Commercial kitchens, like my wife, run their knives through dishwashers all the time. But, like me, they buy stainless alloy knives like 1.4116 that can take that abuse. If your stainless steel knives are showing surface rust, (and that's all it is), then it's a higher carbon alloy to give it better edge retention rather than corrosion resistance. And that's a personal choice you make.

As far as dulling goes, why so afraid of sharpening a knife? I prefer alloys that allow me to quickly and easily touch up an edge because it rolled vs chipped like to many high end knives are prone to doing.