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The best cutting board is an essential kitchen tool for mealtime prep. Whether you’re a seasoned cook or amateur, the best cutting boards will offer a stable surface for slicing and dicing vegetables to carving succulent meats.
In addition, it can save you precious time on food prep tasks, especially if you’re often cooking up a feast or hosting gatherings. But with so many different types available, there are several things to consider before buying. First, consider the material and weight of your cutting board. These range from wood and rubber boards to non-porous plastic, and come in varying sizes to suit every home. Also, what features does it have? Most cutting boards are designed with grooves to catch liquid run-off, and reduce messy spills on the counter. Also, are you able to easily store it away, or hang it up? Finally, what’s your budget? Prices can start from as little as $20 right up to $200 upwards for the premium boards, if you’re after longevity.
In the meantime, we’ve tested a selection of cutting boards to suit every kitchen need, lifestyle and budget.
1. OXO Good Grips Carving and Cutting Board
Material: Polypropylene (hard plastic composite)
Dimensions: 21 x 14.5 x 1 inches
Weight: 3.4 pounds
Dishwasher-safe?: Yes
The OXO Good Grips Carving and Cutting Board is the best cutting board we tested. It’s well constructed from a food-grade, hard plastic composite, making it solid yet lightweight. This also means it can withstand heat, which is handy if you want to carve your poultry while fresh out of the oven.
We love the non-porous, translucent surface that doesn’t trap odors or stains from pigmented foods. In fact, it performed well in all of our tests where we chopped ‘staining’ vegetables such as beets, red onions, oranges and carrots. After each test, there were no stains in sight while any residual juice sat on the surface. What’s more, the OXO Good Grips has a convenient drip-catcher to prevent any run-offs, so you can simply pour out any juices from the corner.
This cutting board is easy to use, and thanks to its non-slip pad, it remains sturdy and secure during cutting. The soft grip edges make it easier to lift and carry around, while both sides are usable, with one side being smoother than the other. However, we found that cutting raw meat on the smoother side was more challenging as there was less grip on this surface. The size of the board is rather large, so suitable for large prep tasks or cutting multiple fruits and veggies at once. Bear in mind the size may be too big for smaller countertops at 21 inches long.
Similarly, while it’s dishwasher safe, it could be too big to fit in the lower-rack snugly. In any case, it’s light enough to carry to the sink and handwash in seconds. While it may not have the ‘wow’ factor in appearance, its quality, convenience and ease of use makes it our top pick.
2. John Boos Maple Countertop Cutting Board
Material: Maple wood
Dimensions: 17.75 x 17.25 x 1.25 inches
Weight: 13 pounds
Dishwasher-safe?: No, hand wash only
If you’re after a heavy-duty, professional grade cutting board, this John Boos wooden board is a great option. As one of the best cutting boards, it’s solidly-built in a natural, maple wood, and designed with a lipped edge to grip onto the countertop. This gives it extra stability when chopping multiple prep tasks. In addition, it has a juice groove to catch any oils or liquids that may run off, and the board is reversible too.
Before first use, you must treat with the Boos ‘mystery oil’ provided or a natural unbleached beeswax and food grade mineral oil. We found the surface smooth and solid, and we were impressed by its non-staining abilities (even with beets!). The convenient lipped design made it easy to use, and it remained stable throughout our chopping tests. Plus, there were no knife dents or nicks that you’d expect to see on a wood grain.
Bear in mind, at 13 pounds the board is extremely heavy to lift and handle, and was one of the heaviest we tested. As it’s hand wash only, this makes it difficult to lift to the sink and clean properly.. You also need to frequently treat the board after use to protect the wood and prevent it from cracking over time. While some people may find this a little time-consuming, how well you care for it will make it last the distance. What’s more, it looks attractive and will look great in any kitchen.
3. TeakHaus Professional Cutting Board
Material: Wood
Dimensions: 16x12x1.5 inches and 24x18x1.5 inches
Weight: 10 or 15 pounds
Dishwasher-safe?: No
With its medium hardness and innate water resistance, teak would seem an ideal wood for cutting boards—and TeakHaus’s heavy-duty entry backs this up making it one of the best cutting boards.
Working with this stunning, edge-grain board is a snap, thanks to its expansive dimensions that simplify prepping and arranging multiple ingredients at once. All but the deepest cuts tend to vanish on the rich, dark surface; cleanup is a dream, with tough stains (like chipotle chiles in adobo) wiping away with just hot, soapy water; and because teak needs less oiling than other woods, it’s as low maintenance as cutting boards get.
Note, though, that the smallest version of this board measures 16x12x1.5 inches and weighs 10 pounds, and the largest comes in at 24x18x1.5 inches and 15 pounds. Getting one that’s too big will complicate cleaning, storing, and even just lifting it. In addition, teak’s high silica content may accelerate the dulling of your knives over time.
But find your perfect match and you may just discover, as we did while testing, that TeakHaus’s cutting board can solve many of your cooking problems.
4. Joseph Joseph Chop2Pot Cutting Board
Material: Plastic
Dimensions: 8.75 x 0.5 x 15 inches
Weight: 0.28 Kilograms
Dishwasher-safe?: Yes
The Joseph Joseph Chop2Pot Cutting Board will save precious time when it comes to quick, daily prep jobs. Its folding design means that once you’re finished chopping, you simply squeeze the handle to fold the sides in, and then you can pour the ingredients directly into your pot without spillage. Alongside that clever feature, it’s constructed in a durable plastic with a soft grip handle, non-slip feet and hanging eyelet. This makes it lightweight to carry around and ideal to store, especially if you lack the space to display a large cutting board.
In our tests, we liked the textured surface that made chopping fruit, vegetables and raw meat easy to cut without pieces sliding around. However, one thing to ensure is that the grip is flat on the countertop to prevent the board from moving out of place, otherwise this could be a safety hazard.
In addition, veggies such as beets and red onions didn’t stain the plastic, however, oranges left a puddle of juice sitting on the surface, which was inconvenient to dispose of. Although the Chop2Pot is easy to clean with soapy water and is a convenient size to fit in the dishwasher. Overall, the Chop2Pot is one of the best cutting boards for smaller prep tasks only, as it will not hold plenty of food. I found this was the case when chopping various veggies at once. Although it does come in three sizes to suit your needs. The main selling point here is the handy folding feature that will certainly make cooking a lot more convenient.