Trying hard here to not scare everyone but I like big knives and I've got loads of them! Big knives impress me and I'm drawn to them when I see them shining in a shop. Luckily mine are all in the kitchen and I only use them for hacking food up but I've noticed that some make more of a mess than others. I'm not professing to be any kind of expert and this is by no means an extensive guide but this is where you might like to start.
First things first there are lots and lots of knives out there and you've got fashionable knives and classic cook's knives. I would avoid the fashionable knives and go for a classic style knife any day. This is purely my own opinion but the way I see it is the kitchen knife evolved into a certain shape because that's what worked best. By fashionable knives I mean all those ones with the funny shaped 'ergonomic' handles, designery names etc. You might prefer them but personally I don't, the best thing to do is go and try some out and see what you like.
What to look for:
Most important is the steel on the blade. Cheap knives use softer steel and go blunt quickly. They bend, you'll be forever sharpening them and you'll wear it out in no time. A good guide to the quality of the knife is if it's a Sabatier. Sabatier isn't a 'make' it's more of a conformant to how the knife is made, the grade of steel used and it's a pretty good start if you haven't bought knives before. If you know your steels then ultimately the best way to judge your knife is to have a feel of it and you'll be able to tell if it's good or bad. Generally a hard steel goes *schinnnngggggg* satisfactorily when you pull it out the block and you'll smile when it happens and call someone over so you can show them. Then when you buy them you will want to show all your mates or they will pick the knife up and be impressed that it sounds Hollywood good. Hard steel rings and soft doesn't, harder steel is also duller in colour and less chrome looking as a general rule.
Make sure the blade has a constant curve along its length. Some knives have a straight section down near the handle end of the blade and if the quality control isn't great you can end up with it going the wrong way and your knife won't cut all the way through your food! Just something to look for and be aware of...
Price:
These are the knives I have at the moment:
I got the block of 5 for just under £100 in Debenhams. It was a brand I hadn't heard of but I was so impressed with the quality of the knives I knew they were the ones. The set comprises of a 10" cook's knife, a very sturdy 10" bread knife, a 10" carving knife, 4" paring knife and 6" vegetable knife. I also have a thin bladed cleaver which I use a lot of the time.
As a guide on price you want to be spending at least £20 per knife if you buy them individually and at least the same again on a steel to keep them sharp. You don't need a lot of knives, for day to day cooking these are the knives I use the most:
The cleaver gets used for practically everything and it sharpens up much easier and better than my other knives. That's more down to the shape of it I think but I use it for slicing meat, vegetables, chopping onion and garlic and chopping herbs. The added height of the blade also means I can chop quite fast against my knuckles without hacking my fingers off and note it's not a hacking type of cleaver for going through bones, it's more of a tall bladed knife. The cook's knife I tend to use for heavier duty stuff where I need the added blade length that the cleaver doesn't have and the paring knife is just the most used knife of the lot. It's just 'right' for practically everything and is razor sharp.
I paid £25 for my cleaver and it was money well spent, I've seen a similar model in a shop in Bluewater called Professional Cookware or something like that but it looks almost identical and the steel felt very nice.
Keeping them Sharp:
You need a good steel. Again use your own judgement on this but usually price is a good indicator of quality above a certain mark, I think mine was about £30. The steel must be as hard as your knives or you will shave it smooth. I used a cheap Kitchen Devils steel on my good knives and it got me nowhere apart from blunt knives, a pile of metal shavings and a dead steel. There are two types of sharpening steel: metal and ceramic. I've only ever used a metal one and that's been enough to keep my knives sharp. Global recommend you use their ceramic one and that may well be the best for their knives but I can't comment as I haven't tried it myself. To learn how to use a steel it really is best if you can get someone to show you how to do it properly. Most department stores with a cooking section will have someone there who is good at sharpening knives and will be able to recommend you a steel and show you how to use it. John Lewis is good for this. How much you have to sharpen them is down to the knife and what you use it for but I give them a once over every fourfth or fifth use as they stay pretty sharp.
I also recommend a wooden block as it helps keep the knives sharp. The last thing you want is for them to be rattling around in the cutlery drawer or to be stuck in a put with other utensils. They will go blunt and big blunt knives are bloody dangerous. The reason blunt knives are more dangerous than sharp ones is because of the added pressure you put on when you're cutting. A sharp blade will slice through most stuff when you pull it towards you but a blunt one will need lots of downward pressure. My 10" cook's knife will go through a raw chicken carcass like butter and your fingers are no different! Some people like to keep their knives up the other way in the block so the blade is facing upwards, again, personal preference but I haven't found it detrimental keeping them blade down.
Naturally your cutting board should be either plastic or wood. Don't use those glass ones on 'hygiene' grounds as you'll slip about on them and blunt your knives. Chopping boards are cheap, your knives aren't!
There are a few pro chefs in this forum so hopefully we should get some quality input from them, because as I said this is by no means meant to be an extensive guid and is no doubt inaccurate in places.
