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5 Best Cutting Boards for Your Kitchen, Tested by Our Experts

We evaluated six boards to see which model was the easiest to use, clean, and maintain. Here are our top picks

Paul Hope, Consumer Reports Home & DIY Editor.

By Paul Hope
Home & DIY Editor

Updated by Kala Herh

Updated June 23, 2025

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knife on Totally Bamboo Cutting Board with chopped basil — To find the best cutting boards, we used six boards to prep meals over the course of weeks. We chopped herbs and veggies (like onions) to determine whether the boards had any lingering odor.

A chef’s knife may play the starring role in dinner prep, but your cutting board certainly deserves a nod for best supporting actor. It’s easy to write off these utilitarian boards as interchangeable, but the truth is, some are much better than others.

I know this to be true from culinary school, the time I’ve spent in professional kitchens, and more recently from time spent in my own kitchen, where I assessed six cutting boards of varying materials to see which were the best to use, clean, and maintain.

In this article

Best Cutting Boards
How CR Evaluates Cutting Boards Which to Buy

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We investigate, research, and test so you can choose with confidence.

Paul Hope

Paul Hope is a Home & DIY Editor at Consumer Reports and a trained chef. He covers ranges, cooktops, and wall ovens, as well as grills, drills, outdoor power tools, decking, and wood stains. Before joining CR in 2016, he tested kitchen products at Good Housekeeping and covered tools and remodeling for This Old House magazine. You’ll typically find him in his old fixer-upper, engrossed in a DIY project or trying out a new recipe.