This Cutting Board is Clean, Eco-Friendly and Built to Completely Change Your Cooking Game

Cutting boards are an absolute kitchen essential. It’s your surface for everything, from slicing fruits and veggies for snacks to butchering meat to laying out your must-haves for a charcuterie spread. But as useful as cutting boards are, they aren’t very exciting – and they tend to look pretty banged up after just a few uses. And once they’ve developed knife grooves, they typically get tossed out.

Your cutting boards don’t have to be disposable or boring, though. Fifth & Cherry is a company that’s changing the way you think about cutting boards. Forget about short-term plastic boards that develop stains and warp with use. You can even move on from lesser-quality wood boards that grow mold, crack or fall apart over time. When you try one of the stunningly gorgeous, carefully crafted boards from this company, you’re never going to want to go back to your average cutting board.

I sat down with Fifth & Cherry founders Tim and Tanya Reazor to learn what makes these boards so different – and cleaner than your typical board.

Veteran- and family-owned, Fifth & Cherry wants you to think of your cutting board as an heirloom

The Reazors didn’t exactly set out to create cutting boards. Neither started out as an expert in cutting boards or even kitchen tools; in fact, Tim served in the Marine Corps for 10 years and deployed three times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cutting boards happened as kind of a mistake.

When the couple married, they had a maple wood cutting board passed down by Tanya’s grandmother with decades of love and family history behind it. One day, Tim stuck that board in the dishwasher and it came out, well, kind of how you’d expect: Broken into three pieces and absolutely destroyed. Tim enlisted his father’s help to repair and refinish the board, and he returned home with a board that looked even better than it had before.

That inspired the Reazors to take what many view as a use-and-replace kitchen good and turn it into something that could last – that could be refinished, repaired and reused for decades, passed down as an heirloom just like Tanya’s. The result? A gorgeous, feels-like-satin cutting board made out of responsibly-sourced cherry wood that can be used for a lifetime.

“Most products are made today to be disposable,” Tim notes. “But people cook out of love, and we wanted our boards to represent that, and represent who taught you to cook, to travel with you for years. Each Fifth & Cherry board has a serial number that’s unique to you. That board and serial number stay in your family, like a living lineage or a coat of arms.”

To ensure these boards last a lifetime, every Fifth & Cherry cutting board comes with lifetime refinishing. Instead of tossing your board at the first signs of wear, staining or knife grooves, Fifth & Cherry boards can be sent back for refinishing and be used again and again. This sends fewer cutting boards into landfills and keeps them in kitchens for decades – and makes them an integral part of your own home cooking and history. 

Made with care for added durability and the environment

Fifth & Cherry’s boards are investment pieces, but they’re built to become your go-to, most-used cutting surface. While machines are used in the manufacturing process, each board is hand-clamped and constructed with steel pins for some serious strength. And, as Tim notes, “We’re the only ones that still use those processes.”

Plus, the company doesn’t overlook the environmental impact of sourcing and harvesting its lumber. The wood used to craft these cutting boards is both ethically harvested and sourced. “We use wood sourced from northern Pennsylvania and New York,” Tim explains. “All we make are cherry boards, with North American black cherry wood. We’re big proponents of reforestation; we need a healthy environment and conservation of our forests to make our boards.” 

Fifth & Cherry cutting boards are a cleaner, better-for-you kitchen tool

Sure, plenty of wood cutting boards look alike. But if you’re looking for the cleanest, healthiest board for your kitchen, you’re going to want to rethink your go-to cutting surface. 

What, exactly, makes a “cleaner” cutting board? “When you’re cutting on plastic boards, it always ends up looking like a murder scene with stains. That’s bacteria,” Tanya explains. “People think plastic is antibacterial, but even dishwashers can’t get plastic fully clean. Water, meat juice and other liquids get trapped and can’t dry or be cleaned completely.”

Wood doesn’t face these same issues. “There have been studies done that show on a wood cutting surface, bacteria will start to die in about three minutes,” says Tanya. Plus, there’s another danger hiding in your cutting boards. “Cutting on plastic leads to microplastics getting into your food with every cut.”

That’s right: With each swipe of your knife on a plastic board, you’re running the risk of consuming plastic particles. 

“Our boards are end grain, not long grain like most wood cutting boards, to enhance their antibacterial nature,” Tanya points out. “As you use a long grain board again and again, your knife goes back into those same cuts and creates deep grooves. The more you use it, the deeper the grooves become. With an end grain board, deep knife grooves can be prevented; the fibers separate and come back together. It’s self-healing.”

Of course, knife grooves and marks do happen. But when you’re hoping to limit both your risk of cross-contamination, illnesses caused by food-borne bacteria or mold, and your plastic consumption, an end-grain board is the cleaner choice.

Once you try one of these heirloom-quality cutting boards, you’ll never go back to plastic again

What’s it like to work with one of these boards? I tested a Fifth & Cherry board, and you can feel the difference as you lift it onto your countertop. It’s weighty and won’t budge while you work, even without feet or grips underneath. Unlike my usual go-to paper composite boards, knife marks didn’t appear after the first use – a testament to that unique end-grain construction. 

As an added bonus, these cutting boards are sleek and beautiful, a piece you’ll want to display in your kitchen. And, best of all, it’s super easy to care for with nothing but soap and water. I know this board will become as essential in my home kitchen as my favorite cast iron Dutch oven; it just might be the only board I need. It’s already inspired me to clear out my old cutting board rack and lose those very-much-marred boards. 

Whether you’re searching for something special for your kitchen, a cleaner cutting board or a product that’s built to last, a Fifth & Cherry cutting board can completely change the way you approach your cutting surfaces. It’s a stunner on your countertop and your dining table, a showpiece for dessert platters and a plastics- and bacteria-free surface for everything from meat to fresh produce.