Miyako Ceramic Knives are the latest additions to my collection and my proudest discovery yet. Why? Simply for their 5 star quality at affordable prices.
DETAILS
Miyako Ceramics offer a good selection of ceramic knives. The decision on which ceramic knife to buy was a little difficult. Give a woman too many choices and she will never decide! 😛 I ended up purchasing the gift set directly on their website at www.miyakoceramics.com. The set included a 3 inch paring knife, a 5 inch slicing knife and a 6 inch chef’s knife for $74.99. This was a great deal considering I paid more for my 6 inch Kyocera.
The knives came in a handsome black box with foam insert. The packaging looks more like a gift box and certainly not something I would throw in the trash bin. If I didn’t already have a knife block, I would certainly use the box to store the knives.
Upon opening the box, the first thing to catch my eye were the shiny blades. They’re beautiful! There is a very polished, glossy finish to it with a reflective sheen. This gave the knives a stunning appearance, something I have not seen before in the ceramic knife industry.
The handles on these ceramic knives have a simple ergonomic design, with dips and curves in all the right places. What really caught my attention was the feel of the handle. It has a soft, velvety feel to it. The handle is so comfortable that it seems to disappear in my hands.
PERFORMANCE
With all the oohhs and aahhs of its appearance, I was hoping it wasn’t just another pretty face in the ceramic knife market. I immediately put these knives through daily kitchen duty. Each knife in the 3 piece set had its fair share of work and each one performed exceptionally well. The sharpness of the ceramic knives was quite impressive. It’s on par with my Kyocera’s and sharper than every other ceramic knife I have in my collection. It easily handled everything I tried to cut with it. After 45 days of almost daily use, it has still retained its original sharpness.
THE FINAL VERDICT
Miyako Ceramics’ line of knives is one of the best value you’ll find in this market. They are skimpy on price but not skimpy on quality. It’s obvious that there was a lot of attention put into every small detail of the knives. The glossy blade, soft ergonomic handle and razor edge all add up to a fine piece of cutlery.
While I bought the knife set for its value, I expected nothing more than mediocre ceramic knives. Lo and behold, I was pleasantly surprised to have found a winner. I highly recommend these ceramic knives for anyone looking for a great set of knives that won’t break the bank.
My Miyako ceramic knives are wonderful. I get asked a lot of questions about them. My friends and family are really impressed when they see them.
Can anyone tell me if these ceramic knives ever need sharpenning and if so what do you use.
These are good knives. It does a nice job cutting. This is a bad photo they took, the knives have a shiny surface. Very very georgous.
Most ceramic knives will last a long time before they ever need to be sharpened. I’ve got 3 different ceramic knives and they have not needed any sharpening since I bought it 3 years ago.
great knife. I used it all the time. Thus far it’s stayed sharp.
Sharpening?
Best if you use diamond stones ,water as a lubricant, light to medium pressure and draw the knife towards you. Most of all patience. When I first got my ceramic knife as a present from my daughter to me it wasn’t as sharp as whayt I was led to believe. It felt sharp but my test is will it shave the hair on my arm as all my knives in my cutterly will for that’s they way I sharpen them.
Nope the ceramic knife wouldn’t shave the hair, it cut well tho as long as you used a sawing motion. Two hours later after using my 800 grit diamond stone to start with then my 1200 grit diamond stone for finishing up I had a knife that would do the job.
I use my ceramic knife for everything from veggies to slicing London Broil and I must say the edge holds up very well. I’m impressed.
I will get a bigger one when they come out for I am use to using my 8 inch chefs knife for just about everything and I will invest in a 8 inch chefs knife in ceramic when I find one.
I have been using my ceramic knife now for almost 4 months and I have yet found the need to resharpen it, I have noticed tho a few small slinter chis near the heal of the blade from what who knows for I am very careful stowing them and using them. Dont ever put them in a drawer with other knives, they need to be seperated even from themselves or damage will occure. I made a knife block out of some leftover materials that I had and stow them cutting edge up.
Cutting boards. Wood or soft plasic ONLY. Even the hard plastic cutting boards that are out there are NO GOOD for the ceramic knives, Wood is best by far.
Cleaning… I know a lot of you is gonna frown but all I do is draw it through a folded paper towel once and put it away. Once a week or so I may wash it by hand don’t ever put it in the dishwasher. That alone will destroy any knife.
All in all ceramic knives have a good place in the kitchen but they will never in my eyes replace a good steel knife. Each have thier place. For fruits and veggies ceramic is best, for deboning and slicing meats stick with steel.
Bruce – very insightful. I’d like to also add that between a wood and plastic cutting board, I’d choose a wood one. They are natually resistant to bacteria.
