High quality, solid wood cutting boards - where to find? [General]
2010 Jan 20
Home Sense. Love-hate relationship there. Because, the stuff is end of the line. But then again, I've also had a bamboo salad bowl break on me in the first hour of use.
Anyway. I would suggest Epicuria cutting boards. I'm not sure what they're made out of, but we have two and swear by them. They're not quite wood, not plastic, and they're dishwasher safe.
Anyway. I would suggest Epicuria cutting boards. I'm not sure what they're made out of, but we have two and swear by them. They're not quite wood, not plastic, and they're dishwasher safe.
2010 Jan 20
I second the Epicuria boards. Wood composite of some sort I think, but not sure either. My reasons for liking them are they are light and dishwasher safe. My only caveat is that I always need to put a non slip pad underneath (or towel) just so they feel a little more solid. I have two as well one light wood colour and one charcoal. They are about two years old and look as good as new. Oh I just remembered a third one, the smallest which I use for a quick slice of a lime or garlic or other small job. Love them.
I have seen them at Ma Cuisine and I know Ashton Green used to carry them online.
I have seen them at Ma Cuisine and I know Ashton Green used to carry them online.
2010 Jan 20
nothing fancy.. but i have a great ikea cutting board i've been using for at least 5, 6 years www.ikea.com nice and thick too! :)
2010 Jan 20
I've personally gone through far too many wood boards over the years to ever buy another one. We switched to plastic about 7 or 8 years ago and I won't look back especially now that we have a dishwasher which we did not have back then.
Now that having been said, we got Ikea hardwood butcher-block counter tops because we actually wanted to use them for cutting directly on for a lot of things, and we like the marred up look that they get in doing that. But a lot of stuff we won't cut right on the countertop like onions, garlic, and meat, to name first few obvious ones.
Now that having been said, we got Ikea hardwood butcher-block counter tops because we actually wanted to use them for cutting directly on for a lot of things, and we like the marred up look that they get in doing that. But a lot of stuff we won't cut right on the countertop like onions, garlic, and meat, to name first few obvious ones.
2010 Jan 20
The reason I want solid wood is health concerns. I've had plastic boards and they all get chopped up. Where do you think the plastic ends up? :) Same for composite boards, they are probably coated with something and that coat will end up in your tummy.
I like the IKEA one, I'll check it out.
I am still open for suggestions tho. Really want something like IKEA butcher block counter top, but I'm renting ;)
I like the IKEA one, I'll check it out.
I am still open for suggestions tho. Really want something like IKEA butcher block counter top, but I'm renting ;)
2010 Jan 20
i have a stinson maple board that is fantastic. definitely worth the money.
www.stinsonstudios.ca
this ikea one isn't bad, it has lasted a fairly long time:
EXKLUSIVT, Butcher block (chopping board)
www.ikea.com
i only use wood. look for solid wood, not small glued together strips, the way many cheaper boards are made.
how do you treat your cutting boards? do they soak in water? go in the dishwasher? a lot of bad boards are actual a result of improper care.
www.stinsonstudios.ca
this ikea one isn't bad, it has lasted a fairly long time:
EXKLUSIVT, Butcher block (chopping board)
www.ikea.com
i only use wood. look for solid wood, not small glued together strips, the way many cheaper boards are made.
how do you treat your cutting boards? do they soak in water? go in the dishwasher? a lot of bad boards are actual a result of improper care.
2010 Jan 20
johnboos.com/ I love these cutting boards, very thick and durable. I have seen them at grace in the kitchen www.ottawafoodies.com
2010 Jan 21
i bought my stinson board at the one of a kind craft show in toronto. they also come to the ottawa area craft shows. they will sell to you off their website too, you can email them, explain what you are looking for and they will give you some quotes. their boards are very good quality and just get better with use. plus, they look great just sitting on the counter top.
2010 Jan 21
Grace In The Kitchen has a stellar supply of cutting boards and blocks as well: www.graceinthekitchen.com
:)
:)
2010 Jan 21
I have a bamboo cutting board from Home Sense. As previously mentioned, I do not ever soak my board, instead I spray a mix of water & javex and then wipe with a hot damp cloth and then dry. That is it, and about twice a month, I give them a good treatment with mineral oil. We have a red plastic Ikea board for meat (red=blood) that way it's easier for everyone to remember to use it only for meats...
2010 Jan 21
I gave up on wooden cutting boards... although I still think they are lovely to look at, and give a real nice feel to a kitchen, as in "someone who lives here loves to cook". LOL
As for bamboo, I've heard from others that they do indeed fall apart quite easily... bamboo just isn't a "hard" wood.
