Re the tempered glass cutting board - my husband bought one a couple years ago and I hate it! It's useless IMO. I seen a chef on tv say that they ruin your knives and are more or less just for show and used for a "rack" to put a hot dish on.

I have a wooden cutting board for veggies and fruits, and a plastic one for meats, which I put in the dishwasher now and then.

I don't use glass, I'm always afraid that it will dull my knives. My favorite cutting board is about 12" by 15" and made out of plastic. I got it from Pampered chef about 16 years ago and it still looks great. If it get discolored from something (usually sweet potatoes or squash) it comes nicely clean with a quick scrubbing. Other wise, depending on what I was using it for, a quick wash with a soapy sponge or a run through the dishwasher clean it just fine.

I did just peak at their site, they have different cutting boards now. The key is what they are made of and I don't know if it is still the same material. I have tried to find one in the stores like it, but I have never been happy with any of them. They are all to hard.

I love the inexpensive thin plastic flexible type that you can pour from. I have about ten of them, so there's always a clean one...they take next to no room to store. I've used them for about 9 years and have never had a knife cut thru one. I put them through the dishwasher...there's always 2 or 3 in there. I think they are about 12X16.

I also have 2" thick wood one, about 12"X18" that is smooth on one side and has a drip trough ( I don't know if that's the right word) to catch meat juices om the other side. Then there's one that is about 18X24, I only use that occasionally.

That soft white plastic type of cutting board can be planed, so that you have a clean surface...ask one of the carpenters... with the goodies you give them I'm sure they would help.

I've read that the hard plastic and the glass type are bad for you knives...

Nancy

I don't use glass or that hard plastic. Mostly wood for years and years, but in the last 5 years or so I have become acquainted with those flexible plastic cutting mats. I use them for meats and for cutting veggies for the pan, they fold and do the transfer with no spillage...love them!
And for cutting breads, I use wood. I used to usa all wood....but I discovered those plastic felxible things. Sure they get cut....but they are cheap and I replace them often....and they go into the dishwasher....and through the dry cycle!.
Linda C

I have a 24"x24"x2" maple cutting board that I have sitting on the counter next to the sink so that vegetable scraps can go into the compost. I don't like plastic or glass, they will dull any knife. Wood is just as sanitary as the plastic, it has natural anti-septic properties. I use a little bleach and hot water to clean it and every 4-5 years I have it lightly sanded to take out any deep gouges and keep it looking new. Just remember to keep it properly oiled to prevent drying out.

I have one like Nancy's, about 12 x 16 flat on one side, a "drip trough" on the other. I like that for bigger jobs. My favorite, however is the 10 x 12 one I bought in Costa Rica, it's made of strips of different indigenous woods, very, very pretty, even with all the cut marks.

I also adore the beautiful maple board Ann sent me in a swap, but I use it strictly for serving breads, cheeses, etc. I have a very small plastic (nylon?) board about 6 x 9 that I use to cut fruit on, and a couple of those flexible plastic mat type that are wonderful for prepping veggies!

Hmmm....it appears I have a board for every purpose! LOL

Linda

Wood, wood, wood. As Marigene said, wood is very sanitary- more so than plastic. Tests have shown that the plastic harbours more germs than wood- the cuts cannot totally be sanitised.
Plus, plastic and glass are very hard on good knives (and why would you want bad knives?).

My favs are from BC...Wood:)

But I do like the flexis too for different things..

I have a maple cutting board. Have you checked out the bamboo ones ? I was at a home store and really liked them.

Michelle: I have had a Maple cutting board for years.
It is 10 inches wide by 11 inches long with a handle.
It is only 1/2 inch thick. Makes it lighter for picking up.
The front edge is cut on an angle , so that you don't have to turn your wrist as much, to push the food off.
I made this and a smaller one.
I also have one that is 16" x 16" x 1 1/2inches thick.
this is a little too heavy to work with.
They are right about the glass. It will take the edge of
a good knife with just a couple of strokes.

Who knows , if your a good girl, someone may make you one like mine.
LOU

10 " x 11"
{{!gwi}}

6 1/2" x 7 1/2"
{{!gwi}}

I'll be a good girl if you make me one, Santa! LOL

Odd woman out, again..... I don't use a cutting board... I have a huge wooden one that pulls out from under the counter and a glass one I use to keep the cooking splatters off the fridge... Most things, like veggies I use a paring knife, holding the vegetable with one hand cutting with the other and dropping them into a pan... If it's something like meat I use paper towels... I take two or three sheets and fold them over to fit the largest cut I'll be making... No muss, no fuss, just toss them out. Anything cooked, that has to be sliced, goes on the electric slicer... That goes for homemade bread too.

