Cutting boards

Since replacing my counter tops with granite I am rethinking my cutting board situation. I won't need a board to protect the counter much but more for my knives. I already have some white poly cutting boards that I use and can put into the dishwasher. I want to stay away from anything that is clunky and needs to be stored somewhere. I am thinking about getting some of the thin flexible cutting boards. I found some on ebay imported from France and this might be something to try. I also found many unusual and beautiful cutting boards on ebay...such as granite, bamboo, maple and even black walnut which was really beautiful. I am trying though to go with something minimul, lightweight and can be sanitized in the dishwasher. The granite company gave me a matching cutting board which is heavy and somewhat useless I think and I'll probably use it as a cheese serving board on occasion.
Please advise if you have used the thin flexible cutting boards.

I've found them to be basically useless. They slide, you can't put a towel underneath to hold them in place because then they obviously don't lie flat, and though I have no empirical evidence to back it up, I feel like they're really hard on the knives.

One big wooden board that always stays out for everything but proteins, and one medium-sized poly board with rubber ends that fits in my dishwasher for those. Done and done.

I personally dislike plastic cutting boards - never found one I liked at all.
I used hardwood forever but I'm a new convert to bamboo. It's way more water resistant and has a nice hard but forgiving surface.

I view the thin plastic ones as nearly disposable: I tend to slice through the thinnest ones in a few months, and any of them end up rather scratched up pretty quickly. But they're cheap at IKEA and I can store several in little space.

Thanks everyone. Good advice. I love this walnut cutting board...so beautiful and would not show any stains..........but over 200 dollars.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-Walnut-Butche ... 3a649313d3

Also, my experience with the thin plastic ones is that they warp in the dishwasher - maybe more expensive versions don't...but I find cheap plastic ones work well - I have several in a variety of sizes, the ones I use most often are fairly small.

I need to replace my wooden one and am planning on buying bamboo for the next one.

I have a couple of the flexible Ikea cutting boards and do like that it is easy to chop something up, bend the board, and dump everything into a pot. However, they are really cheap so the previous poster was right about treating them as disposable. Prefer my bamboo ones.
Want all of these boards:
http://www.geoffreylilge.com/index.php? ... es-1-hole/

Hi,

After you acquire a board, you might want to consult this thread Care & Feeding of a New Cutting Board.

Regards,

I did see some nice cutting boards at Home Goods. Several of them were bamboo and the prices were good. Really love the black walnut one....trying to hold back on that. Just remembered my grandfather making a pig shaped cutting board out of wood that is stored in my garage. Its probably nearly as old as I am..shutter the thought. Maybe I'll dig that out and use the cutting board maintenance tips to clean and refresh it. I may not need to buy anything at all.

This is the poly board I've been using:

http://www.amazon.com/Oneida-Cutting-Bo ... 358&sr=8-3

It's $15 or so, small enough to fit in the dishwasher, big enough that it isn't too cramped for a meal's worth of protein for the family, and rubberized on both ends so it stays put. I've been using it for 3+ years, it's in the dishwasher 2-3 times per week, and it's still perfectly flat.

I wouldn't want to do all of my work on it. It's small and I prefer wood. But for trimming and slicing up a pound or two of meat or seafood, it's perfect.

I've been using bamboo for a couple of years now. I've kept it maintained well enough that the dishwasher doesn't do any damage -- and sanitizes the boards really well. I'd recommend bamboo boards.

I'm not a huge fan of the bamboo boards. I don't put them in the dishwasher but I feel like they dry out, and do not reconstitute with mineral oil like "real" wood does. Several of mine have warped already despite good maintenance on my part. My wood cutting board is still in great shape after over 12 years of very regular use. I know that bamboo is renewable, but I don't know how sustainable something is if you have to toss them out more regularly.

One of the ebay sites mentions Howard Butcher Block conditioner. A search found: Butcher block conditioner size 12 ounce - Works great on butcher blocks, cutting boards, wood salad bowls, wood utensils, bamboo, and much more. It has the penetrating quality of food grade mineral oil and the water resistance of beeswax and carnauba wax, which rejuvenates the wood and prevents d rying and cracking. The natural antibacterial waxes help repair knife marks and protect the wood by keeping the mineral oil in and the moisture out. Use after every wash to help keep butcher blocks and cutting boards functional and beautiful.

Also many manufacturers mention end grain wood. What is the significance of having one made out of end grain which I believe appear as small blocks vs strips of wood that are pressed together?

Did they give you the sink cutout as a cutting board? Don't use it! Granite is about the worst surface to cut on you can imagine. It will destroy your knives in short order. Be very careful moving it as well. I've seen one customer break their foot dropping it and have heard of several others.

