Best Ceramic Knives [Steel vs Ceramic] 50 Knives Tested

Today we’re going to be reviewing ceramic knives seen around for a while now and we’re here to see if they are something that’s worth having in your kitchen. We’ve got two classes of knives here that we’re reviewing today the one kind is standalone knives that aim to be just a regular part of your kitchen. Replacing or supplementing your regular steel knives for example we’ve got the Kyocera advance here at $77. That aims to be your number one knife for fruits vegetables and boneless meat. According to all the manufacturers you cannot use these to cut bones but we’ll see how it handles.

On the other side, we’ve got a bunch of inexpensive knives sets the kind that you might use if you’re trying to furnish a summer rental or maybe if you own an Airbnb and you want to provide knives but you don’t want to have to be replacing them all the time or worry that your clients are going to break them. We’ve got a wide variety of knife sets in the range of about 20 to 40 dollars. They can get you that claim they can get you everything you need to compare them all. We’ve got some steel knives in similar categories like the Victorinox santoku here to compare against our standalone knives or a very popular Cuisineart ceramic coated steel set to compare to our knife sets. So stick around and we’ll see what these knives can do.

All right it’s time to run these through their tests we’ve got a nice full lineup today first off we’re just going to try them out get a feel for the handles to get a feel for the blades check the balance check the weight see whether this is something we want to use by chopping up some carrots so we’ll cut some coins we’ll do some dicing and generally see is this something that I’m willing to use all the time. After that we’ll roll into a more difficult test with some acorn squash I’m going to try cutting these in half I got some worries about some of these short ones here but we’ll see what they can do if they can handle the big tough skin of acorn squash. After that we’re going to simulate using them for the better part of a year we’ve got a nice piece of ceramic tile which they which the manufacturers explicitly say you shouldn’t cut on so we’re going to use that. We’re going to scrape them up real good and then try them out on a pineapple first that’s going to test whether we can get through the tough pineapple skin but it’s also going to see if they can follow the kind of complicated curve while making a tough cut.

Finally, we’re going to see how they do at a more delicate test with some tomatoes. We’ll try a slice as is then we’ll dull them up again to give them the experience of another year or so of getting beaten around and then cut another slice to see how they degrade over time. Once we’ve got all that we should have a pretty good picture of what knives you might want to have in your kitchen. Okay, we’re back here for cookware junkies after a full day of testing ceramic knives I am pleased to say that I do not have any cuts on my hands whatsoever despite some pretty dodgy knives you don’t want to be cutting on the acorn squash on some of these. They are more likely to cut you than the squash but moving up to the top we’ve got our standalone knives the ones that want to be your number one knife and your number one knife out of this group is the Kyocera Advanced this is $77.

It is I would say the absolute flagship best ceramic knife out there. It is super duper sharp even after a hundred strokes on the tile which took down a lot of the others in our test. It made basically no difference it is super sharp super light and it does an amazing job all the way through. We compared it to our test to our control group here the Victorinox steel and it was equal or better all the way but much much better at staying sharp in the face of getting dulled against the tile. Where the Victorinox really fell down the Kyocera kept ongoing so it is a solid knife that could easily be part of your main kitchen for a lot less money. We also like the Sendaist at only $13 this worked its way through all of our tests doing reasonably well the whole way through a solid b plus effort all the way around but for thirteen dollars this is an eminently reasonable knife to add to your collection uh the only problems with it is it’s a bit small and it has the handle problem that we’ve seen in a lot of these where the blade is too small for the handle. When you wrap around it no matter what grip you choose your knuckles will always stick out the bottom of the knife and wrap against your cutting board it’s a bit of a problem but this is a solid addition to your kitchen for a very reasonable price.

Also right up there is the Kitchen Emperor which started off great and has a wonderful form factor and a great handle but it really couldn’t hold up to getting dulled against the tile but at twenty dollars you could probably afford to you know get a couple of these and sort of work your way through them. It’s a good knife for the money and I’d be hard-pressed to find a better one at the price. Well unless it’s a Sendaist which is less we did try grabbing one that you can just grab at your local grocery store in the checkout aisle that’s be the Farberware here and that really did not do well for the good stuff it looks like you’re going to have to go online or to a specialty store you can’t just hit up the checkout aisle.