And of course as Lady Who Brunches mentioned in her reply, anything bought at HomeSense should be taken with a grain of salt... they certainly have done a good job of marketing themselves as a "regular" store when what they truly are is a Reseller or Overstocked, Overruns, and No-Sells. Most folks DO NOT know that they are owned by TJ Maxx in the USA (the equivalent store in the USA is called HomeGoods... they also own Winners here in Canada).
Like some of the others, I now use plastic from Ikea. We stick them in the Dishwasher without problems, and if they get beat up, I'll throw them out and get new ones... at $ 3.99 (for two) see www.ikea.com and www.ikea.com it really is an easy inexpensive alternative (todate they are about 5 years old, and show little to no wear & tear).
Like Poutine we LOVE the colour coding, use the RED one for RAW MEAT, and the BLACK one for COOKED MEAT (a god-send when grilling, charcoal bits used to otherwise blacken my white boards, and seem to never come off). WHITE ONES are used for FRUITS & VEGGIES.
As for bamboo, I've heard from others that they do indeed fall apart quite easily... bamboo just isn't a "hard" wood.
And of course as Lady Who Brunches mentioned in her reply, anything bought at HomeSense should be taken with a grain of salt... they certainly have done a good job of marketing themselves as a "regular" store when what they truly are is a Reseller or Overstocked, Overruns, and No-Sells. Most folks DO NOT know that they are owned by TJ Maxx in the USA (the equivalent store in the USA is called HomeGoods... they also own Winners here in Canada).
Like some of the others, I now use plastic from Ikea. We stick them in the Dishwasher without problems, and if they get beat up, I'll throw them out and get new ones... at $ 3.99 (for two) see www.ikea.com and www.ikea.com it really is an easy inexpensive alternative (todate they are about 5 years old, and show little to no wear & tear).
Like Poutine we LOVE the colour coding, use the RED one for RAW MEAT, and the BLACK one for COOKED MEAT (a god-send when grilling, charcoal bits used to otherwise blacken my white boards, and seem to never come off). WHITE ONES are used for FRUITS & VEGGIES.
2010 Jan 21
Hey Pete, I think I'd really like to recommend one of your boards - I have the feeling you know what you're talking about - back in '75 I bought a 2"x12x12 maple board a friend's dad made and it's still going strong. The bigger 1" board I got at the same time split in two maybe 6 to 8 years ago but the two pieces still do yeoman's work as biscotti and baguette cutting boards. So for everone's sake here I hope you do start a sideline here and who knows where it'd take you.
My other suggestion for you, moltar, is to go to Ireland, find a kitchen store and buy a one-piece cutting board from the Lisnavagh Timber Project at www.irishwoods.com/ - I did. Pretty good excuse to go to Ireland, I'd say!
My other suggestion for you, moltar, is to go to Ireland, find a kitchen store and buy a one-piece cutting board from the Lisnavagh Timber Project at www.irishwoods.com/ - I did. Pretty good excuse to go to Ireland, I'd say!
2010 Jan 21
A friend bought a (second) cutting board at the Signature's Craft Sale from this guy: mkennell.mine.nu/Default.aspx . She bought a second (smaller) one because she loves the first so much. They're beautiful too.
2010 Jan 22
God, Pete. Please make our butcher block countertops for us when we move into a house of our own. We'll pay a prince's sum.
I have a bit of an aversion right now to cutting everything (i.e. meat and garlic and stuff) on butcher block, but that's only because we use cutting boards now. If it's sealed properly and we can scrub it periodically I know for a *fact* that butcher block is all we'd need.
I have a bit of an aversion right now to cutting everything (i.e. meat and garlic and stuff) on butcher block, but that's only because we use cutting boards now. If it's sealed properly and we can scrub it periodically I know for a *fact* that butcher block is all we'd need.
2010 Jan 23
That is the problem with a butcher block countertop Momomoto... the sealing. If you make it safe for food, it is essentially not very well sealed (i.e. it WILL take stains) I use a beeswax/mineral oil combination that is foodsafe for the cutting surface of mine. For the non-cutting surface, I use a food-safe linseed oil coating which is more water resistant, but would probably not taste good in the food if it got in there. I would recommend that only part of a countertop be butcher block. For example, spilled wine, if not cleaned up will stain. Of course, that is reasonably straightforward to fix, as you can either bleach, or sand the stain out, but not something you want to do all the time. I've given a 'light' re-sand to mine once in 2 years.. at that rate, it should last another 200 until it's too thin to sand anymore ;-)
Also unlike many butcher block tops, mine has offset dowels placed between EVERY row of wood, which is side grain (not face grain, and not end grain which is soft and pulpy) So if the food safe, waterproof. Titebond III I use to glue it doesn't hold (which it will), the dowels prevent any potential movement from swelling or what have you. A failing of mine is I tend to over-engineer things...
