Ceramic kitchen knives: worth the price?

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I like a really sharp knife for kitchen work. Currently have several Henckels knifes, though I tend to prefer a particular one of them, and regularly tweak the edge with a sharpening steel. I currently use a bamboo cutting board.

 

I've been seeing ceramic kitchen knives for sale, and they claim to retain a sharp cutting edge for longer than conventional materials. Are they worth the price? What's anyone's personal experience with them?

 

Debating whether to ask for one for Christmas...

[RodB]

I don't know much about ceramic knives but you've piqued my interest. From what I gather, they are extremely sharp and, like you say, keep an edge longer. This advantage is also their drawback as their hardness makes them more brittle and prone to chipping/breaking. They are a specific use kind of knife. I've seen good reviews for the Kyocera and Asahi brands.

As for steel knives, I do all mine & my children's kitchen knife sharpening. I use the Edge Pro system. A bit time consuming, but does a fine job.

[taters]

I have a ceramic knife. I paid $200 for it. It does retain it's sharpness but

I find myself using my wustoff chefs knife

Most of the time. It just feels better in my hand. My

Next knife will be a shun.

[notacop]

Well, bunky, a friend gave me a smaller ceramic knife to bring home to the wifey for cutting tomatoes. Seems that certain foods with that firm skin cut well with a serrated edge. One can cut a tomato with ease in very thin slices. The control is great.

We have a Kyocera with a 5" blade. I used it on the Turkey yesterday because it got a bit over cooked and I was making dust out of the breast meat using a Henkle carving knife we had just run over the sharpening steel. That one I just checked and I need to dress the blade more.

Anyway, the ceramics are wonderful and make short work of whatever you put them to. Watching Ming on PBS you'll notice he uses ceramics a lot.

Pricey but a boon to Kitchen fun.

[Selden]

Ceramic knives aren't recommended for things like carving poultry; it's too easy to tweak the blade against some bone, or a joint, and end up with a shattered knife. They require different care than steel (always use a cutting board, use for slicing, not chopping, DON'T DROP). I guess the problem that I have with the concept is that, for all practical purposes, a ceramic blade can't be re-sharpened, and no matter how much care you take, eventually the thing is going to start losing its edge.

 

I've been using a Chef's Choice sharpener for about 20 years. It gives a great edge to all my knives, and if I want a razor edge, I use a cloth buffing wheel and some metal polish. My test for sharpness is shaving the hair off my forearm.

 

I picked up an inexpensive 3" ceramic paring knife from Harbor Freight last month, and wasn't particularly impressed. It failed the forearm shaving test, and felt awfully light, although it did a nice job slicing onions, peppers, and fruit. It was an interesting novelty, but I ended up giving it to my daughter, rather than adding it to my kitchen tools. I would have much higher expectations of a Kyocera blade, and might have a different opinion, had I started with a more expensive knife.

 

I guess I'm hopelessly traditional, and prefer the heft, flex, and versatility of a good forged steel blade. If you have a good sharpener and know how to use it, a steel blade is a wonderful tool.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

I tried one, in a Santuko pattern, a few years ago. It held its edge well, cut anything I asked it to and wasn't really the delicate flower some would have you believe.

 

My gripes;

It was really only good for slicing and didn't do a good job on chopping.

It was way too light in the front and required extra fingers along the side of the blade to provide good guidance.

The Santuko pattern is not really to my liking as there is too much blade for slicing thick things like an eggplant. The blade, for me, needs to enter and get out of the way.

 

After all these years, I still prefer my Henckels or Wusthof knives (I have sets of both). I prefer the handle on the Wusthof 8" chef's knife and the handle on the utility knives from Henckels. Go figure.

 

I use a Chinese knife for most of my heavy chopping needs and really like the way it rocks for things like mincing garlic or parsley. The fact that I don't need to stop and pick up my dough scraper after to get the stuff into a pan or dish is a bonus as well.

[Lynn]

I had a ceramic knife that I loved when I had it. Amazingly sharp knife that held an edge wonderfully. It wasn't my favorite knife, but it was great when it was called for.

 

Until I accidentally dropped the thing in my sink while I was washing it. It got chipped and was ruined. My own fault for dropping it...but it made me more than happy to spend my money on steel blades going forward. At least if (when) I drop one again, it won't be ruined. I will put up with the ongoing task of keeping them sharp in order to get the upside of not being ruined by a slip of the fingers.

 

[Selden]

I guess the problem that I have with the concept is that, for all practical purposes, a ceramic blade can't be re-sharpened, and no matter how much care you take, eventually the thing is going to start losing its edge.

