Knives & Chopping Boards

Knives & Chopping Boards

The two things every kitchen replaces first. A chopping board, or cutting board, protects the worktop and keeps raw meat off surfaces you prepare salad on, which is why boards are so often bought as colour-coded sets rather than singly. Knives are bought either as a full block set for a new kitchen or as individual replacements when one blade wears out. Boards here run from small 31.5cm plastic boards through 40cm large boards to bamboo blocks and toughened glass worktop savers, and knife sets run from 5 and 6 piece blocks down to single cooks, bread, carving and paring knives.

Knives

Choose between a knife block set and individual knives. A block set covers the standard shapes in one go, usually a cook's knife, bread knife, carving knife, utility knife and parer, and keeps them stored safely. Individual knives make more sense when you know what you actually use. Kitchen Devils is the deepest range here, covering French cook's, small cook's, bread, roast meat, carving, tomato, vegetable, all purpose, serrated and peeler knives, plus the Control carving set and the Rollsharp sharpener. Ninja supplies StaySharp 5 and 6 piece blocks with a sharpener built into the block itself. Blackmoor covers bamboo pro and black 5 piece blocks, a 6 piece set with ceramic peeler and serrated steak knives in packs of 6, and Joseph Joseph adds the Elevate bamboo block. Steelex handles the budget end.

Chopping Boards

Material decides how a board behaves. Plastic boards are dishwasher safe and easy to sanitise, which suits raw meat and fish, and come in 31.5 x 19.7cm and 40 x 24cm. Bamboo is harder wearing and kinder to blades than glass, and looks well enough to serve on. Toughened glass worktop savers take heat and wipe clean but will dull a knife, so they work better as a trivet or serving surface than a daily cutting board. Joseph Joseph dominates the sets, with Folio 3 and 4 piece icon sets in regular and large, graphite, steel and multicolour, some supplied with a chef knife, plus the Chop2Pot Plus folding board that pinches into a chute for tipping food into a pan. Blackmoor supplies board sets and a chopping block with finger grooves, Tara Lane the Treviso live edge boards in medium and large, and Steelex the plain plastic boards.