Has anyone used Cheap ceramic kitchen knives?

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: milly
From last year I have used the ceramic knife,and i found that the knife is very easy to use,at the same time i also recommend my other friends to use the knife,i remember I bought the knife on Pandawill,in the last two days I found more kinds of knives are provided there,if you are interested in.please check

http://www.pandawill.com/index.php?main_...on=0&page=4


Hey Milly, just stopped by to bring up a 6 month old topic to tell us about your website as a public service? Want to stick around and discuss automotive related stuff?

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: rg200amp
Originally Posted By: mcrn
All I can say is people get hurt and cut themselves more with cheap dull knives than with a decent sharp knife. However I have no experience with the knives you are asking about. If you want a good cheaper Chefs knife I can recommend Forschner. They are good and not expensive like the top German knives. I worked in a kitchen for 8 years and saw the damage from cheap dull knives. Again I have no experience with these but I do with the Forschners.


Major +1

Insted of going out and buying a set a walmart, save for a month or two and get these:
http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=13227&view=a

Great starter knife set, that you will be able to pass on to your kids if you take care of them.
My dad gave me his Henckels, and I bought these to use everyday.
Buy J.A. Henckels or nothing!

OMG
the poster was asking about knives that cost less than $20, and you link up something that retails at $600?!?!!!!

"I'm looking at a car to get from A to B. I'm thinking of buying a Cobalt, there's a great dealer incentive on them this week."

"Save for a few more months and buy yourself a Cadillac CTS-V."

 

[djb]

Since this was brought back from the dead with an advertising message, we might as well dilute that message.

Almost no one answered the original question, instead saying "buy these (much more expensive) knives instead".

My basic kitchen set is Henckels 4-Star forged knives. But, just like a tool box, there is a generous mix of non-matching knives. So I have a little bit of experience.

10 or 20 years ago the choice was easy but expensive. Good forged knifes came from Germany. The differences were minor, although there was heavy buy-in with brand loyalty. If you had more money, you could always pay more for different handles on the same basic blade.

There are now a bunch of inexpensive Chinese forged knives available. I've found that some of these are pretty good at holding an edge. They do better than more costly stamped steel knives, but perhaps not quite as good as the German forged knives. They turned into my go-to knives when there might be a little abuse involved, so it's not really a far comparison, but they are clearly a better value.

I use one of the new, cheap ceramic knives at a friend's house. It is sharp, but it's still new. I was much more cautious than with regular knives, for fear it would break -- something left over from using $200 Japanese ceramic knives.

It's probably not the type of knife for me, since I enjoy using a steel. But it's just the right thing for my GF who never uses a steel, leaves her knives touching other metal in the sink, and has them professionally sharpened (??) once or twice a year.

Bottom line is that these seem like pretty good knives, worth considering, and I wouldn't recommend old-school expensive German forged knives to someone that already know they want them.

 

[Vikas]

I had to burn off some CVS funny dollars. I purchased "as seen on TV" Yoshi cermaic knife and peeler set for $20. It is incredibly sharp. I have not experience with any high end knives, so take it for whatever it is worth.

- Vikas

 

[Mr_Incredible]

After living with the ceramic knife we got for a while, I am not impressed with its (non)longevity. The edge is too thin and brittle for me. I'm not a gorilla with knives but the edge just doesn't have any guts. It's possible to sharpen it on a diamond hone but the edge will fracture easily.

Still, that was one sharp sumbish when we first got it...

 

[barlowc]

I see the Henckles name mentioned a few times. I was looking at these the other day:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=11272711

They're not the high-quality German Henckles knives and are actually made of stainless steel rather than forged steel. The dishwasher safe aspect is appealing as is the touted "never requires sharpening". (Though I don't really believe in "never".)

I was also looking at these made by Cuisinart:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=16558893

They seem to me they'd be just about as good as the following Calphalon set that costs twice as much:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=14710264

Though I do like Calphalon because I know first-hand that they stand behind their warranty. They replaced an entire set of non-stick cookware that I'd had for 9 years.

I just want a good, basic set of knives that'll last many, many years. And I question spending too much because I've been told that at some point I'll likely have to pay $8 - $10 per knife to have them sharpened. I could buy a whole new set for that.

 

[greenjp]

You really don't need a big set of 10+ knives. Ultimately, you need a chef's knife (heavy ~10" blade) and a paring knife (fine ~4-5" blade). A serrated utility knife (~6") can also be useful, and of course a honing steel is necessary. Get a high quality example of each (Henckle's 4 star or Pro-S, Wusthof, insert fancy Japanese brand) and you'll be way better off than with a big set of $10 apiece knives. A good knife is a joy to use.

As you go you can add knives to the set (cleaver, santuko, carving, bread, etc) but the 3 above will really suffice for almost everything you need to do in the kitchen. And yes you should spend the $8 or so to have them sharpened from time to time - a dull knife is not only a PITA to use, it's also more dangerous. You're more likely to cut yourself and the cut won't be as clean as would a sharp knife's.

jeff