I would consider helping you out with butcher block, but it can't happen until I've finished my kitchen ceiling.. or there'll be heck to pay...
Also unlike many butcher block tops, mine has offset dowels placed between EVERY row of wood, which is side grain (not face grain, and not end grain which is soft and pulpy) So if the food safe, waterproof. Titebond III I use to glue it doesn't hold (which it will), the dowels prevent any potential movement from swelling or what have you. A failing of mine is I tend to over-engineer things...
I would consider helping you out with butcher block, but it can't happen until I've finished my kitchen ceiling.. or there'll be heck to pay...
2010 Jan 24
I got a great one at the Dollar Store on the Quebec side, near the Toys R US and the Costco (same mall with the future shop at the other end). It's solid one piece, not strips, with a groove routed near the perimeter on one side, and we've had it for years. I think it was around $10. When I bought it the packaging said an unusual kind of wood - was it "rubber wood" from rubber trees? Whatever, it works well; really well.
Here is a link to tests of various materials for cutting boards:
www.naturalhandyman.com
We soon found that disease bacteria such as these were not recoverable from wooden surfaces in a short time after they were applied, unless very large numbers were used. New plastic surfaces allowed the bacteria to persist, but were easily cleaned and disinfected. However, wooden boards that had been used and had many knife cuts acted almost the same as new wood, whereas plastic surfaces that were knife-scarred were impossible to clean and disinfect manually, especially when food residues such as chicken fat were present. Scanning electron micrographs revealed highly significant damage to plastic surfaces from knife cuts.
Although the bacteria that have disappeared from the wood surfaces are found alive inside the wood for some time after application, they evidently do not multiply, and they gradually die. They can be detected only by splitting or gouging the wood or by forcing water completely through from one surface to the other. If a sharp knife is used to cut into the work surfaces after used plastic or wood has been contaminated with bacteria and cleaned manually, more bacteria are recovered from a used plastic surface than from a used wood surface.
Here is a link to tests of various materials for cutting boards:
www.naturalhandyman.com
We soon found that disease bacteria such as these were not recoverable from wooden surfaces in a short time after they were applied, unless very large numbers were used. New plastic surfaces allowed the bacteria to persist, but were easily cleaned and disinfected. However, wooden boards that had been used and had many knife cuts acted almost the same as new wood, whereas plastic surfaces that were knife-scarred were impossible to clean and disinfect manually, especially when food residues such as chicken fat were present. Scanning electron micrographs revealed highly significant damage to plastic surfaces from knife cuts.
Although the bacteria that have disappeared from the wood surfaces are found alive inside the wood for some time after application, they evidently do not multiply, and they gradually die. They can be detected only by splitting or gouging the wood or by forcing water completely through from one surface to the other. If a sharp knife is used to cut into the work surfaces after used plastic or wood has been contaminated with bacteria and cleaned manually, more bacteria are recovered from a used plastic surface than from a used wood surface.
2010 Jan 24
Francis - Geez man, you left out the best part:
"Manual cleaning" in our experiments has been done with a sponge, hot tapwater, and liquid dishwashing detergent. Mechanical cleaning with a dishwashing machine can be done successfully with plastic surfaces (even if knife-scarred) and wooden boards especially made for this. Wooden boards, but not plastics, that are small enough to fit into a microwave oven can be disinfected rapidly, but care must be used to prevent overheating. Work surfaces that have been cleaned can be disinfected with bleach (sodium hypochlorite) solutions; this disinfection is reliable only if cleaning has been done successfully."
SO... that answers the eternal Question... a Dishwasher WILL indeed disinfect a plastic board totally (new or old) and any wooden boards that are ok for the DW (or will survive it). Alternatively, a Microwave will work for larger boards.
"Manual cleaning" in our experiments has been done with a sponge, hot tapwater, and liquid dishwashing detergent. Mechanical cleaning with a dishwashing machine can be done successfully with plastic surfaces (even if knife-scarred) and wooden boards especially made for this. Wooden boards, but not plastics, that are small enough to fit into a microwave oven can be disinfected rapidly, but care must be used to prevent overheating. Work surfaces that have been cleaned can be disinfected with bleach (sodium hypochlorite) solutions; this disinfection is reliable only if cleaning has been done successfully."
SO... that answers the eternal Question... a Dishwasher WILL indeed disinfect a plastic board totally (new or old) and any wooden boards that are ok for the DW (or will survive it). Alternatively, a Microwave will work for larger boards.
moltar
Looking for something serious. Thick, solid wood. Something that will last for years. Where can I get something like that in Ottawa? If not in Ottawa, then maybe online?