Caring For and Storing Your Cutlery

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KitchenAid Ceramic Cutlery Use and Care

Ceramic knives maintain sharpness longer than steel knives, and are lightweight and rust-resistant. They also won’t transfer smells or tastes while cutting different foods, making them great for meal prep. Rinse the blade with water after chopping garlic or spices, and the flavor won’t mix with the next food you cut. Acidic foods won’t damage ceramic blades, so they are also perfect for cutting oranges, tomatoes, and other soft fruits and vegetables. These essential knives are a great addition to any kitchen, and it is important to properly use and care for them, so they continue to deliver excellent results.

Proper Use

Choosing the right knife will help you accomplish tasks more efficiently, cut correctly, and can improve the texture of your food by preventing bruising of fruits and vegetables and the tearing of meats. Refer to the following when choosing a knife:

Chef Knife: The chef knife is excellent for chopping, mincing, and slicing vegetables and meat.
Slicing Knife: The slicing knife is great for carving roasts, turkey, ham, or other cooked meats into serving portions, and can also be used for chopping, mincing, or slicing vegetables.
Bread Knife: The bread knife cuts through soft-crusted breads and pastries with ease, and is also great for pineapples, melons, or other citrus fruits that have a thick skin or rind.
Santoku Knife: This multipurpose knife minces, dices, and slices small vegetables.
Utility Knife: This multi-use knife is great for cutting sandwiches, slicing smaller cuts of meat, and cutting larger fruits.
Serrated Utility Knife: The serrated utility knife is perfect for slicing fruits, vegetables, smaller breads, and more. It is especially effective for tomatoes, salami, croissants, or any small foods with a hard crust or skin.
Paring Knife: This knife is handy for smaller precision tasks like peeling, trimming, and slicing small fruits and vegetables.
Kitchen Shears: These are great for multiple uses around the home and can be used to cut up meat, remove thyme leaves, snip through breads or pizza, and many more kitchen tasks.
Cleaver: The cleaver is designed to easily carve through tough or tender meat and dense vegetables with one downward stroke.
Serrated Paring Knife: The serrated paring knife is ideal for small, everyday food-prep needs, from cutting delicate fruit to slicing up a snack.
Steak Knife: Steak knives are designed to easily cut a variety of cooked meats.

Avoiding Damage

Ceramic blades are not intended for use with frozen foods, large, hard-skinned fruits and vegetables such as watermelon or spaghetti squash, hard cheeses, or meat and poultry with bones.

Do not use knives as a screwdriver or can opener; this could damage the blade. Do not drop or hit the knife on hard surfaces. Do not use for prying, twisting, or applying force to the side of the blade board.

Cutting Surfaces

Use smooth, easy-to-clean cutting surfaces such as wood, polypropylene, or polyethylene cutting boards. Do not use knives on hard surfaces that can dull or damage the cutting edge, such as glass, stone, ceramic, metal, or countertops.

Cleaning Cutlery

Ceramic cutlery is guaranteed to be dishwasher safe and rust- and corrosion-free for the lifetime of the product.

Sharpening Cutlery

KitchenAid® ceramic knives should not require regular sharpening due to their stay-sharp properties; however, they must be professionally sharpened as necessary to avoid chipping the blade.

Caring For and Storing Your Cutlery

KitchenAid® cutlery is durable, versatile, and a great addition to any kitchen. It is important to properly clean, sharpen, and store your knives, so they continue to deliver excellent results.

Washing Cutlery

Although KitchenAid® stainless steel and ceramic knives are top-rack dishwasher safe; handwashing is recommended to extend the life of your cutlery. Wood-handled cutlery should always be hand washed, as cleaning in the dishwasher can cause permanent damage to the natural wood handles.

Sharpening Cutlery

It is important to sharpen knives periodically to maintain maximum performance and keep blades from becoming dull. Our storage blocks feature a built-in sharpener for convenient, effortless sharpening. We recommend the following when sharpening stainless steel blades:

Place the heel of the blade in the built-in sharpener, then pull it through with slight downward pressure–do not go back and forth. Repeat until desired sharpness is achieved.
After sharpening, hand-wash knives with warm water and a mild detergent to remove shavings; rinse and dry immediately.

NOTE: Knives with serrated edges, ceramic knives, and wood-handled knives must be professionally sharpened.

Storing Cutlery

Ensure all knives are thoroughly cleaned and dried before storing them in knife blocks or drawers. To maintain the beauty of your cutlery and to keep your kitchen organized, store cutlery in the included knife block when not in use. For storage in drawers, securely place blade covers on knives to avoid damage.