When we considered it, it was explained to us that you're not supposed to use them while their still in the "slot". You're supposed to remove them and place them on the counter (like Gibby3000 & IDrive65's parents do). The "slots" are not designed to take the downward force exerted when pushing "down" to cut/chop. However, many people do leave them in the "slot" and have problems with them down the road. (It appears that not everyone does have problems as several of you say you have them and use them in the "slot" w/o any problems.) In the end, I decided, like IDrive65, that I didn't want to give up valuable drawer space...especially since it would affect a shallow drawer. I use my cutting boards all over the kitchen, so having them in one place is not an issue for me. I now store them under my corner prep sink in one of the "black hole" corners of the corner sink base. It's a great use of space that's normally wasted.

I had one and after about 6 uses, I gave it to Goodwill. Same reason: flying crumbs, more complicated to clean than wiping a counter. What i have really found useful is a little tool that I bought at the Culinary Institute of America's bookstore for about $1. It looks like a piece of 6" long thin pipe that has been sliced lengthwise. You slide it over your tablecloth, and it picks up the crumbs like magic. Cooking.com calls it a "metal crumber with pocket clip." If you call around to local gourmet kitchen places or restaurant supply places, you can probably find it as well. Here is a link that might be useful: Crumb Gadget

jasdip, that's exactly what our cab designer and KD said but it's good to hear from someone who's had this set-up. Thanks. nightowlrn, our current one is just above a drawer and AFAIK, there isn't a divider between the two of them. We haven't had an issue with crumbs in the drawer below. But good point, the first set-up could have crumbs going into the drawer from the front of the board. I'll keep that in mind when I plan what's going to go in the drawer below it. 60 yrs old? Wow, sippimom! Thanks for the pic and the advice, , live_wire_oak! So that board is just hiding behind the drawer front but not really resting on the drawer sides, right? So you have to pull open the drawer and then the cutting board? How hard is it to pull the cutting board out to wash it in the sink? Once it was planed down, that is. :) DH and DS2 aren't good about cleaning the board off regularly so I pull it out to scrub it down with hot soapy water regularly and if it's really bad, I'll use a mild bleach solution on it (they don't cut meat on it but they will cut fruit and bread on it). I've talked until I'm blue in the face but they haven't changed their habits and likely won't. That's one reason why I almost didn't include one in the new kitchen but then I realized that I use ours regularly and not having one would be like cutting off my nose to spite my face. :)

Here is an example from Sears Canada. Click on cutout info. Some designers/fabricators/installers may also not eat cost of mistakes or omissions if actual appliances are not available to them for measurements when requested and they have been supplied with incorrect "correct" data by customer or maker. Slide in ranges are fairly critical and it might be better to be certain the fit won't be a problem, other appliances maybe not so much. Here is a link that might be useful: Sears.ca cutout caution