Unless you have very very sturdy feet on the piece of granite, don't put it on your new counter either, it will scratch the $#%% out of the top and it will be extremely difficult to fix, ask me how I know!

I recommend butcher block, I use a cutoff piece from a kitchen job I did 19 years ago and it is still going strong.

To answer your other questions, I use only mineral oil and it works just fine AND is nice and cheap. End grain is much harder and resistant to cutting marks. My block is not end grain and has held up well, an end grain one would last even longer.

Octarine wrote:Did they give you the sink cutout as a cutting board? Don't use it! Granite is about the worst surface to cut on you can imagine. It will destroy your knives in short order.

Answer in first post:

toria wrote:Since replacing my counter tops with granite I am rethinking my cutting board situation. I won't need a board to protect the counter much but more for my knives.

Counter tops are granite, she knows it's bad for the knives.

One use for the flexible cutting boards is in conjunction with a mandoline. Usually there is just a tiny amount of trimming, so longevity as a cutting board is not an issue. The board then acts as the receiver for the mandoline with simple dumping into whatever container is being used for the sliced or shredded vegetables.

I use these guys made from pressed wood:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/Product.asp?SKU=112963&

They go in the dishwasher and don't need any maintenance, plus they are thin and not too heavy.
I did have to laugh when Consumer Reports reviewed them and dinged them for "smelling like dog" when they came out of the dishwasher. I can live with five minutes of wet dog smell in exchange for dishwasher-ability.

I buy cheap wooden cutting boards at places like Target or Kmart -- they're usually about 3/4 inch thick. If I use them for veggies and such they get a quick rinse. If I've cut up raw meat or poultry, I put them through the dishwasher (but not the dry cycle). They aren't gorgeous but they hold up fine for a few years of this treatment. If they start to get too shabby or warp, I throw them out and get new ones. The last ones I bought were $20 for a set of two.

Just take a big ol' hardwood log (preferably closed-grained, like maple, birch, or even poplar), cut off about 1" from the end with your chain saw, plane or sand both sides, treat with walnut oil, and you've got a great, cheap, end-grain cutting board.

nr706 wrote:Just take a big ol' hardwood log (preferably closed-grained, like maple, birch, or even poplar), cut off about 1" from the end with your chain saw, plane or sand both sides, treat with walnut oil, and you've got a great, cheap, end-grain cutting board.

Yep! I usually take some scrap pieces from a friend's sawmill, drill some finger holes, sand it down and oil it with mineral oil. Takes about 15 minutes. They've become my go to birthday presents when I'm going to a party and forgot to buy a gift

Attrill wrote:
Yep! I usually take some scrap pieces from a friend's sawmill, drill some finger holes, sand it down and oil it with mineral oil. Takes about 15 minutes. They've become my go to birthday presents when I'm going to a party and forgot to buy a gift

November 30th--in case you wanted to plan ahead

You made those Attrill?? Those are really nice.

toria wrote:You made those Attrill?? Those are really nice.

Thanks! Judging by the PMs I got about them I may need to start a side business.

Yeah there are a lot of folks selling hand made cutting boards on ebay and probably Etsy so you could do that too.

Found this website.......really nice boards, very expensive.

Used by food channel chefs......made in American

http://www.ozarkwest.com/index.html

On the other hand, was at home goods today and they had some nice bamboo cutting boards and also the plastic ones. Did not buy as I am still undecided. I had a bamboo board and I think it degraded fairly quickly. Prices were very cheap though at home goods.

I have a John Boos that I had wanted for ages.

Due to the inconvenience of cleaning/drying/storing/oiling the Boos, I mainly use the Kitchen-aid poly boards I got at Costco as I can toss them in the dishwasher.

Jamie

That's what I've been doing.......poly all the way. I abandoned wood some time ago. Might now go back. If I get a board that is really good looking, I can keep it on the counter. Some folks say that wood has a better cutting feel to it and use it for everything except meat.

Also I hang up my poly boards on the inside doors of my cabinets for storage. Just get a command hook and put it inside a cabinet door or on the inside wall of the cabinet underneath the sink and they can be hung there if they have holes in the handles.

You do have to be careful of standing a wood or bamboo cutting board on its side. I've had a few of the bamboo ones warp a little after washing and standing on their sides.

The walnut boards are calling me.....calling me................(don't I deserve it???)

For those of you with wooden or bamboo boards, please let me know a good brand. I am shopping on Amazon now in the under $25 range (but I can go a few dollars higher).

I melted my acrylic one on the good unwarped side. I tried some flexible, paper-thin ones from Good Cook and they're awful.

I have a John Boos brand and like it very much. I wonder if you might find it locally cheaper than on Amazon, they are from Illinois.