I would never put a real knife into a hardware store grinding machine. The bevel would be completely wrong and the stone would be too course. Professional knives(usually) have convex blades and the cheap ones have concave blades.
At the kitchen I worked at last year, they had a fancy $100+ whet stone system. Medium to fine and then extra fine stones. But the cooks wouldn't clean the knives between stones so the courser grit would contaminate the extra fine stones. The other thing you see are cooks banging away on a sharpening steel. One more way to ruin a good knife. A former butcher I worked with showed me how he does it~three careful strokes on each side.
This is what I used when I was processing 200+ pounds of veggies a day. $30 on Ebay and made from excellent steel. Most Asian knives are too lightweight. This is a workhorse.
Yongho Clad Steel Kitchen Santoku Chef's Knife Clever Made by Korea Masterhands | eBay
Most of the time, knives don't need to be "sharpened." They need to be stropped or straightened. Think of the edge of a knife like a feather. The fibers at the end curl and go out of alignment, which makes it dull. Using a steel or honing a knife is like a bird preening its feathers. There isn't any need to remove metal from a knife to get it sharp again unless you're cutting on a hard surface.
Near the ocean, it might help to wrap your knives in oiled newspaper between uses. The salt air can be very aggressive. I keep mine in a tool box from LOWES in a knife guard.
I'll be in States in couple of week so I guess I'll just have to buy one local Bed & Beth and bring one in.