As part of our Kitchen Week series, I was offered the opportunity to review some products by Slice.  Slice offers sharp, high-tech ceramic tools for the home and office.   Slice is a specialty line, designed by Karim Rashid, that includes a Y-Peeler, vegetable peeler, grater, and precision cutter, and letter opener.

Things you may or may not know about ceramic (Before this, I only knew that I liked tile)

• Harder than metal (who knew?)
• Won’t rust, stain, or dull
• Easy to clean
• Lightweight
• Won’t brown food or stick
• Will not leave behind a metallic after taste on food

The marketing folks at the Slice were kind enough to send us the Y-peeler, safety cutter, letter opener, and precision cutter for review.  After using these products for a few weeks, I am ready to share my thoughts.

Y-Peeler

This is a vegetable peeler but it’s kinda shaped like a giant hand held razor.  The Y-peeler is definitely lightweight.  The handle is kinda squishy, but not in a weird way.   It’s actually a little like holding nothing at all.  To look at the “blade” you may be inclined to think the same thing.  It looks like the kind of cheap plastic that wouldn’t survive an aggressive cleaning.  But looks are deceiving, because the Y-Peeler had no problems slicing through carrots, potatoes, apples, and even a block of Parmesan cheese.  It makes precise slices without a lot of pressure.  The handle is comfortable feels good in my hands.

I eat an apple during lunch everyday.  I peel my apples and yes, I do get mocked daily for it by my colleagues.   People say that apple skin is good for you, but I don’t care.  I don’t like the way it tastes.  And since I’m an adult, it’s my prerogative to peel the apple.  But I digress…  I did find the Y-Peeler to be a bit cumbersome for something like an apple.  It did the job but I would imagine that the slimmer shaped vegetable peeler  would have worked better.  Cleanup is definitely easy.  I just rinsed and let it air dry.

Retail Price: $14.99

Safety Cutter

This is the most intriguing item I received, and in the words of my husband, “my new favorite thing ever”.  You hold it between your thumb and index finger and slide it along what you want to cut.  There is a ity, bity recessed ceramic blade at the tip, but I barely notice it’s there.  If you touch it by mistake, it’s finger friendly, but I wouldn’t press too hard.  It’s effective in cutting that  plastic wrap packing stuff that is usually a real pain to open.  We’ve used it to cut boxes, packages on food, etc.  It’s magnetic too so you can stick it to your fridge for easy access (not our fridge though, who knew that magnets don’t stick to stainless steel).  There’s also a built in hole for your keyring so your safety cutter can go wherever you go (I’d check with the TSA before trying to travel with it).  Very neat little tool.

Retail Price: $5.99

Letter Opener

I was dying to try this one…actually I was dying to have my husband try this one.  You see, my husband has a habit of opening envelopes by ripping them in half.  I’ve never seen anyone open mail quite like he does.  I’ve never been a fan of the traditional knife-shaped letter openers.  It’s kind of a dangerous weapon for a clumsy girl like me.  The letter opener by Slice is small and flat and the blade is well contained.  Just hold the opener between your thumb, middle, and index finger and guide the envelope through the ridge which houses the blade.  You don’t need to put any pressure on it or pinch anything together.  Just guide the envelope through the opener to make one quick slice.  It’s very neat because it only cuts open one side of the envelope.  What I mean is that you’re not left with little strips of paper all over the place.  No more paper cuts or mangled envelopes.

Retail Price: $5.99

Precision Cutter

It’s shaped like a pencil with a sharp ceramic tip on the end.  This makes it very easy to use and maneuver when making small cuts for crafts and other project.  I’m not a creative or artsy girl by any means.  So I struggled to find an everyday use for this item.  For the purpose of this review, I used the cutter to cut all sorts of fun shapes out of a variety of paper and card stock.  I even used it to cut envelopes.  It definitely works like a charm.  It can easily make small, precise cuts.  If you can use a pencil, then you can use this tool.  Just make sure you put something (like a mat) underneath what you are cutting because it is quite sharp.

When not in use, it comes with a cap (as my husband explains, there’s still a blade in there).   Even though I like this product, I really can’t find a use for it in my daily life.  I think I will pass it along to Jill, our resident scrapbooker, to see if she can put it to better use.

Retail Price: $6.99

In addition these four items, Slice makes ceramic veggie peelers $14.99 and cheese graters $14.99.  These were actually the two products I was most intrigued with in the entire Slice product line.  The veggie peeler does about the same thing as the Y-Peeler, but  is shaped more like a long skinny cone than a giant razor.  The grater uses small ceramic teeth to grate cheese, carrots, lemon zest, chocolate, and nutmeg.  With no holes in the grater, nothing will get stuck.

This is definitely a unique collection of products that does what it claims to do.  If it lives up to its claims about its durability, it’ll be the last peeler I own.  The entire Slice product line comes in a bright lime green and white color combination.  Who doesn’t want a lime green peeler?  You can buy Slice products at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, the Container Store, Sur La Table, and other fine retailers nationwide.

Probably one of the neatest thing is that portions of all Slice product sales helps fund autism resarch.  As an educator, this is a cause that is near and dear to me.  Any company that does their part to find a cure defintely makes the cut.

Visit www.slicehome.com for more details.