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Like many passionate home cooks, I have an extensively curated collection of knives. Maintaining these knives means being careful with the blades, minding the state of their handles, and ensuring they are regularly sharpened. But one aspect of knife care that often gets overlooked is the cutting board the knives are being used on, and the density of the material boards are made from. “I like non-wood boards,” says knife-maker Geoff Feder. Plastic boards can be “simple, easy to clean, and replace,” he says. “The softer ones are better — anything easy on the edge.” (That said, he also recommends wooden Boos boards.)
Until a few years ago, I never gave much thought to the importance of the type of cutting board I use aside from its cost and size. After speaking with chefs, more knifemakers, and cookbook authors, it became clear that cutting board preferences can vary widely, but whether you prefer wood, plastic, or rubber, there are a few non-negotiable criteria. The best cutting board is sturdy, easy to clean, and provides enough surface area for whatever task you need it for — slicing, carving, chopping, smashing, and serving — all while being gentle on a knife’s edge. For more in proper knife care, we also have guides to the best magnetic knife blocks and knife sharpeners.
What we’re looking for
Material
The most straightforward feature to consider when buying a cutting board is its material. Wood tends to be durable but not too hard on your knives, and many wooden boards are quite handsome and can double as cheese boards or even serving platters. They’re also very long-lasting; if you take care of yours, it should be with you for years. Upkeep, though, is a potential downside. I wouldn’t use mine for anything that stains, like beets, and wooden boards must be washed by hand and treated with oil or beeswax every so often or they will dull and dry out and potentially crack or splinter. They also tend to be relatively thick and heavy. (Be wary of superthin wooden boards, which warp easily.) Plastic boards tend to be thinner, since the material doesn’t warp as easily as wood, much lighter, easier to maneuver and store, and dishwasher-safe. Like wood, lighter colored plastic boards may pick up stains. They likely won’t last quite as long as their wooden counterparts, but they’re cheaper. Rubber boards can be particularly good for your knives (and your wrist, too). Avoid glass and marble, which can damage your knives.
Size
For the boards below that come in multiple sizes, we’ve listed the dimensions of the one that the expert recommended.
Weight
Material and size both affect weight. The heavier the board, the harder it will be to move around and clean. Particularly lightweight ones might require you to place a kitchen towel underneath to ensure they don’t slip on your work surface. I’ve listed the weight when available.
Care
I’ve noted whether each board is hand-wash only or dishwasher safe. (Though remember: Wooden boards require the extra step of applying oil or cream.)
Best overall cutting board
Material: Recycled plastic | Size: 14.75” x 10.75” x 0.375” | Weight: 1 pound | Care: Dishwasher-safe
While I will always have a soft spot for a beautifully made, traditional wooden board, I love Material Kitchen’s reBoards (I own the large and small sizes). I find myself reaching for them most often, particularly when preparing meat, since they stand up well to chopping and are so easy to sanitize. They’re sturdy like a wooden board, but I can lift them easily to transport chopped veggies to a saute pan. I also don’t have to remember to oil them regularly. All that, plus a reasonable price point gives these boards an edge over the others on this list, which is why I made it my best overall pick.
This board received resounding praise from several chefs and culinary experts, who like its durable surface, light weight, and easy maintenance. Sustainably made using recycled plastic and renewable sugarcane, these boards come in a variety of vivid colors too — a bonus for anyone who values aesthetics in the kitchen, or likes to color code their boards to prevent cross-contamination.
Food stylist Judy Kim has been a die-hard reBoard fan for four years; she has seven in rotation — some at home and some in the case she totes around to kitchens all across New York City for work, slicing produce and other ingredients for styling. “The texture of it is probably the most important feature,” she says. “Some other plastic ones are so sleek and so smooth, you can feel your knife slip sometimes, even just a little bit.” The textured surface of the reBoard also helps it stay in place while in use, but for extra security, do what pros like Sarah Simms, co-founder of Los Angeles-based Lady and Larder, do and add a towel underneath for extra grip. “But if that is a concern they do sell a ‘grippy’ model with corner grips on the board,” she says. Simms calls this board her “favorite workhorse board” and agrees that it’s incredibly easy to clean and easy on knives.
