between sharpening you should be using a quality honing steel every time you use your knife.
Additionally, your knives shouldn't need routine sharpening. Unless you intend routine to mean every 6-18 months. If you're sharpening knives more frequently than that, you're doing it wrong. From what I've seen the quality sharpeners on the  market are just too expensive to justify their space in my kitchen. Maybe if I charged friends for sharpening services?

A:

If you're using cheap knives (which you suggest to the answer you linked to, and I admit, I have quite a few), feel free to sharpen them yourself ... I have both a stick-style diamond dust sharpener, and a set of whet stones.
But I don't sharpen my good kitchen knives myself, and I tend to go a few years between sharpenings (but I also have two chef knives and a santuko, which get the majority of the use, but it's spread across three of 'em, so they likely don't get as much wear if I only had one) ... but I agree with @hobodave -- I hone 'em, but I'm not going to sharpen them myself.

