We received a two knife set as a wedding gift many years ago. This was well before they were common, and it was quite a nice gift. I strongly agree with the "don't buy a knife you can't sharpen" point that folks often make, but ceramic knives do have their niche.

They're great for minimizing oxidation along cuts. E.g. cutting iceberg lettuce and avoiding having the edges turn brown. They're also very lightweight, which is nice for some things, while being bad for others. I'd never use them the way I do my workhorse chef's knife, but there are certainly tasks I prefer them for. Dicing lots of hot peppers comes to mind, oddly enough, as does some very precise and relatively tedious knifework like making very even matchstick cuts for carrots/radishes/etc (the large one has a very wide blade, which is great for this, and is lightweight enough to reduce fatigue).

Overall, I can see why folks like them. It's not really the "no need to sharpen" point. It's more the "lightweight and very thin" part, along with a non-oxidizing edge.

I'm still kind of opposed on principle, I suppose, but I do use the set we were gifted fairly often, despite having some very nice steel cutlery that I'm very fond of. I can't blame anyone for buying them now that they're priced more reasonably than they used to be.

ancient shefield steel knives are thin, and will take an edge that cuts kevlar like cotton.....if needed, but slices ripe tomatoes, etc, perfectly. Paired with an arcansaw green stone they come to an edge fast, perhaps not quite as sharp as ceramic, as I only toyed with one ceramic blade, but in the same range but I find sharpening fun and meditive, so

I haven't used one for food yet, but I picked up a cheap ($35) kyocera as a workshop knife and it's been great; dropped it on concrete and knocked a 1mm² chunk off of the very tip, but the edge is still great after six months of casual abuse (mostly cardboard, rubber, and plastics.)

Leans too far into disposable culture. Even a solid steel knife and a cheap electric sharpener will last longer.

And you can sharpen all your paring knives etc.

ceramic knives are great, but they are basically disposable because once they chip (they will) its incredibly difficult to sharpen them again.

I would never buy a knife you can’t sharpen. Nothing stays sharp forever.

They can be sharpened to a very sharp edge that they retain for a long long time.

In my vague home use, brittleness leading to chipping is more of an issue.

*knives

Also - paring knife, not pairing knife.

Yeah, ceramic knives get a bad rap but they have their uses.

I have a lot of knives (and have made my own) and I love ceramic knives. For those that don't know, ceramic knives are sintered zirconium dioxide; they are super sharp and retain sharpness far better than steel, but are brittle and not practical to resharpen. As a result your average knife enthusiast tries them, sees that they chip easily and can't be fixed, and condemn them as throwaway garbage.

The secret is to use them for an application where they'll never hit something hard or rough. For example, using them where they might hit metal or bone, they'll eventually chip - possibly into your food! Or using them on a cutting board, they'll dull, although slower than steel. But use them on soft objects only and they'll last virtually forever.

They are very useful for cutting cardboard boxes open, or tape, or plastic. You can use the same ceramic knife for 1000+ cardboard boxes and it will cut like a hot knife in butter, while the same steel knife would need to be resharpened several times for the same smoothness.

Oh, and they are non-browning for food like apples or avocados, which is nice. The browning you see in cut foods is caused partly by polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that can be activated by iron and other metals. Steel knives shed tiny amounts of iron into food as they cut, so if you use a ceramic knife, your food will look fresher for longer.