Best chopping boards to buy at a glance
- Best chopping board set: Joseph Joseph folio chopping board set, £55
- Best chopping board for versatility: Brabantia Tasty+ chopping board set, £22
- Best investment chopping board: Our Place walnut cutting board, £90
- Best large chopping board: Ninja magnetic bamboo chopping board, £20.99
- Best budget chopping board: ProCook non-slip chopping board, £8
- Best chopping board for storage: Marks & Spencer hexagonal rectangular large chopping board, £19.50
- Best chopping board for presentation: Robert Welch pebble oak chopping board, £42
- Best chopping board for carving meat: Cole & Mason Berden extra-large acacia wood board, £40
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Best chopping boards to buy in 2024
Joseph Joseph Folio chopping board set
Best chopping board set
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The latest in a whole stable of functional worktop savers from Joseph Joseph, a company that never fails to come up with solutions to niggling kitchen problems. This time, it’s a set of boards for those with space-challenged kitchens.
This ‘library’ solution keeps four boards snug in a slim, upright storage box, which can sit unobtrusively against a wall or splash-back. In a choice of two different colourways, either brights or greys, each one is in a different shade, so you could decide to keep one solely for veg, meat or strongly-flavoured foods such as spices and fish.
The boards themselves are uniformly sized and performed well, their corner ‘feet’ gripping worktops with food items held in place thanks to a subtly textured surface. Choose from regular (20x30cm) or large (24x34cm).
There’s space for air to circulate around each chopping board too, so it’s a great way to keep boards dry and hygienic once out of the dishwasher – they came out looking good as new.
Brabantia Tasty+ chopping board set
Best chopping board for versatility
This set of boards by Brabantia gave us a choice of three great cutting areas. The largest also served (literally) as a lipped tray for serving up meals or transporting cuppas to the next room.
We used it as a breakfast tray – it was the perfect size for bacon sarnies and tea for two. Flip it over and you have a rock steady board with enough space for large meal prep.
Nesting side by side inside the larger board, the two smaller surfaces of our test model were in different tones of green and looked great in the kitchen. These stayed unblemished no matter what we chopped and sliced, repelling smells and stains and saving stray juices in the channels running around their borders.
Although guaranteed by Brabantia for five years, it points out that hot pans shouldn’t be rested on them – bear that in mind if you’re prone to plonking hot trays on boards straight from the oven.
Our Place walnut cutting board
Best investment chopping board
This black walnut wood chopping board is more expensive than any other here but its style and quality are on another level. Made by American brand Our Place – known for viral products like the Always Pan and the Wonder Oven – it’s as much a practical cutting board as an attractive serving platter to present at the dinner table, with plenty of space for a large joint of meat or generous meze spread.
On one side of the board is a deep trench that pick up spills and juices to minimise mess. During use, it stays stable on the worktop and stands upright securely when left to dry. It has some heft to it but the inset handle design along the board’s outer edges make it easy to lift and carry around the kitchen. To ensure its long lifespan, you can also occasionally treat it with food-grade mineral oil to prevent the wood from cracking.
Ninja magnetic bamboo chopping board
Best large chopping board
If you’re looking for a reliable family-sized chopping board that doesn’t cost the earth, this option from Ninja is a solid and well made choice. Made from bamboo, it has a smooth, rustic finish that would look great in any kitchen. Its dimensions are 43.4cm x 29cm, and just one size is available.
Uniquely, there are raised magnetic feet in each corner that are perhaps more handy for storage purposes than keeping it secure on the worktop – not many households have metal worksurfaces. Even so, we were impressed that the board didn’t slip about on the counter during use. The raised feet might also prove useful for presentation purposes.
Along one side of the board a notice that warning against putting it in the dishwasher is etched into the wood – we felt this ruined the aesthetic a little, but we can see the benefit of making this message clear.
ProCook non-slip chopping board
Best budget chopping board
This little board soon became a firm favourite. Easy to use, lightweight and versatile – all for a very reasonable £8.
It has a handle, is reversible and keeps firm on surfaces without slipping thanks to rubber corners. Grooves on either side led to a narrowed ‘slope’ at one end of the board, great for sliding chopped ingredients into a pan easily.
Of course, that means lots of fruit or meat juice can leak off the board, so best to avoid using for cutting the Sunday joint. Nevertheless, this bargain performed well, cleaning like a dream in the dishwasher and stashing away snugly in the narrowest of cupboard spaces.
