Kyocera Revolution Series Paring and Santoku Knife Set, Black Blade

Summary

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Advantages:

1) The sharpest commercial knife you can purchase

2) Will hold its edge much longer than carbon or stainless steel knives

3) Great ergonomics (nice handle and beautiful appearance)

Disadvantages:

1) Brittle blade

2) Can only be sharpened by the manufacturer

Overall:

Buy this set

Detailed information and advice:

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A bit of background information if you are unfamiliar with ceramic knives. There are basically three types of knives you can purchase:

1) High stainless steel knives Fairly sharp, hold their edge well, somewhat difficult to sharpen. These are the knives that you are most likely to purchase at a store. Prices range from very cheap to very expensive (I own a Wusthof set, so I know how expensive they can get).

2) High carbon steel knives Very sharp, dull easily, easy to sharpen. These are the cheapest, easiest to sharpen, and lose their edge the fastest. These also tend to be used by professionals (I managed over 80 "knife hands" early in my career and this is all we used people would dull on average 6 per day).

3) Ceramic knives Supremely sharp, hold their edge practically forever, impossible to sharpen. Expensive, and prone to breaking if not used properly.

Most people purchase high stainless steel knife sets, and these are adequate for general utility. But it's not the best strategy for a well prepared chef to follow. The best approach is to have multiple knives and use them for specialized purposes.

Here's what you should do:

1) Buy this ceramic set. Use it for everything except boning, prying, and crushing. Under no circumstance should you ever use it for boning, as you will likely chip the blade (i.e no knife work that requires any prying or side-to-side motion). Hand wash, and don't drop on your tile floor. They will last you forever and you will wonder why you ever used anything else. (I've owned a 5" ceramic utility for almost 10 years and it still hasn't required sharpening).

2) Go to your local restaurant supply store and buy at several 6" high carbon steel boning knives. They are generally very cheap, and very cheap looking. Use these knives for general cutting and boning. Sharpen them frequently (a quick run over a steel after every use is best).

If you follow this strategy you will be amazed at what you can do with the ceramics, and you will also have the best (and cheapest) boning knives to decrease the chance that you'll ever chip one of your ceramics.

Hope this helps anyone who has stumbled onto this backwater Amazon page in their pursuit of the ultimate knife!

Be very, very careful. These are the sharpest knives I have ever dealt with. I have used it for fish, vegetables, boneless meats, and cheeses. You can make cuts as thin as you want, and the consistency of the cut is amazing. This set is a good introduction, and I am so happy with it that I plan on getting some of the other knives over time. The knives cut well and are very easy to clean...what else could you want?

Buy Kyocera Revolution Series Paring and Santoku Knife Set, Black Blade Now

I bought this set and the chef's knife. All three cut like a dream. I still am a little too cautious of the ceramic blades. And I don't leave them out due to my fear that someone will carelessly use them on my granite counter tops or use them to pry, twist, or in some other way use and destroy them. When I cook and have friends over they will be conversation items as some of my fiends are equally adept in the kitchen. So why the four star rating. The blades are great, but the light weight, plastic molded handles with an obvious mold seam, look and feel cheap. For the price and the blade quality why are the handles pieces of poorly molded/trimmed plastic? Love the blades, but really hate the handles

Read Best Reviews of Kyocera Revolution Series Paring and Santoku Knife Set, Black Blade Here

I purchased this set with high expectations, looking for an exceptionally sharp pair of knives to help make cooking a bit easier and more fun. In all I'm only moderately satisfied with these knives.

1) Sharpness: I was expecting the sharpest knives out there. They are indeed sharp, and right on par my regularly sharpened basic knife set. However, when it comes to true tests of sharpness these have let me down a bit. When cutting a tomato for example, I have to saw a bit to get the knife through the fruit. And with the classic "paper test" gently running the knife down a sheet of paper grabs at it before slicing in a half tear uneven fashion. I was happy to have the slightly above average sharpness, if only for its durability and not needing to sharpen as often. Then I purchased a Shun Premiere 8" chef's knife and the difference is night and day. These were supposed to be the sharper knives but the Shun is the one sliding gently through the tomato, whispering through a sheet of paper and nicking off hairs on the sponge when cleaned. I doubt that all of these reviews could be wrong, but I bet that the factory sharpening on these knives was average and I should send them in for a tune-up.

2) Feel: The handle is cheap and light plastic, not at all appropriate for knives that are attempting to be higher end. My hands slip a bit on them and it is hard to get optimal leverage on the knife for cutting tasks. It works just fine, but the balance just doesn't feel completely natural and I often find myself reaching for other knives that are a bit more comfortable.

3) Heft: These are the lightest knives I've ever owned. When I began my search for a new set of kitchen knives I think that I concentrated too much on sharpness. I'm sure that these have the potential to be amazingly sharp, however the light weight forces me to supply all of the force during cutting so even with a sharp edge the knife can't glide through the object but has to be pushed.

In sum, I'm using my Shun 8" chef knife for most of the kitchen tasks, with the Kyocera paring knife when a smaller blade is needed. I'll be sending these in for the ceramic sharpening when I can get around to it and hope to see some of that class-leading sharpness I was initially expecting.

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Wow, these ceramic knives really are different and very useful. I bought this set in July, and to tell the truth I've only used the paring knife, as I learn about where I like to use them. My other Santoku knives are pretty good and I didn't do much prep in the kitchen over the summer.

OK so as they recommend these knives are somewhat restrained to straight cuts, but that is most of the food prep activity anyway. They take special care, and I am worried about what I'm going to do when they need sharpening, I'm so lazy when it come to sending stuff away for service.

While they are sharp though I have found the blade to be PERFECT for tomatoes and other vegetables, tomatoes are a high spot though. Another unexpected use is bread; slicing into a roll with these is nicer and easier than a serrated knife and creates a much nicer cut. Love it!

I have not been so excited about it with raw meat, but I need to experiment here a bit more. The one place I found it really didn't work that well was with cheese, especially the soft cheddar. It has no problem cutting, but the cheese sticks hard to the blade so it's difficult to complete the slice.

I really do like the ceramic knife, and the fact that they work different than the metal blades on some material is a bonus. If you have visitors or people who don't really appreciate kitchen tools, it's best to tell them these are off limits to them.

Happy Slicing!

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