I remember first seeing a ceramic knife being used on a favorite cooking show I used to watch about 10 or so years ago, and at the time, I thought it would take off and become more popular, but it seems like not many people have adopted it at all since until now I rarely see ceramic knives being used by anyone on TV nor do I see any other regular folks using it. Admittedly, however, I don't really know much about its advantages and I mostly just was curious about it and was thinking of buying one because it looks nice, but I'm wondering if there are any more advantages or disadvantages to it that I'm just not seeing. Anyone here who has had experience with ceramic knives? If so, I'd love to hear about your experience and your thoughts on how they perform compared to the more traditional steel knives.
Personally, I'm not a fan. I like a knife with weight. I like a knife with a certain sharpness. I have yet to find a ceramic knife that accomplished this for me. I DO like a ceramic knife for soft cheese and butter though.
I have a couple of Kyocera ceramic knives, and while they are lethally sharp and slice smoothly, I'm timid about using them regularly because I have an irrational fear of breaking them. It feels weird that they're not heavy but ceramic knives are no joke in terms of sharpness, you can really get hurt if you're not careful. The cool thing is that no metallic taste gets transferred to the food. But another thing to consider is that the diamond knife sharpener for Kyocera ceramic knives costs $70. At least the Kyocera knives have a lifetime warranty, so if I do damage one ,they'll repair or replace it.
I was curious about these as well - do they hold their sharpness better than metal or something? Or is it purely an aesthetical thing? Also, it kind of baffles me how you could sharpen a ceramic blade - wouldn't that just wear away the gloss coating of the ceramic itself? That would sort of be like taking sandpaper to a ceramic tile. Are they solid ceramic? Or a metal blade with a ceramic coating - sort of like the ceramic pans?
Ceramic knives are great as long as you don't chip them on accident. They're fairly durable, and they're incredible for chopping and cooking tasks. Still, they're not unbreakable, and a chip is not only unsightly but it hinders the performance of the knife to some degree, too. If you can find these knives on sale at a given store, then they're worth the purchase because they definitely have their place in the kitchen. I wouldn't avoid using a ceramic if it was right there in front of me.
Ceramic knives are good to use on foods that react badly to meal. Like some vegetables will brown when you cut them with metal knives. Ceramic knives chip much easier though.
I had seen that video about ceramic knife on home shopping tv channel. They say it will remain sharp for a lifetime and doesn't need sharpening. However, a friend also mentioned about that chipping, we call that "bungi" to mean the smooth edge has been blemished. And there's also a ceramic pan and pot that are non-stick. Those ceramic kitchen items are so expensive that's why I cannot test it just like that.
