Best Cutting Boards

[tekobo]

Hi there.  I am about to dive down a new rabbit hole and I thought I would drop by and see if you could help me dig deeper.

A number of top UK chefs recommend the Apex cutting boards.  They are eye wateringly expensive if you search generally on the web but I managed to track down the UK source and managed to get it down to a manageable £165: https://rowandsons.co.uk/collections/chefs-at-home/products/apex-cutting-board

I then did some more searching to confirm or change my choice and found this YouTube video in which asahi and hasegawa cutting boards are recommended.  They are more reasonably priced and the Black Friday sales would be a good option for renewing our very old stack of cutting boards.  We would keep the good wooden ones for serving and chopping but a fresh set for fish, meat and veg prep would be great.  

Grateful for your views and recommendations before I pull the trigger.  

 

[5698k]

I use Hi Soft, very similar to asahi, and i love them. I’m a bit of a knife snob, all my knives are carbon steel, with very fine, sharp edges. I sharpen at roughly 12* per side. My point is that even with these edges, these boards are great because they dont affect my edges at all. I can easily go a year between sharpenings, and even then, the edges are never damaged because of cutting surface. They’re also very sanitary, they dont gouge like other synthetics, which is where bacteria grow. They’re also very can be bleached or sanded, should the need ever arise.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[C6Bill]

I have a couple but nothing extravagant, typically I just grab my OXO when chopping veggies or my Boos block for meat. I go to a restaurant if i want fish, i just don't cook it at home. So long story short, i can't help you lol

[Syzygies]

HASEGAWA PRO-SOFT RUBBER WOOD CORE CUTTING BOARD FSR 19.7" X 13.8" X 0.8" HT

Traveling solo in Japan, I'd often sit at bars where I could watch chefs work. I learn, and I have always taught my math students to learn, by absorbing the mindsets of others I admire. Cooking isn't following lists of ingredients.

This is the class of board I always saw at the stations that relied on knife technique. I now have several sizes, duplicated when I had two kitchens. I consider these the canonical answer to your question, with the same certainty as "the JVR Vac-100 is far and away the best entry level chamber vacuum machine" (again I bought one for each kitchen, in each case replacing a far clunkier VacMaster).

They do stain. One can ignore this, or soak with a mixture of bleach and water.

My "Made in Japan" hall of fame also includes items one would expect to buy from China: the best cleaver and best wok I've ever owned, again duplicated while I had two kitchens. We saw the New York wok last night in constant use yesterday at California friends' Thanksgiving, for various veggie sides.

They ship worldwide:

Tojiro DP 3-Layer Chinese Cleaver 225mm (thin blade)

Yamada Hammered Iron Round Bottom Wok (1.6mm Thickness)
Yamada Hammered Iron Flat Bottom Wok (1.6mm Thickness)

Edited Friday at 06:04 PM by Syzygies

[tekobo]

Thanks @5698k.  I remembered your obsession with knives and was hoping to get a response from you.  I am particularly taken with you saying that you are able to hold an edge on your knives for up to a year as a result of using better boards.

Thanks for this input re the Hasegawa board @Syzygies.  It looks like it is lighter than the others as well.  Before I started this post about boards I searched the site to see what else had been said on the topic and found a post from you that I would summarise as "go big or go home" i.e. get the biggest cutting surface that you can to help you work efficiently. 

As for you @C6Bill? Your input helped me remember that there are perfectly acceptable, cheaper ways to tackle this problem.  That said, I was already half way down the rabbit hole when I posted and your message didn't succeed in hauling me out.  

I have ended up ordering one plain Asahi board at 600cm x 33cm x 2cm, two black Asahi boards at 600cm x 30cm x 2cm and one composite Hasegawa board at 600cm x 30cm x 2cm.  We will try them out and see what we think.  I see us reserving the Hasegawa board for sushi and fish filleting.  I particularly liked the advertised heat resistance of the Asahi boards.  The Apex boards I was previously looking at should only be washed at relatively low temperatures and have to be stored flat to avoid warping - not a great idea when enthusiastic friends or house guests might get hold of them and "help" without realising the damage they might do. 

There is a chance that we might cut at least one of the black Asahi boards down to get more manageable sizes for quick use.  That might be unnecessary and we might end up buying a few small, cheap boards for things like cutting lemons for drinks or other quick tasks.  Plan is to ditch our very old and scratched Epicurean boards and to select which of our wooden boards to keep. The only remaining wrinkle is making sure we have enough boards with a channel that allow juice from resting meat to gather.  That'll be likely in the wooden board category.

Thanks for all your help.  I will report back when we have had a chance to try them all out.  

P.S.  I just looked at my avatar and realised it is of Sinbad, our beloved cat, who died just a couple of weeks ago.  He had the best death of any of our cats to date. Having just celebrated his 14th birthday he was still running around like a kitten until one day, he just went out to do his usual patrol of the garden and my husband later found him dead on the ground.  The vet thinks he had some kind of a heart attack.  Rest in peace S.  He will stay here as my avatar.  

Edited Sunday at 10:55 AM by tekobo

[jonj]

So sorry for your loss.

[Syzygies]

The Hasegawa and Asahi cutting boards will have cutting surfaces superior to any other I have used. Both for protecting the knives and actually cutting food more effectively.

Bamboo is hard on cutting edges; it's penalty work for my woodworking neighbor. Various synthetic boards chip on me; they aren't expecting my sharp knives. And a company that flogs pure titanium pans on Facebook also sells titanium cutting boards, which tipped me off that they have no idea what they're doing. Sure, titanium is softer than steel, but that's far from the whole picture. I'm loving my Hestan Titanium Chef's Pan which is actually a molecular titanium surface deposited on steel that is 4x stronger than steel, and slick, leaning in the "ceramic nonstick" direction but more durable. But pure titanium is a terrible idea for a pan. Luckily, my knowledge of cutting boards saved me from a mistake.

