Product Review: Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Chef’s Knife

The Ranting Chef does not get paid or receive any revenue from manufactures or retailers of products reviewed. I occasionally receive products that I am asked to use and see what I think. I take a look, try them out and tell you all about them.

A box arrived the other day.

Inside was something from Kyocera.

Inside was the 6″ Chef’s Knife.

Let me first start with the handle. The plastic handle is designed to fit the natural curves of your hand to make it easy to grip without much effort.

The blade, which looks silver in some of these photos is really black. There is more than the color that is different about this blade, it is ceramic. I had read about and heard about ceramic knives in the past, but this was my first opportunity to try one.

A ceramic blade is built to achieve and keep sharpness. Made from high-tech ceramic called zirconium oxide, it is extremely hard, wear resistant, and chemically inert. I decided to chop a few carrots as a first test. I held the knife in my hand and prepared to have to really push hard to slice the hard carrot. It slid through with very little effort.

It was a breeze to cut over and over. Ad the ceramic blade is much lighter than steel, if you are doing a lot of prep work, it will keep your hand from getting as tired.

An onion? No problem. The non-reactive blade means that it won’t impart any metal taste with even the most acidic foods. It also won’t rust.

Delicate chopping of herbs? Easy. The blade is designed to go years without sharpening. When it does need it, you will need to send it off because sharpeners designed for steel blades will harm this ceramic one.

Ceramic has some advantages over steel:

• It can be made sharper with a thinner blade edge (important for really thin cuts)
• It retains its sharpness longer than steel
• It is lighter in the hand so reduces fatigue

It seems like it is a no brainer to go to ceramic, right? For many cases, that would be right. Here are some things to think about:

• You likely cannot sharpen it at home (Kyocera offers a pretty reasonable service for their knives)
• While it is sharper, the material is not as hard. You should not use ceramic knifes when it is likely to come into contact with bone as the blade could chip. This also means you need to be more careful in its storage (don’t throw it in a drawer with steel knives) and don’t drop it in the sink.

My Take: I have to admit that when I picked up the knife and felt how light it was, I thought it was just not going to cut well. In my past, big heavy knives chopped well and light ones did not. The first cut of that carrot I was prepared to push down hard to make the blade go through, but it cut through like butter. The next cut was just as smooth. By the time I was on my second carrot, the blade was dancing through the vegetables. The knife feels good in my hand and I love the fact that it will not need sharpening for some time. If you haven’t used a ceramic knife before, you should check out the Kyocera ceramic knives. The 6″ Chef’s Knife and all of their other advanced ceramic knives can be purchased here.