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If you don't own a bread knife, a good steak knife works great for cutting bread!

I don't like gadgets that are too kitschy. I have a collection of Wusthof Trident knives that work well. Knives for professional use are best forged in one piece from bar to steel, with blade, bolster and tang individually shaped in a series of processes to produce a well-balanced tool.

I found a pink Santoku knife at my Target for $6.19! Going back today to find the Chef's for the same price.

They are incredibly sharp that I already nicked my finger. Yea me!

I found a couple of ceramic knives at Harbor Freight Tools. A 6" "chef" knife at $20.00 and a 4" paring knife for $15.00. They may be available on line as well.

I don't think even my Henkels out of the box could cut a ripe tomato as thinly as these. Since they are ceramic, you can't do the Jacques Pepin puree garlic trick, and the paring knife does not have a sharp point, but otherwise they are incredible.

I bought a set of the Komachi knives at Costco and I've had them for about 5-6 months. They still work just as beautifully as they did the first day. I have 3 different paring knives, a chefs knife, a bread knife, and a santoku knife. These are the best knives I've ever used (so far, haha).

when I read this I was intrigued enough to look into buying one but whilst they are only $10 in the US they are £30 in the UK (about $50) so im going to do a little searching first see if I cant find it cheaper somewhere else

"I'd love to urge you to reconsider your stance--there is such thing as an aesthetically designed kitchen gadget that lives up to cooks' standards!"

Nikki, I'd actually really like to see a series on this!

The bread and chef's knives are $9.95 right now at Amazon. I pre-ordered a the bread knife and a paring knife ($7.99). I have a lot of really good knives, but they're pretty and I'm a sucker for pretty.

to answer some questions:

like blogkitten said, the color isn't paint--it's a non-stick coating. And the colors are meant to help distinguish the knives from one another (like color-coded cutting boards would).

according to the knife experts that I consulted, these can be sharpened with any normal sharpener or steel, so no worries there.

moibec--are you sure what you had was by this brand? other companies make colored knives but these are a little different. I'd love to urge you to reconsider your stance--there is such thing as an aesthetically designed kitchen gadget that lives up to cooks' standards!

I have one of these and I love it! I have wrist problems, so I appreciate that it's lightweight and the easy grip handle is fantastic. Makes cutting butternut squash something I can actually handle without pain again.

I have the Santoku knife and the bread knife. The Santoku I've had for a year and a half. No paint chipping, and it still chops and slices really well. The only mildly annoying thing I noticed is that the painted part gets a bit stained after awhile, since the knife is light lavender. I did wonder about sharpening though.

From the Apartment Therapy (http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/cutlery/colorful-knives-pure-komachi-2-knife-set-091626) article about the knives:

"They looked like gimmicky knives to us at first (where's the steel?) but it turns out the color is from bonding FDA approved resin to high carbon stainless steel blades. So basically these knives have a nonstick coating."

I'd be more concerned about the ability to resharpen the knives w/o losing the aesthetic feel to the knives.

I have to admit that I'm skeptical of the long-term quality of these knives; I'd love to see a follow-up in a month and then six months down the road.

I also have to ask others' opinions: Is a bread knife an essential? If you can get only two knives, I can definitely see getting a chef's knife, but I'd go for a good paring knife long before a bread knife.