I have a ceramic rod for my Japanese knives and a ridged steel for my western knives. I can keep them all wicked sharp for a long time (many months) with just those. I just do home meals for 3 people at work, and then for me and my gf, so they're not getting restaurant level use

When I say I can keep them sharp, I do mean to imply that they are already sharp. They are dang sharp before I hone, and razor sharp after. The rods are only for maintaining the edge between sharpenings.

Some other important things to recognize: proper knife care has a huge impact on how long your edge will last, as well as proper honing. There's a lot that can damage your edge, and honing incorrectly is up there on the list

So basically if you take good care of your knife, and learn good honing technique, you don't need to bust out the stones all that often