The Japanese, of course, are expecting sharp knives.

I have long had a raw butcher block work surface in each kitchen, with an overhang to mount tools. I wash the surface by scraping with a bench knife into an (empty) steam table insert that also collects compost as I work. Since getting Japanese cutting boards, I only use the bare wood some of the time, like for prepping winter squash.

I am delinquent in bleaching my Japanese boards again, which does work. I lay down paper towels on the board surface in a utility sink, pour over a bleach mixture just strong enough to turn the paper towels back to pulp. But I'm not expecting Michelin inspectors any time soon (their loss!) and the stains don't bother me. Still, black? Clever.

600cm, wow. Cutting the Hasagawa boards (which you don't plan to do) would expose the wood core. Artists know this one: Cut both ends, make it look deliberate. 😀

Edited Sunday at 07:30 PM by Syzygies

[David Chang]

Hasegawa FSR (wood core)

+

Very soft cushy cutting surface

Keeps blade sharp much longer

-

Expensive.

Discolours easily especially chopping parsley.

Not for hacking or bone chopping.

Microplastics galore!

Gouges and cut marks cannot be removed with their branded sandpaper block. 

 

Asahi Black Rubber Board (home use line with hole punched on the corner)

+ 

Thin, lightweight. Comes in handy small sizes. 

Soft, cushy surface. Not as soft as Hasegawa FSR.

Cheaper than FSR but you get less board. 

Keeps blade sharp longer

No discolouration (it's black)

-

Expensive.

Appears to shed less plastic.

Gouges and cut marks cannot be sanded. 

 

At the end, you still need a heavy wood block board for chopping bones and such.  If you don't mind microplastics, either one is fine. Asahi thin board is my favourite for quick small jobs.  Serrated knives will destroy these plastic boards but i use bread knives on them anyway...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 12:36 AM by David Chang

[jdbower]

I saw an ad for a titanium cutting board. I agree with them that it's probably very sanitary but I don't relish the thought of needing to sharpen my knives after every use

[tekobo]

Let the fun begin!

[5698k]

I really think you’re gonna like those..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[C6Bill]

Sorry about Sinbad 🥲 I’m on the verge of losing Cooper 🫣

[Tyrus]

Hello Tekebo, I always show up to the race late, maybe because I like to give others a head start. Here though I'm inclined to think there probably right, all cutting boards were not created equally, that's evident of the condition of your knife after some use on various boards. Personally I like an end grain board because they wear slowly, they are durable, they have enhanced knife preservation, self healing properties and lastly...they are as handsome as hell. You know I use to make cutting boards, gave em out for Xmas and gifts although they weren't end grain....preparation in sanding was an issue while exposed long grain was easier to fashion. Never did think much on damage to my knives, every few months I'd just sharpen the lot. I would still have to say though, I prefer a board that turns heads just like a pretty girl. A wooden board will always have my heart and be on my table, it's naturally attractive.

[tony b]

I love my end-grain cutting board!

[5698k]

There’s no doubt that end grain boards can be extremely beautiful, and definitely have a place in the kitchen and beyond, i have just found that for the vast majority of my kitchen prep, the Hi-Soft, Asahi, Hasegawa boards are my go to. They’re light enough to maneuver, but heavy enough to stay in place. Their surface can be repaired from every day use, keeping them sanitary. They have a soft feel under the blade, reducing fatigue when doing a lot of chopping, and as i said before, are the best I’ve found at preserving your edges.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[tekobo]

On 12/1/2025 at 10:14 PM, C6Bill said:

Sorry about Sinbad 🥲 I’m on the verge of losing Cooper 🫣

Hey @C6Bill.  It's tough when we lose our best friends.  I hope you had lots of good cuddles. 

[tekobo]

We spent the weekend at @RokDok's cutting up a rare breed pig.  We got half and I spent an hour this morning cutting some up for mincing to make pies.  Just look at that marbling!

And just look at that space.  It was a joy, cutting this up on my new Asahi board. I think this light coloured one will become my raw meat board. I'll be able to see any marks and stains and can keep it extra clean by sanding it down once in a while. 

Introducing these boards simply replaces the plastic and Epicurean boards that we used to use for food prep.  I still have a wooden board for chopping and a range of wooden boards for serving.  I hear you, @David Chang, regarding micro plastics but I don't plan to use a serrated knife on this and will be intentional about using a different board if I need to do any heavy chopping.  It actually makes me wonder about how much chopping one actually needs to do when you are not butchering an animal and needing to chop through bone.  I do the rocking action for cutting things small and chopping, on any surface, must incorporate little bits of the material that you are chopping on.

I am enjoying this journey so far.  The black boards are due to arrive from Japan next week.  All of the boards that I bought are 20mm thick.  My husband usually does the procuring of stuff around here and I think he felt a bit left out.  He has bought a thinner Asahi board to cut up to make small boards for quick jobs.  Lots to look forward to in the lead up to Christmas.  

 

[David Chang]

@tekobo i don't know if asahi offers a sponge sanding block, but hasegawa has one to smooth out the board after heavy use. but i've never been able to smooth out the surface other than raising up even more plastic "fur" on top. but again, microplastics don't bother me. i'm asian and immune to it from years of eating hot foods out of plastic bags. 

and because i'm unable to smooth the board out, i am leaning towards wood (endgrain) for my next board. and if it dulls my knives a little faster, so be it. i rather enjoy sharpening anyway..

if i have to buy another synthetic, it would be the the black asahi for plebs, not the pro kind..