Best less-expensive cutting board
Material: High-density polyethylene | Size: 18” x 12” x 0.5” | Weight: 3.02 pounds | Care: Dishwasher safe
There are a myriad of inexpensive plastic cutting boards out there, but those made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are a top choice for commercial kitchens. “They’re easy to clean, are non-porous, and are roughly the same hardness as wood boards,” says bladesmith Steve Pellegrino. While restaurants tend to buy their HDPE boards custom-fitted for their prep areas, this affordable, pre-cut model is industrial-grade, made to stand up to heat, and resists warping, but is also easy on knives. The slightly textured surface offers some grip when cutting, though placing it on a towel or non-slip mat will give it more stability. This size board fits into most standard sinks for hand-washing, but can also be placed in the dishwasher for hassle-free cleanup. For larger jobs, it is also available in 24-by-18-inch and 30-by-18-inch sizes.
Best looking plastic cutting board
Material: Recycled plastic | Size: 16” x 11” x 0.75” or 1” | Weight: Unknown | Care: Dishwasher safe
The surface of this cutting board is gentle on my knives and doesn’t easily show grooves and marks. It comes in many shapes and sizes, each with slightly different design details (some with one or two handles, others with a moat, or maybe a stamped-out ring for hanging) so you can pick the best one for your needs. I like the large size with a single handle.
This cutting board was also as close to being a viral sensation as a cutting board can be (at least in the food world). Its distinct speckled surface has popped up in the Instagram feeds of Dan Pelosi, Carla Lalli Music, Danny Bowien, Bill Clark, Natasha Pickowicz, and Kia Damon. It’s hard not to be drawn to the pattern and colors. Even the mostly black-and-white version pops, which means it looks great sitting out on the counter and can seamlessly double as an appetizer platter (Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang recommends the large oval size for that specific purpose). But it’s also not all in the appearance. Just like the reBoard, it’s sustainably made from recycled plastic scraps.
Best plastic cutting board with a moat
Material: Plastic | Size: 14.7” x 10.3” x 0.5” | Weight: 1.67 pounds | Care: Dishwasher-safe
As with so many of the kitchen tools OXO makes, this is the most thoughtfully designed plastic cutting board, and it was mentioned by several of our experts. Recipe developer and cookbook author Ali Slagle lists it among the essential kitchenware she brought with her while living in a van for six months — it was her go-to before, during, and after that trip. “I’ve tried a bunch, and what this one lacks in beauty it makes up for in utter practicality,” she says. It doesn’t come with any of the issues that certain plastic boards can, like clinging onto smells, being hard to clean stains off of, and wearing and warping with a lot of use. She appreciates the moat, practical in the same instances as the Sonder board. “But the key thing — the thing that really makes this board succeed — is the little no-slip feet on each of the corners,” she says. They’re made from silicone and cling to your counter to ensure the board stays perfectly in place. Food and prop stylist and cookbook author Jess Damuck has a couple of different sizes, too — a bigger one for throwing on top of her Boos, if she’s dealing with meat, a smaller one for smashing garlic or cutting a lime for cocktails. She loves that she can throw them into the dishwasher and that they’re light enough to take with her to food-styling jobs.
Best wooden cutting board
Material: Rubber | Size: 18” long, 12” wide, .75” thick | Weight: Unknown | Care: Hand wash only
When it comes to a sturdy cutting board that will stand up to even the most rigorous chopping needs, Boos blocks are a widely-loved choice. They are hefty, weighing in at 10 pounds for the medium size (larger and smaller sizes are also available), and are expertly crafted from edge-grain hardwood — a superior choice when it comes to preserving your knives. “End grain is less damaging to the edge than the side grain because the knife is effectively trying to cross cut the wood fibers rather than follow their natural flow,” says Pellegrino. “This makes for a cutting board that is much more gentle on the cutting edge of a knife.”
Boos cutting boards are also incredibly long-lasting and NSF-certified for use in professional kitchens, making them a favorite of chefs like John Tesar, who says that wood is his number one choice of material for cutting boards and that this brand is his favorite. The weightiness of this board means it offers lots of stability when slicing and dicing, though that does mean it’s less portable than some lighter wooden boards. If you have the space, it’s beautiful enough to leave out. Bill Clark keeps his “permanently installed” on his countertop, reserving the surface for tasks like making sandwiches, buttering morning toast, and prepping vegetables — “anything that doesn’t involve raw meat, poultry, fish, or alliums,” he says. That way, he can simply wipe it down when he’s done, only giving it a more thorough wash with a sponge and warm soapy water about once a week.