No, that’s a myth when applied to the real world. It’s based on a 1994 University of Wisconsin study by Neese et al. What Neese found was that after 12 hours, it’s harder to find living bacteria on a wooden board than a plastic board. That’s true, and probably results from the fact that wood absorbs moisture, thus depriving the bacteria a wet environment to thrive. Plastic, of course, absorbs nothing. You can see this easily by putting a drop of water on plastic and untreated wood. The drop on the plastic only disappears after evaporation, while most woods will absorb the water.
Here’s the problem: The laboratory experiment doesn’t represent a real kitchen. I don’t know about you but my cutting boards don’t lay incubating in a hot humid environment for 12 hours. I tend to clean them with hot soapy water within 1-2 hours — and I usually rinse the board with hot water right after cutting. In that case, the advantage of moisture absorption by the wood is negligible.
Furthermore, do you really want to have food on a surface that has absorbed blood, raw meat juices and bacteria — and soap? Imagine the residues. You can see this by placing some food coloring on the wooding board; it will soak right in. It all washes off plastic since nothing is absorbed. For extra safety, I sometimes put my board in boiling water or steam it over a boiling pot for a minute or so (simply use the board like a lid over the boiling pot). Or you can simply poor a large pot of boiling water over the board for about 30 secs. Or you can put it in a microwave with a dripping wet towel covering on top. You CANNOT apply harsh chemicals or boiling heat to many wooden boards.
Plastic can also be embedded with the antimicrobial Triclosan (common in actibacterial soaps), although that’s been proven helpful only under long exposure. Again, if you clean your board soon after use, neither wood nor Triclosan offer an advantage.
Lastly, keep in mind that don’t get sick because the bacteria is physically attacking us. We get sick because of the toxins they produce. I don’t feel good about having toxins absorbed into my cutting board.
All in all, if you use a cutting board like you should, plastic is a better choice. It’s easier to degrease, deodorize, clean, sterilize and maintain. And usually cheaper to replace once it becomes too scarred.
May I know is Miyako ceramic knives made in Japan too (like the Kyocera)?
I know some other lower cost ceramic knives were made in China.
My booklet says made in China right on the back.
The knives look something special with that gloss finish. I just hope it does not wear anytime soon.
I use wooden boards exclusively. Glass dulls my knives, and plastic holds dirt in the inevitable scratches and cuts. Plastic boards that have been used onlyn a few times show black lines. These are cuts filled with dirt and germs.Sometimes wooden boards show cuts too, but those chts are almost always clean.
Yeah the gloss finish makes these special. Love these ceramic knives.
What happens if you accidentally drop it. Will it break to pieces? thanks…
CHRISTIANNE LAGURA , it wont fall into pieces, cuz the material is very hard. but the sharp tip may be missing afterwards that you will have to sharp it again.
Yes, ceramic knives are extremely hard and sharp, but also very brittle. This makes them vunerable to chipping, cracking and shattering. The reason for their sharpness is the same as their tendency to chip, crack and shatter.
regarding cutting boards (off topic, i know, but surely of interest to any cooking forum), bryguy, you are wrong. And it isn’t hard to find authoritative links that invalidate your opinion. This one took me two minutes:
http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm
The author specifically defends his conclusions as valid to real world conditions.
And this one:
http://www.fefpeb.org/wood-food/properties-of-wood/antibacterial-effect
And this one:
http://www.wilms.com/Partner/D10627/Presse/wilmshf5920057281.pdf
Clearly, wood is inherently more anti-bacterial than plastic, not only due to surface conditions, but also due to some specific chemical mechanism intrinsic to the wood itself. Naturally, wood must have these properties, to resist infection and rot. The third abstract focussed on the tanins, but I believe the lignins (the compounds that form ash when wood is burned) might also be involved.
This third study also reveals that the topic is somewhat complicated. While all wood species outperformed plastic for both germs studied, by at least 1.5 orders of magnitude, some species were much more effective that others, and E. coli is generally ‘tougher’ than the the other tested.
The study would imply that your best choice, by far, for a cutting board would be pine! To my taste, too soft, unattractive and less durable. The next best, hygienically, and by far best overall, IMO, is oak.
Do I have to rethink my gorgeous, parquet cherry board? 🙂
I absolutely love these knives. Compared to any other brand these really are the best value. I used many different brands. My friend showed me her Seda ceramic knife set. These Miyako knives are far superior.
I use plastic bladed knives on a ceramic chopping board, and i always cut while submerged in a tank of bleach, and i never cut food, i find this removes most bacteria at the source, as there is a 9789% of instant death resulting from the use of wooden chopping boards and ceramic knives I just don’t take the risk. Better dead from ginger than the ravages of a bad tummy eh? To right!
I only used the knife twice to cut up vegetables for a salad and when I washed the knife I found the tip had broken off. I just hoped that I had not swallowed it. I now do not use it in case it breaks more.
Absolutely the Best ceramic knives i have ever used. Slices through tomatoes with ease.
Why nobody still made a ceramic machete? hehe