Bodum Bistro Ceramic 17 cm-6.5" Santoku Knife

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I am an avid home cook, and have been reading about knives for a while. From what I understand, there are basically three alternatives:

Carbon steel knives don't hold their edge for long at all, but are easy to re-sharpen to a very fine edge.

Stainless steel knives hold their edge longer, but are harder to re-sharpen.

Ceramic knives hold their edge longest, but are most difficult to resharpen. Also, ceramic knives are fragile enough that you don't want to drop one, put it in the dishwasher where it might bang against other implements, or cut meat with bones, for fear of breaking or chipping the blade.

Like most home cooks, I've been making do with stainless steel for a while, but I was excited to get the chance to try and review a ceramic knife. Basically, this knife has worked well for me, and it's become my "go-to" knife for slicing and dicing vegetables. It's very sharp, and works fast. It slices cleanly and dices quickly. I like that it comes with a plastic sheath, since I was worried about putting a knife this sharp and this fragile in a drawer.

The Bodum santoku wasn't as revolutionary for me as for some reviewers -it's a little sharper than my chef's knife, but I can't slice much thinner or much faster, just a little better in both cases.

I didn't have the loose blade problem or the balance problems that some of the other reviewers experienced, but the blade problem is a concern. I assume Bodum will fix this in future models -if you are reading this review in the future, I would look for at least a few months of consistently good reviews.

Lastly, be careful -this thing is sharp. I had to warn my kids, who saw the white blade and bright colors and assumed that this knife was safer for young hands than Dad's shinier knives, but haven't had any other problems.

Update 9/30/11: Well, it was fun while it lasted -I ended up taking a chip out of my knife when breaking down a peach last week. It was my fault, not the knife's; I had been warned not to cut meat with bones, and on reflection, stone fruit like a peach is at least as risky. The knife must have chipped on the pit. On the other hand, it held its edge and remained my primary knife for fruit and vegetable chopping for nine months. On the gripping hand, I'm going back to my stainless steel chef's knife rather than buying a new one, so I suppose that while this was nice, it's not nice enough to make me want a replacement enough to pay for one.

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program It's not a real santoku knife, it's between a santoku and a western chef's knife. It's not as thin, and the added ridges are supposed to help food not stick to it i guess.

I have metal chef's knife, but after I got a metal santoku knife I started using the chef's knife less and less. I really liked the thinner blade and just the way it worked.

After getting this knife, and not seeing much difference (and it feeling very blade heavy), I got a kyocera ceramic knife as well for comparison because i didn't know if those were characteristics of all ceramic knives or just this knife.

Basically i think the Bodum and the Kyocera are competing in the same space so I will make the comparison.

-Bodum is not balanced, blade is a lot heavier than the handle, but this makes little difference when using the knife (Kyocera is balanced).

-The handle on Bodum is really really nice and nonslip (better than any I have used).

-The Bodum blade is too thick (thicker that kyocera).

-The corners are not rounded so they may be week an chip (Kyoceral rounds off the corners).

-Can't sharpen knife (Kyocera can be sent to be sharpened for free, and they also sell sharpeners).

-Handle colors make it look like a toy for kids.

-Included sheath is really a nice touch (Kyocera didn't include).

So I don't think I can recommend this knife. It's not bad but there are better out there.

EDIT (Nov 2011):

I hate this knife. I can't get over the bad balance and that it takes so much effort to cut (since it's thick at the spine). It's still in my kitchen but I never use it. I have multiple Kyocera ceramic knives which I love.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I opened the box and took out the knife. Bigger than I expected, and interesting looking... I put the knife into its enclosed plastic sheath. Nice fit. I pulled the sheath back off, and...

The blade came out.

?!

I stood there and stared at it for a second... was it possible this was supposed to happen? Surely a knife this expensive wouldn't fall apart the very first time it was taken out of the box, right? Alas, it's true. The bottom of the knife, the part that's supposed to be in the silicone handle, was covered in dried brown glue, but not in any way sticky. I promise I didn't do anything rough to the knife or pull the sheath off in a rough or reckless manner. Okay, so we weren't off to a good start.

I washed the knife (instructions suggest handwashing in mild detergent. If you must use a dishwasher, make sure the knife can't hit against anything, or it could chip). And in case you were wondering how sharp it is, I managed to slice open two of my fingers while I was washing it. But that could be attributable to my being an idiot. It's deceptive-it looks a lot like plastic, so I kept thinking it couldn't possibly be that sharp. Looked more like a toy than a deadly weapon. Famous last words.

Anyway, it is sharp. I first used it to attack an apple, and found I was able to slice with terrific precision and ease. I could make very thin slices with no "back and forth" dragging action. I never owned a knife that felt as precise as this one. The handle has a good grip (made of silicone) and is not as bright green as it appeared on my screen.

Then I tried it on Italian bread, and it did not fare well. Took a lot of "sawing" to break through the crust, and then flattened the bread as I cut through. But this knife is not meant for bread, specifically. It's meant for meat, vegetables, and herbs. And for those purposes, it does cut quite well.

So I'm left with a mixed review-I sure wouldn't be happy to spend the retail price and then have the darn thing fall out of its handle, but I think the blade itself and the design are good.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This knife is extremely sharp, has good balance and a grip that feel good in your hand. Unfortunately, the tip broke off on the 3rd use while trying to cut chicken breasts on a wooden cutting board. I contacted Bodum customer service and they told me to send an email and photo to their sales department. I did that and 2 weeks later, I have not heard back. I sent it a 2nd time and we'll see if they get back to me this time.

I also own a set of Kyocrea ceramic knives and so far they have not chipped. However, Kyocrea rounds off the tip, so maybe Bodum should consider doing the same.

I do like Bodum and I have purchased other products from them. I especially like their citrus juicer. But based on the fact that it chipped so easily and also because customer service seemed lax on this issue, I can't give the product more than 3 stars.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program In terms of looking at this item and determining does it do the basic job, the answer is yes, but that doesn't tell the whole story. The blade is plenty sharp (though if it loses its edge, it may be harder to sharpen than steel would be) but the balance feels, well, off. Without having seen Alton Brown (Good Eats: The Complete First Season), I knew enough about handling knives to know that if a knife doesn't feel right and doesn't feel balanced when handling it, you are likely not going to be using it as efficiently as you could. You may strain your muscles more than you would otherwise have to and not be able to make the knife cut as easily as you would hope.

Beyond that issue though, the handle for this knife doesn't seem to be well mated to the blade. In handling this knife, you feel as if the handle might come off with little or no effort. If you aren't careful you could literally have the knife blade go flying out of your hands. Personally, that doesn't inspire confidence in being able to rely on one of these knives on a regular basis.

If the manufacturer made some improvements, I could see this item becoming more highly rated. For now, I'd advise caution and would probably recommend looking at other similar items.

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