Two more advantages of a Boos board’s weightiness are that “their thickness makes them very hard to warp (and even harder for your mother-in-law to put in the dishwasher),” and “the thickness also allows you to sand them down after several years of use to get back to a flat surface if you’re the over achieving type and have a belt sander,” says Tony Aiazzi, former chef and partner at Feder Knives.
Best wooden cutting board with a moat
Material: Wood | Size: 17” x 13” x, 1.5” | Weight: 9 pounds | Care: Hand wash only
When chopping ripe tomatoes, slicing juicy steaks, or carving a succulent rotisserie chicken, having a board with a moat helps keep drips under control. This cutting board from Sonder is one of my current favorites. It’s made from American maple and weighs 9 pounds, just a little lighter than the Boos board. With a substantial thickness of 1.5 inches, it feels very sturdy and stable and can stand up to almost every type of cutting and chopping while I’m making dinner at home. It features a generously sized moat that holds up to 3.5 ounces of liquid so I don’t have to worry too much about possible overflow. On the reverse side, the board is flat with a built-in cracker well, intended to hold crackers, sliced baguette, nuts, dried fruit, pickles, or other accompaniments when used as a cheese and charcuterie board. I also use it as a receptacle for items I’ve already chopped (like onions or herbs) so I can clear my work surface without having to pull out another bowl.
Best looking wooden cutting board
Material: Birch wood | Sizes: 17”x 12” x 0.5”, 14” x 10” x 0.5” and 10” x 7” x 0.5” | Weight: 3.5 pounds, 2.6 pounds, and 0.85 pounds | Care: Hand wash only
While the Caraway brand made its debut with stylish nonstick cookware, its lineup now includes this sleek set of cutting boards which now live on my counter. Made of birch, the set includes three sizes, each with slightly different features. I find myself reaching for the large size when prepping a large amount of vegetables, and moving chopped ingredients into the long indentation. The medium size is perfect for smaller cutting jobs and one side has a moat for collecting juices. If I’m just cutting up one onion or piece of fruit, the smallest one comes in handy (it also makes a great cheese board if you’re only serving up one type of cheese). My favorite feature of the set is the storage rack — it keeps all three boards standing upright and easily accessible, all while maintaining a very slim footprint. They still look great after over a year of use, and only require hand washing and a monthly application of mineral oil to keep the wood from drying out.
Best rubber cutting board
Material: Polyvinyl Acetate | Size: 23.5” x 11.75” x, 0.75” | Weight: 7.5 pounds | Care: Hand wash only
Many top sushi restaurants across the country rely on this rubber cutting board from Japanese manufacturer Tenryo. Made of polyvinyl acetate (known as hi-soft), this material provides some grip while also softening the impact of the knife’s blade. Chefs love this board because it doesn’t retain odors and is also antibacterial. “It’s naturally non-slip, easy to clean, and protects the edge of my knives, making it so I don’t have to sharpen as often,” says Jon Kung, chef and author of Kung Food: Chinese American Recipes from a Third-Culture Kitchen. Even though this type of board is popular with sushi chefs, they’re not limited to slicing fish. “[They’re] excellent for nearly all work with the exception of very hard chopping, and very kind to even the thinnest custom chefs or sashimi knives,” says Pellegrino.
With additional reporting by Emma Wartzman.
Other knife care essentials we’ve written about
Our experts
• Tony Aiazzi, partner at Feder Knives
• Bill Clark, culinary managing director of Scribner’s Lodge and Fellow Mountain Cafe
• Jess Damuck, food and prop stylist and cookbook author
• Geoff Feder, partner and knifemaker at Feder Knives
• Judy Kim, food stylist
• Jon Kung, chef and cookbook author
• Steve Pellegrino, designer and bladesmith at Pellegrino Cutlery
• Sarah Simms, co-founder of Lady and Larder
• Ali Slagle, recipe developer and cookbook author
• John Tesar, chef and restaurateur
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