Customer Reviews

Anolon Advanced 5-Inch Santoku with Hollow-Ground Blade

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've got the paring knife from this series, and I love it. Perfectly balanced, perfectly sharp. I had high hopes for this santoku, which is really kind of a compromise blade between a chef's knife, a cleaver, and a traditional santoku, and which I got for almost half off.

The grip is nice, and the blade is full tang (with a very nice synthetic grip coating the otherwise metal handle), making it very sturdy. But unfortunately it's just not sharp enough. Unlike my large santoku, which slices through peels and crusts, this guy needs much more force applied. I still do plan to use it for crude jobs (boning raw meat, rough dice of onions, bread), but it has perhaps been compromised too much by trying to do too many cutlery jobs. It's only average at most of them.

It's well-made, though, and will last a lifetime. And it comes with a nice plastic sheath so it can survive life in a drawer as a "sometimes" or backup knife.

I got this knife mainly because I wanted a knife that would be more manageable than my 8" Chef's knife and I wanted to try a santoku knife also. I have not had it long enough to know how often it needs to be sharpened, but I would say that it cuts very well and smoothly. It is fantastic for small cuts of meat and all vegetables. The blade is a good thickness and does not bend. One of the reasons I went with this Anolon is that most other 5" santoku knives have really small handles. I have big hands, so a small handle is just as annoying to me as a dull blade. Obviously, this is not the best santoku knife on the market, but for the price I think it is well worth it.

UPDATE: I have had this knife long enough now that I know that it was very sharp to begin with and lost a good deal of its sharpness over a few months, but with a sharpening rod it is good as new if not better. I'm not sure how long a decent blade should hold its edge, but with a fairly inexpensive sharpening rod/stone you can keep this one ready to slice through just about anything. On a side note, I think it's almost humorous that people review this as being "not the best"... well of course it's not! This isn't a $100+ Shun santoku, but it is a well-constructed knife for a decent price.

I have this knife only because I had a gift certificate. I wanted a Santoku knife, so I thought what the hay. Had I known how heavy it was, I would've picked another one. It's my fault for buying a knife w/o actually having it in my hands first.

My complaint is just the weight, it's heavy. I also never quite like the rubber grip. But, this is relative to one's preference, I guess. I also have to sharpen this knife quite often.

Just for a reference (why I think this knife feels heavy to me), I'm used to my wife's Global GS-5.

Learn from me, don't buy a knife online before having it in your hands first.


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Let me add, sharpening this knife is a little tricky, because there's a lump at the heel of the knife. It prevents me from making one smooth sweep when sharpening, using a rod.

MY review is really about the whole line of knives.

A five fixed blade is my choice for best all around knife for cutting in the kitchen (or camping). The first Anolon 5 inch was given to me as a gift from my wife. I have subsequently bought another five inch knife from the Anolon collection as well as their 7in and 8in knives. They are all great knves.

I never respond to the the rating scale but this deserves it.

This is a great knife for most kitchen tasks. The blade stays quite sharp. The grooves along the blade act to release the object being cut so things like potatos, mushrooms, etc. will generally not stick to the blade. I use it for slicing vegetables. It has a heavy blade so it can easily make it through some hard veggies (maybe even usable as a light cleaver). It can be used inplace of a standard chef's knife for many tasks but if you need to do a lot of work you may want to consider the other blade. Blade is kind of short so you may want to consiider the 7" model if you need to cut bigger things. Handle is rubberized so it is comfortable to use but I wish the handle were a bit longer.

Received the 5" advanced collection Santoku as a gift for Christmas 2 years ago. For a short time I adored this knife. It was the best knife I owned at that time. however, other than my kitchen aid and a few other high end kitchen products, most of my things are not the highest quality. (I am building my collection) So I treated this well. Hand washed, and replaced in a knife block or the sheath.

Unfortunately, I have found out this knife was right at home with those other lower quality items. It needed to be sharpened very frequently as some other reviewers have stated. But most disturbing of all, I dropped the knife while using it yesterday and it broke in half (shortly before the handle). Another reviewer stated that 2 of these knives had been shipped to him with hairline cracks right in the same place where mine broke. I didn't want to send it back to the company w/o speaking to a cs rep first. They stated that they do not cover accidents and refuse to honor the warranty. If there was not already a defect the knife would not have broken (I even have softer flooring, not a harder surface like tile, and the linolium was unscratched in the incident) They seem unconcerned about customer safety selling a product of that poor a quality (what if I had been chopping when it broke)and are hiding behind the fine print of their warranty. I didn't run over it in a car, it didn't get dropped into a garbage disposal, etc. A tumble from my counter should not snap the knife, but they seem to be ok with that standard of excellence.

If you find this knife on clearance (really cheap), give it a try. Please use caution and do not expect this to be a lifetime, high quality product. Furthermore, based on experience and the other reviews posted here, I would buy in person so you can inspect the quality. Do not expect them to honor their warranty or stand by the workmanship of this product.

By the way I do have professional cooking experience from a bistro running grill and prep, and have never had a knife break in this way, even under much more strenuous use. The cs rep I spoke with just referred me to a website where I could purchase a new one. I asked to speak with a supervisor who was unavailable and they have not called me back. Very unprofessional.

We've found we particularly like the Anolon Advanced knives. They arrive in a timely manner, already incredibly sharp, and hold their edge VERY well. They have a good heft to them, are well balanced, and the santoprene grips make them almost impossible to drop. These knives are an excellent product and a great value for the reasonable price.

My sweetie has tiny hands, though, and was hoping for a smaller Santoku in the Anolon Advanced style. Although it didn't come up in any of the searches I conducted, by accident I ran across a 3.5" Anolon Advanced Santoku as part of a 2-knife set, paired with a Bird Beak Paring Knife. If interested, you can find this knife set on Amazon here:

Anolon Advanced 2-Piece Knife Set (52621)

Love these Anolon knives, and yet this is my 2nd Santoku knife from them with a crack just beyond the handle, right on the back end of the blade. We're not rough on them, and always always hand wash. Still, love them and hope I can replace with confidence knowing that we won't have a broken knife within a couple of months....

I bought this knife after giving one like it to my brother-in-law. (His cost more). Too bad for him, I got the better knife. It was semi-sharp when I bought it but it took only a few strokes on my ceramic "steel" and it was good to go. I use it more than just about any other knife in my knife drawer in the kitchen. Works great chopping up veggies and then scooping them up and putting them in the pot. Slices up meats for serving with no problems, even the thin slices for company. It also makes for short work getting chicken ready for the frying pan. I find that my knife takes and holds a keen edge better than any other knife I own. Take care of it and it will take care of you for many years.

I've found this to be one of the knives I reach for most often. I love the feel of it in the hand, and the way the weighting helps with function. It is a fairly short knife, but if it was longer, it would be too heavy to be as maneuverable.

Mine has held it's edge very well, but at this price, I can see there being some variation in quality from batch to batch. For the utility you get at this price, I'd say it is worth the risk and/or more frequent sharpening and honing.