Marks & Spencer hexagonal rectangular large chopping board
Best chopping board for storage
This board is lighter to hold than it looks, and well designed for its price tag.
The useful grab handle means it can be hung from a meat hook-style rack – a nice option for storage.
The herringbone alignment of the wood looks great, but makes the surface less smooth than others tested, and means it’s more likely to split with heavy, long-term use.
But for now, it withstood our drop test and stayed looking pristine after lots of chopping, hand-washing (this one’s not for the dishwasher) and splashing with beetroot juice and spiced chicken joints, heavy on the turmeric.
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Robert Welch pebble chopping board 32cm
Best chopping board for presentation
In a world of oblong chopping boards, be pebble-shaped. This option, from British company Robert Welch, is made with a smooth, solid oak that’s a nice alternative to the usual style. It looks great on display in the kitchen or used to present food on the dining table.
Staying unscored after hefty knife use, it wiped down easily and seemed more water resistant than others when given a thorough hand-wash. However, to avoid any warping, we followed instructions to dry it straight afterwards and made sure not to soak or immerse it in water.
Solid oak with a food-safe oiled finish, this felt lovely to handle, with soft, tapered edges. We tried the 32cm version, which was a good size for making and serving lunchtime sandwiches.
There’s a larger 44cm version, and since it’s surprisingly light for such a solid board, it would also be a versatile worktop-to-table choice.
Cole & Mason Berden extra-large acacia wood carving chopping and serving board
Best chopping board for carving meat
You’re unlikely to run out of space when you’re using this chunky, solid wood board, which measures in at a hefty 46 x 34cm. There’s plenty of room for chopping a sizeable amount of vegetables, so it’s ideal for those cooking for the masses. The big surface also doubles up as an attractive serving board.
This has another trick up its sleeve, too: flip it over and the other side is designed for carving meat, with ridges to collect juices that then flow into the deeper well in one corner. There’s a small space next to the well for draining those juices off – another useful detail.
The board is made of acacia and it’s on the heavy side. We were very nervous when performing the drop test, but it survived intact. You’ll need to wash this by hand, but it scrubbed up well and the purple beetroot stains came out with no problem.
How we tested chopping boards
We tested a representative sample of chopping boards made from wood, bamboo, plastic and eco-friendly recycled material and scored them using the following criteria.
The Good Food ‘drop test’: reasoning that over its lifespan, a chopping board suffers lots of knocks and scrapes, we dropped them from knee height to see if they stayed intact.
Extra functions and aesthetics: boards come in all shapes and sizes – some with spikes to secure meat, others with knife sharpeners and folding sides. We rated the extra functions on whether they’re worth the extra money. We poured water over boards with moats to check whether the groove captured all the liquid – in an everyday kitchen, a substandard moat equals wasted meat juices.
No marks: we put each board through a rigorous test of chopping and hacking with a sharp knife to check whether the surface was left with irremovable marks. Chopping boards naturally suffer wear-and-tear, but we wouldn’t expect them to damage easily on first use.
Ease of washing: we used beetroot during testing to check whether the board would absorb colours and odours that can’t be removed with warm soapy water.
Which chopping board should I buy?
There are myriad chopping boards to choose from. Many people like a solid wooden board, some of which are good-looking enough to double as a serving platter. Wooden boards are great for bread and carving meat – they often have a little moat for catching juices.
However, they’re more likely to absorb odours and stains than plastic chopping boards, although hard wood is less absorbent than soft. A wooden chopping board shouldn’t be exposed to lots of water as it might warp or crack, and if you’re a real geek you should treat it with oil to keep it shipshape.
Teak is a reliable wood type, but equally as important is the style of chopping board – one solid piece of wood may be more likely to withstand the test of time than a board made up of lots of layers or pieces of wood joined together.
Plastic (polypropylene etc) chopping boards are seldom as attractive as their wooden counterparts, but they win on hygiene (and often price) as they can be colour-coded for particular tasks, as seen in professional kitchens (red for raw meat, blue for raw fish and so on) and can withstand rigorous washing and sanitising.
Clever new designs include chopping boards with folding sides, to funnel your chopped food into a pan or bowl. Bamboo chopping boards are excellent and often quite reasonable, so we included them in our test.
Whichever board you choose, remember to consider the tasks you’ll be using it for, where you’ll be storing it, whether you want a handle on your board to hang it up, and whether it’s non-slip, as you don’t want your board skidding all over the place.
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This review was last updated in September 2024. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.