Other than “they will bang into each other,” which I can avoid, and “it will ruin the nice handles,” which I do not worry about on the knives with crappy handles, why not?
if they are “good knives” why do that?
How long does it take to wash and dry a knife?
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heat and high moisture are bad and you dont like pitted knives?
Define good knives.
can weaken the handle/tang connection. Just hand wash.
I’ve had my Wusthof classics for over 20 years, use them and run them in the dishwasher multiple times a week, and yes i can see some handle wear vs newer knives but they’re in great shape. (My Zaltos get the same treatment. 
) If I had expensive handmade Japanese knives I’d probably treat them differently.
I read someplace that the high heat of dishwashers dulls the edge. Anyone else hear that?
My chef wife, who would kill you if you did this to hers, says it dulls the blade and (as mentioned above) degrades the bond from tang to handle.
I have a bunch of carbon steel Japanese knives and they will rust.
Even many stainless steels will rust over time. The heat and humidity is bad for the handle/tang waterproofing.
They did a study of blades and found that the water drying on the edges will contribute to dulling. They did this study on razor blades and it has to do with the chlorine in the water. Now given that many dishwasher detergents contain chlorine and the knife blades are allowed to air dry, I could see they will dull faster. My wusthoffs and higher end knives don’t go in the dishwasher. My cheapies I throw in because I can (and do) replace them, as the stamped steel really doesn’t take a good edge anyway.
BTW - I hand wash all but one boning knife with a cheap rubber handle. I just got a new dishwasher with a special third rack for cutlery that would make it easy to machine wash the knives without banging them into each other so I thought I would ask. Carbon steel(I have one old Sabatier with a carbon steel blade) are obviously NOT a candidate. The problem for me is that I have a lot of kitchen knives and I like to use different knives each time I switch from one task to another so I could easily use 6 for an average dinner and over 10 for something like Thanksgiving.
Thanks for posting the question Jay.
I had wondered the same thing.
My mom ruined her good MAC knives by running them in the dishwasher. Not the carbon steel versions, but the classic MAC knives- eventually destroyed the wood handles and corroded the bolts that hold the handle to the tang.
I think the decision simply depends on whether you are willing to knowingly shorten the lives of your knives. Personally I wouldn’t do it.
6 knives to make the average family dinner??? Are you carving radishes into roses, ice sculpting, making turducken every night???
On a general note, it should go without saying that anything of any value made out of wood should never, ever go in the dishwasher and should never be left in water (like in a full sink). I’ve twice had hand-made items (hand-made by me) ruined through others’ carelessness/ignorance in this regard.
I don’t shave often but when I do I dry off my disposable razor. Even the cheapest one will last 20+ shaves before any noticeable dulling if you dry them off with a towel. Never thought to associate this technique with knives.