observations on cutting boards:
= you need more than one. i feel like i might even need more than two. why? cross contamination plus you're gonna just feel too lazy to keep it clean 1000$ of the time
= cutting boards are all TOO SMALL. get the next size up from the one you think you need. this goes for thickness too, grip on that thick 2.75" boy. you'll be glad you did. certainly never settle for anything less than 1"
your knives are like 8 inches long plus the handle !¡ give them like at least 2 inches of b reathing room when you use them okay otherwise cutting stuff in dinner is mammoth annoy
= plastic ones can be okay but by and large they suck and are annoying. they bend, they warp, they slide around on smooth surfaces, they wear out your knives faster than wood. the good ones will be a little heavy and have rubber feet to not slide around. plastic ones are lower maintenance but i've yet to find a 18" x 14 x 1.5" plastic butcher block. i wonder why (this isn't my being coy and sarcastic, i literally do wonder why. you can order cut-to-fit food safe HDPE from e.g. TAP plastics but even they will limit you to a maximum of 1" thickness)
= wood is the way to go for sanitation (there's a study by university of harvard iirc that shows this, at least vs plastic. if you're curious, leave a comment asking and i'll dig it up), weight (more is better), aesthetics (a beat-up plastic cutting board is always gonna look super bad (white ones stain, dark ones get a little field of raised, bleached plastic hairs) but there's an allure there for a nice weathered wood one), durability, anything except as stated above.
= softer woods seem to wear down from the knife faster and thus require more frequent and intensive maintenance. been using walnut oil for the finish, probably most food-safe oils will be as good but i think tung oil actually dries into a lasting finish. need to do more research.
= pressed and glued cutting boards are totally fine and also borderline impossible to avoid. single piece is nice but likely 10x what you're looking to pay. but just in case you want to, the option is always there.
the one i got is like clearly cheap mass produced bulk-and/or-scrap acacia wood with some barely-there wood glue filler in all the cracks. next time i want a heavier, harder, darker wood, maybe hickory, maybe walnut, maybe purple heart or ironwood. i want a bigger one, and also one that doesn't have a "Juice Groove"! routed out around the outer edge. that groove doesn't seem to achieve much except for reducing the overall usable area of the cutting board. this is also true for cutout handles, and protruding handles are annoying for a sort of inverse reason. maybe you want a handle on your cutting board for pizza serving reasons. pursuant to cutting boards being too small, this is a Very very common feature so instead of trying to find one that doesn't have one, just get one that's about 2 inches bigger per side.. i can imagine why it's there, but i've never been glad to have it!!
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dont beat me up fo r anything in this post pls i'm still learning about this stuff