Lots of people do, and the butcherblock that I had planed and sanded and replaced certainly showed all the signs of having been used to cut.

I made the decision not to mostly on the grounds of hygiene. I realize that most people use their BB for cutting vegetables and fruit if they use it at all, and use a more-easily-cleaned surface for meats. For me, though, there is the issue of cleaning the surface before cutting anything on it, and I'm too lazy to actually disinfect my BB daily. I prefer to use a plastic cutting board that I can just put in the dishwasher.

It's not an aesthetic decision for me. It was a "what's going to be the least trouble for me?" decision!

I don't - I just like the not chopped on look too much. I have a beautiful cutting board that of course we chop on. Everytime I look at it I think how much nicer it looked before it was all hacked up.

I don't have a hygiene issue with it. I always use wooden cutting boards and of course don't put them in the dishwasher (don't use the same one for produce and raw meat of course).

I have a 3x2 foot butcher block that I don't chop on YET. I haven't actually 100% finished the kitchen so I want to keep it nicer looking so I can get a final picture. The block is not attached so I plan on flipping it to one side for daily use and saving one side for parties. That way I get the best of both worlds. It is 90 pounds though so it is hard for me to lift.

Flipping that NINETY-pound butcher block from the daily use chopping side to purdy side for parties, Cleo?!? You are either really strong or don't plan on having many parties. (Just kidding, while laughing. That struck my funny bone.)

My wood topped island with prep sink will be used for baking projects, and prep with another cutting board on it only...No cutting. However, I plan to have a butcher block piece by the stove for chopping.--That one can be easily taken to the compost to be scraped, the sink to be cleaned, or be easily (and inexpensively) resurfaced or replaced. I will have stainless counters in that location and haven't yet decided whether it will sit on top, or if I'll have the counter shaped to inset it...But it will still slide in and out the front.

haha. No I don't have alot of parties. The Boos block people recommend flipping it every other month. I figured since I had to flip it anyway to oil it-I might as well try to come up with a plan. Keeping in mind all of you that none of my plans actually come to fruition, I can guarantee that the block will never be flipped. ;)

I have an antique maple block out of a butcher shop. It gets cut on several times a day. I has been the primary work surface in our kitchen for more than 25 years. It gets scrubbed regularly and is sometimes scraped as well. The surface looks washed out. There are deep knife cuts in the edges which were there when I got it. The edges are worn down into major curves.

If I am having company I can oil it, but I usually don't because I am busy doing other things to get ready for company. People always comment on the beautiful block, even when it has its normal working look.

Work surfaces are supposed to look like they are worked on. If you cook, but don't want your show kitchen to look like it works, put a "real" kitchen in your basement and bring the food up from there to set in the one that is just for show.

Everyday look:{{!gwi}}

Company's coming:{{!gwi}}

We are redoing our kitchen with a very large island, and we are going with all butcher block countertops on that prep space. I intend to use it daily, often, as a cutting board. I do have separate boards I use for meat, and that practice will continue. I am actually in the camp that believes (backed up by science, although both sides can say that) that the antibacterial bugs inside the wood keep it from getting nasty - I still use a separate board for cutting meat but don't freak when a little steak juice escapes. BTW, my other boards are all wood as well (I am JK Adams' best customer!)

Like Sharon, I constantly get admiring comments from those who see my current island (butcher block-topped), even when I haven't oiled it in a while. I'll try to take a pic of the island and post it.

I love the feel of cutting on the wood, love that I don't have to worry about nicks and scratches when someone is there helping me in the kitchen, love the look of a used piece of furniture in the work space.

Good luck with your decision. As most things kitchen, it all boils down to how you like to work, and that includes what you like to see in the kitchen space.

Nica

I use our butcher block island daily for cutting and have done so since we put it in before Passover. I also knead bread dough directly on the counter. It is the primary work and prep surface in our kitchen. Before that, for 25 years we had a small butcher block work table which I also cut on. I do use a separate. plastic cutting board for chicken and meat.

Work surfaces are supposed to look like they are worked on. If you cook, but don't want your show kitchen to look like it works, put a "real" kitchen in your basement and bring the food up from there to set in the one that is just for show.

Wow. Way to invalidate the choices that some of us have made. You realize that you just called a whole bunch of people on this forum dilettants, right? Just airily dismissed us all as wanting to have "show" kitchens, and not really cooking in our kitchens? Did you really mean to be so insulting?

Nice.

vrjrnts - of course we can have a kitchen that is both nice looking and nice working and nice is in the eyes of the beholder anyway, right? It seems people who feel the need to put others down do so because it somehow makes them feel better about themselves or their choices. I say each to their own - everyone has different tastes - life would be very dull if we all liked the same stuff. And think how much less activity there would be in the Kitchen Forum!! Okay - jumping off soapbox now.

Thanks so much everyone for all of the input.

What I love about this forum is that I get to see
all of the different ways that we all use our kitchens.

It gives me soooo much food for thought...thanks!

vjrnts, you are right. I was trying to state something in the ridiculous extreme and did it badly.

I thoughtlessly insulted a lot of people. I apologize.

Sharon, thanks for acknowledging a mistake. I appreciate your willingness to make things right.

Vicki

yes
we cut on one of the wooden counters...by the stove. what a relief not to have to drag out a board. the other wood counter has a sealed finish and we don't cut on it, although i suspect my inlaws did recently because i see a few cut marks. this one has a sink in it, so everyone on this side should be using a board. hear that in laws?? kren