How to choose the best chopping board for you
The best type of chopping board for you depends on the food you eat, your style of cooking and your kitchen design. Here’s what you should consider before choosing a new chopping board:
Material: Plastic, oak, bamboo, and recycled products are all popular materials for chopping boards. Wood looks lovely and is kind to your knives, but it is rarely dishwasher-proof and can need oiling to stop it from cracking. Plastic, such as polypropylene, is easy to clean and long-lasting. Bamboo is light, attractive to look at and relatively simple to maintain. However, it's less robust than harder wood. The biggest tip? Avoid glass; it can slip across the worktop, is prone to shattering and will blunt knife blades.
Ease of cleaning: Plastic is dishwasher-proof but can be wiped down in moments and washed in hot soapy water. Remember to buy a size of board that will sit neatly in your dishwasher. Wooden cutting boards will warp in the high temperatures inside a dishwasher; they are also slow to dry, so they shouldn’t be soaked as they will crack and develop mould.
Non-slip: A chopping board should stay put as you prepare root veg or carve a meat joint. Anti-slip feet, a textured base or rubber around the edge will help to keep a board in place. If you struggle with your chopping board moving across the worktop at a crucial moment in a recipe, use a dampened tea towel underneath for extra grip.
Design: A practical white plastic chopping board is ideal if it lives in a cupboard. However, if your new chopping board is a feature, wood and bamboo will look fantastic in a shaker style or farmhouse kitchen, whereas brightly coloured or blackboards will look better in a modern or minimalist room.
Size: If your family loves a massive Sunday roast or you’re an enthusiastic home baker, bigger is better. Make sure your new chopping board fits in the dishwasher or cupboard. Small chop boards are helpful for exclusive use with highly scented foods such as onion and garlic.
Drip groove: A juice groove is handy when carving meat or wet foods such as tomatoes and citrus fruits. Tip the board slightly, and the liquid will run into the groove, so there’s less mess.
Carving section: A patch of spikes in the middle of your chopping board will hold your joint in place while carving. It is also a brilliant way to present the meat at Sunday lunch, especially if you like to carve it at the table.
Which chopping board should I buy?
If you want a solid wood chopping board that will look fabulous on your worktop, we love the T&G Acacia Wood Chopping Board and the Harcas Oak Chopping Board. They are beautiful, won’t slip and make excellent serving boards for everything from a charcuterie platter to a Sunday roast.
If a chopping board that is easy to clean and affordable is more important to you, choose a plastic option such as the dishwasher-proof OXO Good Grips Chopping Board or the non-slip technology of the KitchenAid Non-Slip Chopping Board.
Cooking should be a joy, and all your kitchen tools need to work hard to simplify the process; that’s why we were delighted with the Joseph Joseph range. Their Chop2Go board folds so you can slide your ingredients into the pan, and the Folio Set makes separating raw meat and fish, cooked meat and fish and veg a cinch.
How we chose our recommendations
Recommendations from real Mumsnet users
Mumsnet users love cooking for their families and friends and have lots of opinions on the best tools for the job. So, the first stop on our journey to find the best chopping boards was the Mumsnet user forums. We carefully analysed feedback from Mumsnetters to see which cutting boards or styles they have put through their paces, and still rate after extensive regular use.
Expert opinions
Next, we scrutinised the reviews and feedback from trusted food experts. We want to be sure that the products we recommend are fit for purpose, so we focused on award-winning chopping boards and those well thought of by chefs, industry professionals and food writers.
Authentic consumer reviews
Finally, in our definitive list of the best chopping boards available in the UK, we investigated comprehensive customer reviews on retailer websites such as Amazon, John Lewis and Partners and Argos.
About the author
Gemma Lumley is a Content Writer for Mumsnet; she writes consumer, home and lifestyle articles and specialises in product round-ups and reviews.
With many years of experience as a content and copywriter for her family business Urban Media Publishing, Gemma has written articles and blogs on travel, the outdoor industry, parenting and finance.
Gemma is a mum of two grown-up children, has two dogs and a tortoise. When she isn’t writing in-depth product round-ups, Gemma loves to hike and enjoy the great outdoors.
Why you should trust us
We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust, and we spend hours scouring the Mumsnet forums and online bestseller lists to find products that real parents rate.
Transparency is crucial to us, so we're always upfront about where we find our recommendations. We write about products that offer the best value to most parents – the ones our writers recommend to their friends and family.
Read next: Discover the Best baking trays