New information from a Kyocera knife description on Amazon:

The only service of its kind available, Kyocera provides FREE knife sharpening. Customers send their knives (unlimited) to our Southern California address, paying only for shipping & handling, to get their knives professionally sharpened back to a factory edge. Each knife goes through a proprietary 5-step sharpening process on a diamond wheel and diamond belt since diamond is the only material harder than zirconium oxide. Chefs and customers get their knives back in 7-10 days as sharp or sharper than out of the box.

So, the re-sharpening objection can be put to rest. I still think I'll save my shekels for motorcycle maintenance.

[bmw_rider]

I have a Kyocera that I received as a gift. I enjoy using it, and actually requested other sizes (none have arrived to my hand as yet). That was before I knew the cost. I'll not be buying any anytime soon. You don't want to just be throwing it in a draw with other implements- no doubt a knick will occur.

 

I was aware Kyocera provides sharpening, but wasn't aware of it being 'free'.

 

That being said - I haven't retired any old blades from the kitchen and regularly sharpen them prior to use.

[Twisties]

Haven't tried ceramic. We like our oxo Good Grips Pro set. Inexpensive, well balanced, top quality. These are a pleasure to use. Ours about 15 years old, and look like new. Of course, I don't let them into the dishwasher.

 

oxo Good Grips Pro

 

We use the Chef's Choice three stage sharpening system. Like Model 110 on this page.

 

It's about ten years old and works fine still. I think sharpening steels are completely worthless.

 

We use Chicago Cutlery steak knives. Like these.

 

Be sure you get non-serrated steak knives.

 

This system works well for us and is a good value.

 

 

[Mike]

I've only used small (paring) ceramic knives. Last week I was in our local Sur la Table store and asked their resident knife expert, who teaches knife skills (cooking, not combatives) about their ceramics. She opined that, while the ceramics can be sharp, they're essentially disposables because of the difficulties in sharpening them and their susceptibility to chipping and breakage. She also noted--and this is much more subjective--that the heft of a steel knife just feels better to her.

 

I've got a couple of really good knives and a collection of second tier knives (all Henckels), and find that my Henckels 8" Santoku is the knife I use time after time after time, for nearly everything. The santokus don't give you the rocking motion of a chef's knife, which is helpful to those who end up cutting veggies all day, but the size, design, and leverage are perfect for someone like me, who's definitely an amateur cook.

[Lynn]

I've only used small (paring) ceramic knives. Last week I was in our local Sur la Table store and asked their resident knife expert, who teaches knife skills (cooking, not combatives) about their ceramics. She opined that, while the ceramics can be sharp, they're essentially disposables because of the difficulties in sharpening them and their susceptibility to chipping and breakage. She also noted--and this is much more subjective--that the heft of a steel knife just feels better to her.

 

I like the feel of a steel knife better than I liked my ceramic as well. Although, to a large degree, I just think that is about what you are used to. I also have a Forschner chef's knife (the one Cook's Illustrated consistently recommends). It is sharp, light, and everything they said it was. But I don't like it because I am used to a heavier forged knife, and it just feels too light in my hand. I am just glad it was a cheap experiment-but I won't buy another. I just can't get used to it.

[Couchrocket]

I have Shuns and Kyocera ceramics.

 

For fine dicing, slicing, etc. of veggies ( on good cutting surface like your bamboo ) the ceramics are wonderful. Their light weight and blade thinness is an advantage in this use. They are worth adding to the stable for that alone. IMO.

 

But, the cautions re careful use, chipping, poor tolerance for torsional loads, brittleness, etc. don't make them substitutes for good metal knives.

 

I carry a little titanium / ceramic "gentleman's knife" made by Boker that I absolutely love. Use it for zipping open letters, boxes, cutting up apples etc.

Have not had to sharpen it in 10 years & could still easily shave with it.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Looking at Kyocera ceramic knives. They have two different groups of knives, the Revolution series and the Damascus series. Are the Damascus-series knives "better" in a way that merits 3X the price of a similarly sized/styled Revolution knife?

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Thanks for all the input from folks here. For Christmas I asked for, and received, a Kyocera ceramic chef's knife:

 

 

The lightness of the blade is unusual, but not annoying to me at all. It is insanely sharp; I thought I was doing a good job of putting an edge on my old knives, but cripes, this thing is far sharper right out of the box. So far, I like it a lot. I hardly ever deal with bone-in meats, so this knife will receive a lot of use.

 

Also received an electric ceramic knife sharpener, which claims to be capable of removing small nicks from the edge of the knife as well as putting a fresh edge on it. Hopefully I won't have to use it for quite some time.

[Mike]

Cool. I'll be interested in hearing how you feel about it after using it for a while.