Rita

My favorite one is maple, but it's very large. For small jobs, I have a bamboo one. MIL had an island installed in the kitchen when she lived here, and it has a butcherblock top...which has never seen a knife. She put a plastic protector on it. The first time I cooked here, I was looking everywhere for her cutting board. "Oh, just use the plastic," she said. Not with MY knives! Glass and hard plastic will dull a knife in a heartbeat. No wonder her chef's knife won't cut butter!

So then she pulled out some of those flexible colored sheets. I can see why people like them for transporting foods to the pot, but the dang things slid all over the place. Use to be when I cooked at her house I had to bring my own knives; now I have to bring my own knives AND cutting board!

I use a large wooden maple one as well as one of those thick softish plastic ones...or some synthetic material....whatever it is....also large and keep them outside on my kitchen windowsill so they are in the afternoon sun every day. I clean them with a nickel or green toughie scouring pad and then put them outside to dry in the sun where they stay until needed.

SharonCb

My favorite cutting board, linked below, is the Cuisinart Prep board. Plastic, and it has a lip for containing juices from veggies/fruits/etc. I use a heavier duty plastic board for pounding and heavy chopping. I actually have about ten boards, various sizes, but I invariably reach for the Prep board.

Cooks Illustrated has a review this month and I glanced at the article. They like the bamboo boards the best. That being said, they said there is no difference in bacteria count measured off cleaned (soap/hot water) boards.

One trick DH discovered for cutting up juicy meats is to put the cutting board (large hard plastic jobs) inside a half sheet cake pan. The lip isn't too high so it doesn't interfere with cutting and it contains all the mess.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cuisinart Prep Board, all over the net, different sizes too

According to our Sanitation textbook, wood is acceptable as long as there are no seams. Plastic (actually acrylic) is the restaurant standard as they are more lightweight and can be put into the commercial dishwashers for sanitizing.

Glass should be never be used as it will definitely dull your knives!

I have several acrylic ones - from 8 inches to the huge restaurant ones you can buy at Sam's. It all depends on the job I'm doing as to what I use.

For kitchen use, my all time favorite is similar in shape & thickness to the larger one posted by Lou, have had it over 20 years and sanitize after each use.

Also have the thin flexible types, various size of white plastic type, & a larger wooden. More often than not, my 10"x12"wooden one is the one that I reach for most. In total I have 6 cutting boards for prep work and that seems to work for me.

Lucy

Since we only eat chicken, no meat is cut on mine. My board is 10X9 with a handle that allows it to hang right at my work station. I have had this board for over 30 years :)

forgot to link the article

Here is a link that might be useful: U of AZ

I have three of the hard plastic ones, one for meat / fish, one for onions and veggies that might smell, and one for fruit and cheese and the like. I also have a few of the flexible plastic ones that I use when I want to be able to transport more easily or that I use when I need a bigger cutting surface...

I'd like to get a wood one at some point -- I used to have one but can't figure out what happened to it.

Emily

Only wood for me too. If needed, I'll scrub mine down with kosher salt and lemon juice or the occasional liquid bleach. Never glass or plastic. I just think wood cutting boards have more personality and history.

I've cut meat and veggies on my wood cutting board with no problems ever (clean off between uses, of course).

All of my cutting boards are wood. But, I don't like placing raw meat on them.

So -when cutting meat or chicken- this is what I do.
I place one of those cheap, flexible cutting mats on top of my wood cutting board and chop, chop.

It protects my cutting board and my good knives. And clean-up is always painless.

Sol

I keep my large Boos wooden board out on the prep counter all the time. I use it for veggies, fruits, breads, herbs.

For meats, I use the flexible mats (red for beef and yellow for chicken). I put those in the dishwasher.

Cameron

PS I recently got the manual Wusthof knife sharpener for my Wusthof knives. It worked great! There are two sharpeners -- one is for santoku.

I remember when they pulled all the wooden butcher blocks
out of the butcher shops( they actually had butcher shops )

Then they they found out that the wood was more sanitary.

I think it's all a money thing to sell certain items.
LOU
PS : What happened to all them Butcher Blocks ?

