I once worked for a store that sold beautiful cutting boards. We'd tell customers to designate one side for actual cutting and the other for serving. That way, they could remain beautiful and functional.
I think it's important to have a ho-hum cutting board for your onion and garlic chopping. Those scents don't easily come out fully, so I use a cheap plastic cutting board for that kind of kitchen prep. For other not-as-stinky chopping, I use a few larger wooden boards that I've received as gifts over the years and that double as serving pieces for bread and cheese or chopped vegetables. Here are a few favorites:
• Round Ash Wood Cutting Board - $18 from Terrain
• United States-Shaped Boards - $19.95 - $39.95 from UpWoodCrafts
• Ed Wohl's Birds Eye Maple Cutting Boards - $94 from A + R Store
• Rustic Walnut Cutting Board - $46 from Etsy seller GrayWorksDesign
• Hickory Cutting Board - $36 from Brook Farm General Store
Related: Holiday Party Prep: 5 Beautiful Serving Platters
(Images: Terrain, UpWoodCrafts, A + R Stores, Gray Works Design)
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Love the collection! Also check out etsy.com/shop/HollerDesignTN and hollerdesign.us for beautiful handmade in TN cheeseboards and cuttingboards!
I'm exceptionally lucky to live with a master craftsman! My husband is a furniture maker (with a store in lovely Lambertville, NJ). He makes cutting boards in all different shapes and sizes - and woods - walnut, oak, cherry, curly maple. There's a size and shape for every culinary job, and a color of wood to go with every type of food you make! I've asked him for certain sizes and shapes, because I can never find quite the right one!
Great post. I actually had one of the state cutting boards made for my dad for Christmas. He has a new kitchen and I thought it would be perfect. They even added a little heart where he lives in Nevada. I used a company I found on Etsy ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/AHeirloom?ref=seller_info ). The quality was amazing. I was really impressed. I have been eyeing a couple of Gray Works cutting boards - gorgeous!
I guess if you live in Colorado or Wyoming, you can just buy a square one and call it good.
I opted for a Rooster cutting board, because it was clearance to $3.
All of these are great...would be a good hostess gift with a bottle of evoo.