Wood, plastic or bamboo: choosing a chopping board that lasts

A chopping board is a simple object with a surprising number of consequences. It determines how quickly your knives go blunt, how much effort cleaning takes, and whether the board itself lasts a year or a decade.

Wood

The traditional choice and still the best for most kitchens. Wood is kind to knife edges because the fibres part and close around the blade rather than resisting it.

It also has a genuine hygiene advantage that surprises people: research going back decades has found that bacteria introduced onto a wooden surface are drawn down into the fibres and die there, whereas a scored plastic surface holds them in the grooves. A wooden board that is washed and dried properly performs at least as well as plastic in practice.

End grain versus edge grain

End-grain boards — the chequerboard pattern — present the cut ends of the fibres upward, so the knife slides between them. They are the kindest to an edge and the most self-healing, and they are heavy and expensive.

Edge-grain boards are the ordinary flat-laminated kind: harder on a knife than end grain, considerably cheaper, and perfectly good.

The drawbacks

Wood must not go in a dishwasher and must not be left to soak. Both cause splitting and warping. It needs oiling periodically. And it is heavy, which matters if you carry the board to a pan.

Plastic

Polyethylene boards are light, cheap, dishwasher safe and easy to colour-code, which is why professional kitchens use them.

The trade-off is that plastic scores permanently. Once a board is heavily grooved, those grooves hold food and are difficult to clean — at that point the board should be replaced, and plastic boards are consumables in a way wooden ones are not.

They are also harder on knife edges than wood, though softer than the alternatives below.

Bamboo

Technically a grass, laminated into boards. Light, sustainable, attractive, and considerably harder than most timber — which is the catch. Bamboo blunts knives faster than wood does, and the glue lines between the strips can open if the board is soaked.

Deep-carbonised bamboo is heat-treated, which darkens it and makes it more stable. Good boards, provided you accept the effect on your edges and keep them out of standing water.

Boards to avoid for cutting

Glass, marble, granite and ceramic. All of them blunt a knife within minutes — sometimes within a single onion — and a glass board can chip an edge outright. They are serving boards, and they are fine as that.

Size and thickness

Most home boards are too small. A board that is too small pushes food off the edge and makes you work in a cramped space, which is both slower and less safe. Aim for at least 15 by 20 inches for a main board.

Thickness matters for stability and for warping. Thin boards flex and slide; thicker boards stay put. Whatever you buy, put a damp cloth or a silicone mat underneath it — a board that moves while you cut is the most avoidable hazard in a kitchen.

A juice groove is worth having for meat and for fruit, and it slightly reduces the usable surface.

How many

Two at minimum: one for raw meat and fish, one for everything else. Colour-coded plastic makes this obvious; with wooden boards, choose two visibly different shapes.

A third small board for garlic, chilli and onion saves everything else tasting of them.

Care

Wood and bamboo

• Wash by hand with hot soapy water immediately after use, then dry standing on edge so both faces dry evenly.
• Never soak, never dishwasher.
• Oil monthly at first, then a few times a year, with food-grade mineral oil. Do not use cooking oils — olive and vegetable oils go rancid in the wood.
• For odours, scrub with coarse salt and half a lemon.
• Sand out deep scores with fine paper and re-oil; a wooden board can be resurfaced several times.

Plastic

• Dishwasher on a hot cycle, which is its main advantage.
• Replace when the grooves stop cleaning up.
• Do not use as a trivet — hot pans deform it.

Storage

On edge, with air on both faces. Boards stored flat on a worktop or stacked on top of each other trap moisture underneath, and that is where warping and mould begin.

What we list

Every board in the Des Plaines range states the material, the dimensions, the thickness, whether it has a juice groove and whether it is reversible. Reversible boards with a groove on one face and a flat surface on the other are the most generally useful design we stock.

Common questions

Is wood or plastic more hygienic?

A well-maintained wooden board performs at least as well as plastic in practice. Bacteria drawn into wood fibres die there, whereas a heavily scored plastic board holds them in the grooves — which is why scored plastic boards should be replaced.

Can bamboo boards go in the dishwasher?

No. Bamboo is laminated, and dishwasher heat and moisture open the glue lines. Hand wash, dry standing on edge, and oil occasionally.

What oil should I use on a wooden board?

Food-grade mineral oil. Do not use olive or vegetable oil — they go rancid in the wood and the board will start to smell.

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