Luigi, good butcher blocks are getting harder and harder to find.
The last one I found, was maybe a year or two ago, and I put it in the shop, with a price tag of $350. It sold that same day.
We knew they were going for a lot more that what we asked, but it was huge and bulky, and we wanted it sold "now." And it did.

Sol

they actually had butcher shops

We had one on the corner of our street. One winter Mama sent us girls to get that night's meat for dinner, we felt so grown up and responsible. Unfortunately the meat, wrapped in white paper, fell off our sled on the way home. We did go back and look for it, but it was either gone or lost.

Sigh ... :)

I have two bamboo cutting boards, love em both. One of them has rubber pads on the corners for non slip. I use them for everything, including raw meat/chicken. I clean well with hot soapy water after use. Never had a contamination problem doing this with wooden cutting boards in the 27 years I've been doing this.

I used to have a glass/ceramic one a long time ago, hated it. I've recieved some cute glass ones as gifts, I use them for serving but not for cutting.

By the way, none of the wood ones I've owned lasted forever. They do get old & cut up, etc. No biggie to toss them and get new ones. But for me, it's wood, hands down.

"they actually had butcher shops"

A while back my client offered me a job but it required relocating. When asked if I'd consider it I said no because I wasn't crazy about the area - citing the fact that there were no butchers or fish markets to be found. Is that really too much to ask in this day and age? There are plenty of both where I live; am I just spoiled?

So much good info has already been shared, but here's my tip for keeping my plastic cutting board on the granite counter. USE YOUR SILPAT underneath! DH discovered it when trying to carve some meat. It keeps the board from moving at all!

I like the flexible cutting boards from IKEA. Maureen brought some to Canny Camp and I was hooked. They sell 2 to a pack for something under $5.

Ellen - great tip with the silpat - but here's what I use: that mesh drawer liner that is plastic. It comes in a roll, is really cheap and when it gets gross, I toss it and cut another piece and use it.

Also - a side towel that has been dampened (not totally wet) works to curb sliding too.

Thanks so much for all the information and tips. I will be looking for some new wooden cutting boards soon!

Lou, I like how you signed your boards!

Michelle

Pat, I love the drawer liner idea! So much cheaper than a large silpat!

Michelle: I guess you don't want to be a good girl ???
And hope Santa would give you one for Christmas !!!
LOU

Lou, I'm always good and sometimes even better!

Hopefully Santa is watching!!

Michelle

I only use wood boards. We have one of those big thick ones with a trough that we use a few times a year for carving cooked meat. Mostly I like the ones that are about a half inch thick because they are lighter and can be handled with one hand.

We have one for raw meat, one for cheeses and several for produce - because we keep kosher as well as for sanitary reasons.

One tip is to rub the board with parsley if you want to go from cutting things like onion to cutting fruit. Parsley neutralizes the onion odor. Usually I just cut the onion first and then do other vegetables.

I just bought a pretty bamboo one to serve cheese from. They look really nice but I wonder how well bamboo works for cutting on.

Lou, can you describe how you made the cutting boards? When we remodeled, my husband said he would make one to fit in part of our prep sink. He has made a test one so we can experiment with the shape by modifying a cutting board he got from the store but that one isn't made with a great wood.

Cloud Swift: I used a Maple Butcher block cutting board
that was too thick to handle.
I cut it to a 5/8 inch thickness, using a band saw.
This was heavier the I need, so to allow for sanding.
One of the older lumber yards might do this for you.
Find one that does cabinet work. They might run it threw a planer too.

I built my band saw to cut this deep, for my Wildfowl Carvings.

Then I just cut the shape I wanted, sanded and oiled it with Veg. Oil.
Had it for about 20 years.
Tip !!! don't smack anything with the flat side. It may split.
I use mine like a hammer sometimes, to break apart frozen
food but I use the edge, not flat!!!
I didn't do such a good job on the signature.

Hope I could help you.
LOU

LOU

Lou - Band saw? You're good. That would have put me over the edge and "forced" me to buy a thickness planer!

The current Cooks Illustrated has an article reviewing the 13 cutting boards they tested. Here are the top 4 rated "highly recommended:"

Totally Bamboo Congo at $39

Snow River Utility at $16.99 (wood laminate composite with maple surface)

JK Adams Takes Two at $22 made of hard rock sugar maple

Architec Gripper Nonslip at $14.99 made of polypropylene
They did say this one slightly dulled a new knife but was highly rated in cutting, durability and cleanup.

In the "recommended" group were two bamboo boards and one hard rock maple board.

Pyrex glass was in the "not recommended" category.