The amount of dust released really depends on the formulation of the brake pad material. In general however, ceramic pads are better performing pads than OEM with lower noise THAN high performance pads. High performance carbon-metallic formulated pads provide the best stopping power at the expense of high noise (squeaking) and low friction coefficient at lower operating temperatures (braking will suck the first few times after starting your car and driving since the pads have to heat up to provide good friction). I dont think its the ceramic ones that really need a lot of heating up before the ideal friction coefficient --maybe a little, but not as much as carbon based pads.
Manufacturers will go on and on about the different formulations they use, and sometimes you do get good results with new types. The EBC Green Stuff that someone mentioned seems to be a pretty good choice for low noise with high braking power. It's made with organic materials which probably disintegrate cleaner than carbon during braking.
In terms of being gentle on rotors, ceramic should be more gentle than the carbon based pads. Ceramics have good compression strength but weak tensile/shearing strength, so they arent as abrasive on rotors. Since the ferro-carbon type pads like the Hawk HPS I have need heat to get to operating temperature, the iron in the material becomes highly abrasive when the pad material is cool and the brakes are applied.
If doing a brake upgrade, you should definitely upgrade the rotors and not just the pads. Our KJs are notorious for rotor warping, and this was one part where DC definitely skimped on quality. I recommend blank OEM replacement rotors from Brembo, slotted rotors from Powerslot (which I have and love), and cross-drilled rotors from EBC. Generally cross-drilled rotors are prone to cracking since the drilling of the holes weakens the structural integrity of the metal, but reputable brands have the holes made when the rotor is actually cast. Just combine a better rotor, even with cheaper ceramic pads, and you should have much better braking power.
It really all depends on what kind of driving you do though.
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Ill see how they hold up to that. They do seem to take awhile to bite in the rain after driving some time. I believe its some model of bmw that actually applies the brakes ever so often in the rain to keep the rotors dry.. I think thats kinda silly myself. 