First things first there are lots and lots of knives out there and you've got fashionable knives and classic cook's knives. I would avoid the fashionable knives and go for a classic style knife any day. This is purely my own opinion but the way I see it is the kitchen knife evolved into a certain shape because that's what worked best. By fashionable knives I mean all those ones with the funny shaped 'ergonomic' handles, designery names etc. You might prefer them but personally I don't, the best thing to do is go and try some out and see what you like.
What to look for:
Most important is the steel on the blade. Cheap knives use softer steel and go blunt quickly. They bend, you'll be forever sharpening them and you'll wear it out in no time. A good guide to the quality of the knife is if it's a Sabatier. Sabatier isn't a 'make' it's more of a conformant to how the knife is made, the grade of steel used and it's a pretty good start if you haven't bought knives before. If you know your steels then ultimately the best way to judge your knife is to have a feel of it and you'll be able to tell if it's good or bad. Generally a hard steel goes *schinnnngggggg* satisfactorily when you pull it out the block and you'll smile when it happens and call someone over so you can show them. Then when you buy them you will want to show all your mates or they will pick the knife up and be impressed that it sounds Hollywood good. Hard steel rings and soft doesn't, harder steel is also duller in colour and less chrome looking as a general rule.
Make sure the blade has a constant curve along its length. Some knives have a straight section down near the handle end of the blade and if the quality control isn't great you can end up with it going the wrong way and your knife won't cut all the way through your food! Just something to look for and be aware of...
Price:
These are the knives I have at the moment:
I got the block of 5 for just under £100 in Debenhams. It was a brand I hadn't heard of but I was so impressed with the quality of the knives I knew they were the ones. The set comprises of a 10" cook's knife, a very sturdy 10" bread knife, a 10" carving knife, 4" paring knife and 6" vegetable knife. I also have a thin bladed cleaver which I use a lot of the time.
As a guide on price you want to be spending at least £20 per knife if you buy them individually and at least the same again on a steel to keep them sharp. You don't need a lot of knives, for day to day cooking these are the knives I use the most:
The cleaver gets used for practically everything and it sharpens up much easier and better than my other knives. That's more down to the shape of it I think but I use it for slicing meat, vegetables, chopping onion and garlic and chopping herbs. The added height of the blade also means I can chop quite fast against my knuckles without hacking my fingers off and note it's not a hacking type of cleaver for going through bones, it's more of a tall bladed knife. The cook's knife I tend to use for heavier duty stuff where I need the added blade length that the cleaver doesn't have and the paring knife is just the most used knife of the lot. It's just 'right' for practically everything and is razor sharp.
I paid £25 for my cleaver and it was money well spent, I've seen a similar model in a shop in Bluewater called Professional Cookware or something like that but it looks almost identical and the steel felt very nice.
Keeping them Sharp:
You need a good steel. Again use your own judgement on this but usually price is a good indicator of quality above a certain mark, I think mine was about £30. The steel must be as hard as your knives or you will shave it smooth. I used a cheap Kitchen Devils steel on my good knives and it got me nowhere apart from blunt knives, a pile of metal shavings and a dead steel. There are two types of sharpening steel: metal and ceramic. I've only ever used a metal one and that's been enough to keep my knives sharp. Global recommend you use their ceramic one and that may well be the best for their knives but I can't comment as I haven't tried it myself. To learn how to use a steel it really is best if you can get someone to show you how to do it properly. Most department stores with a cooking section will have someone there who is good at sharpening knives and will be able to recommend you a steel and show you how to use it. John Lewis is good for this. How much you have to sharpen them is down to the knife and what you use it for but I give them a once over every fourfth or fifth use as they stay pretty sharp.
I also recommend a wooden block as it helps keep the knives sharp. The last thing you want is for them to be rattling around in the cutlery drawer or to be stuck in a put with other utensils. They will go blunt and big blunt knives are bloody dangerous. The reason blunt knives are more dangerous than sharp ones is because of the added pressure you put on when you're cutting. A sharp blade will slice through most stuff when you pull it towards you but a blunt one will need lots of downward pressure. My 10" cook's knife will go through a raw chicken carcass like butter and your fingers are no different! Some people like to keep their knives up the other way in the block so the blade is facing upwards, again, personal preference but I haven't found it detrimental keeping them blade down.
Naturally your cutting board should be either plastic or wood. Don't use those glass ones on 'hygiene' grounds as you'll slip about on them and blunt your knives. Chopping boards are cheap, your knives aren't!
There are a few pro chefs in this forum so hopefully we should get some quality input from them, because as I said this is by no means meant to be an extensive guid and is no doubt inaccurate in places.
because it ruins the knife 
but I have a special place in my mini dishwasher where they aren't touching anything else and they seem to survive ok. Make sure they don't touch anything else metal if you do this...
find that the metal handle makes my hand sweat (even when it's cold) and they get slippery.