Now when it came to the sets we found a few winners that could be good could be a good choice for your summer rental or maybe just starting a place out. I would say that our favorite here was Shenzhen. This is a set of three knives you have a six-inch chef’s knife a five-inch utility knife and a four-inch paring knife in the set. They are good and sharp they held up pretty well to all of our trials and the whole way through they were comfortable to work with. You were able to get a good grip on them there’s enough room at the bot at the bottom that you could get your knuckles under the handle and they were generally pleasant to use and at thirty dollars for a set of three, this would be a great way to make it through summer. Also very good the Takiup. This is a set of six for twenty-six dollars similarly you have a relatively good handle you have I don’t especially like the particular size of the knife. Here in comparison to space under the handle, you get the same problem where you kind of wrap your knuckles on the board plus it can kind of get difficult to get a good grip if you like a pinch grip here but uh they cut very well. They held up to our durability challenges and we’re generally very good especially at the tomato test where this just sliced right through beautifully even after 100 strokes on the tile.

In the middle are a lot of sets you have a lot of extremely average knives for about twenty to thirty dollars per piece a set but the ones to avoid. We really did not like the Raku’s. This was twenty-seven dollars for a set of two they were incredibly small they didn’t cut anything especially well and including just mushing the tomato to pieces. It’s really too bad here had high hopes for this set. Here the Wacool not cool this was a set of three for twenty dollars and they too did not do anything especially well. They were not terribly good on the carrots they had a lot of trouble with the pineapple and it really felt like they kind of steered a little bit to the right on every cut which I cannot explain at all. But we each experienced that the Homsport. Is notable for coming with a phenomenally ugly knife stand so that you can display your poor taste to the entire world in both style and substance. These knives were not especially good for anything they’re especially notable for this really tricky spot down here at the bottom you’ll notice right here the cutting edge extends all the way to the corner of our best knives like say the kitchen emperor here has a little ricasso at the back here. There’s a place for your finger for your fingers to rest and not have to worry about getting cut not so for the Homsport and some of our other losers that have a perfectly sharp corner right here where your finger has to sit.

No matter what the big question that we started with on this whole thing is a ceramic knife worthwhile thing to have around got to give it a maybe. They’re extremely non-stick they don’t stick to anything they retain their edge very well compared to our steel knives. All of our steel knives were absolutely destroyed by the tile. There was they went from you know has a very good cut on the tomato to barely being able to mush it. They’re easy to maintain they’re lightweight and they’re rust-proof. If you’re the sort of person who likes to leave your knives coated in saltwater and left to sit outside for a while these might just be for you. One problem that we’ve heard reported with ceramic knives is that they have a tendency to shatter. I’m sure that they can and do but we took him outside dropped him on the concrete from about five feet up and while the kitchen emperor lost its point that was the only damage and that was dropping at point first. Any knife would lose its point if you dropped on concrete from five feet up. So I’d have to say that performed about as well as it reasonably could.

The downside of the ceramic knives they are only for vegetables, fruits, and boneless meat. You can’t cut through bone with these you can’t use them to crush you can’t use them for anything that requires prying or jiggling or anything like that. So they’re more limited than steel knives. The Kyocera is extremely good and I would not mind having this around as an extra knife for doing bed for doing vegetable prep it would be a really good companion to my good chef’s knife but $77 is a little much for a companion knife that’s not my number one. However like say the Sendaist this is a pretty good thing to have a ranch and if you are looking to just grab a cheap set for a limited amount of time a ceramic knife set is definitely the way to go. All of our sets held up better against wear and tear than say the Cuisineart or the amazon basics and some of our best ones like the Shenzhen are really solid performers for a reasonable price.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a very good knife and you’re a vegetarian and you want something lightweight you might have to be really happy with Kyocera Advanced, If you’re looking for something extra to supplement your regular knives the Sendaist for 13 is a very fine knife that you could find very useful and if you’re looking to outfit a home for a short amount of time for a reasonable price the Shenzhen could get you all the way through.

Ceramic Knives Tested

Homsport (Set): https://amzn.to/3jPvgQM

Imori (Set): https://amzn.to/37gaFQv

Kyocera 7”: https://amzn.to/2NsyihX

Farberware 5”: https://amzn.to/3ph996R

Farberware 3”: https://amzn.to/3b0V9cs

Raku (Set): https://amzn.to/3b5nE91

Shenzhen (Set): https://amzn.to/37ibkRI

T-Fal Zen 6”: https://amzn.to/3b4U8QK

Kitchen Emperor 8”: https://amzn.to/37d6cOs

Sendaist Pro 6”: https://amzn.to/2NmxhYB

Takiup (Set): https://amzn.to/3psiysE