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The best large plastic cutting board for most home cooks is the Winco Statik Board Cutting Board 15" x 20" x ½". A food-service stalwart, this utilitarian board is about ½ inch thick, so it didn’t flex during use and didn’t warp even after 50 washes. Best of all, it sat ultrasecurely on the counter, thanks to its moderate weight and the four rubberized feet that helped stabilize it. If portability is your greatest priority, or if you really want a board that has a trench on one side, we also recommend the OXO Good Grips Carving and Cutting Board. Weighing just over 3 pounds, it was the lightest board we tested, making it especially easy to move and clean, and its two rubberized strips helped keep it relatively stable on the countertop. While this thin board didn’t warp, it did bounce a bit, especially when we cleaved chicken parts and pounded cutlets.
Don’t want a plastic cutting board? We have a review of large wood and bamboo boards to help you pick an alternative—our favorite is the Teakhaus Edge Grain Cutting Board (XL).
Looking for something smaller? Check out our reviews of small cutting boards and bar boards.
Plastic cutting boards don’t get no respect. Sure, they’re not as beautiful as their wood and bamboo counterparts, and they aren’t designed to last forever—nobody buys one expecting to hand it down to their grandchildren. But these utilitarian boards have their own advantages. Unlike wood and bamboo cutting boards, plastic boards require no maintenance. They stain and retain odors less readily, and they’re thin and relatively lightweight, so they’re much easier to maneuver and clean by hand than heavy wood cutting boards. What’s more, they can be thrown in the dishwasher, a boon for cooks who worry about hygiene when working with meat or poultry. And best of all, they’re comparatively inexpensive, making them accessible to most cooks and easy to replace in the event that they crack or warp.
To see how the boards stood up to abuse, we used a cleaver to chop nearly 10 pounds of chicken parts on each model.
What Size Cutting Board Should I Get?
We think the best size for any all-purpose cutting board is at least 20 inches long and 15 inches wide, the size of the boards covered in this review. This size gives you room to do everything from slicing large bunches of Swiss chard to breaking down whole chickens without feeling cramped. In general, we recommend getting the largest cutting board that fits on your counter and in your sink, as large cutting boards give you plenty of space to let you both prep food and store it neatly as you go. All the boards we tested are reversible, too, letting you get more use out of your board before you wash it, if you prefer.
That said, if you’re short on space or prefer a board that can fit in your dishwasher more easily, you might be better off with a small cutting board. And if you want a tiny board for even smaller tasks—cutting up a piece of fruit or cheese—check out our review of bar boards.
What to Look For
- Thick Boards of Moderate Weight: The thicker the cutting board, the more likely it is to resist the warping that can occur if your board is exposed to higher temperatures for extended periods, such as those they’ll encounter in the dishwasher. We generally preferred boards that were at least half an inch thick, as they proved the most durable, resisting warping even after 50 washes. Thicker boards are usually heavier, which is mostly an asset, too, since the heavier the cutting board, the more likely it is to stay put as you chop or dice. (While we don’t mind using a gripper mat or a damp paper towel under a board to help keep it steady, we’d prefer not to use one if we don’t have to.) That said, the thickest, heaviest boards can be harder to maneuver and clean by hand. Boards weighing more than 6 pounds were deemed ungainly, requiring a bit too much effort to wrestle into a sink. We preferred boards with a moderate weight of about 4 to 5 pounds, or about a third of the weight of our favorite heavy-duty wood board.
- Rubber Grips: Weight alone isn’t enough to keep light plastic boards from moving. Rubber grips—feet, strips, or ridges that help anchor the board to the counter—are even more important, ensuring a much more stable surface. There are a few downsides to these grips, though. The grooves of most of the rubbery grips proved to be great hiding places for flecks of parsley or bits of onion, so we had to spend a little extra time extracting them. And the grips often took up some room on the board, cutting into the usable space. However, most users were willing to accept these minor trade-offs if it meant that their cutting boards stayed rooted to the counter.
Many of the cutting boards we came with had rubbery grips, which helped improve stability. Boards that lacked these grips, including the one at top right, were more likely to slip around on the counter.
What to Avoid
- Thin Boards: Measuring less than ½ inch thick, two of the three thinnest boards warped after just a few washes; the third became concave every time we put it under a stream of hot water, though it always returned to its natural flatness once it cooled down. Boards that warped were impossible to use securely, as they rocked and slid around. After her board warped during at-home use, one tester fumed, “My husband hates this board with the anger of a thousand suns.” Thin boards can also be more challenging to use. The thinnest board—essentially a glorified cutting mat set inside a hard plastic frame—was so flexible that it sometimes bounced a bit when we cut on it. The next-thinnest board was elevated on rubber feet; because its middle didn’t touch the counter, it also bounced slightly as we chopped, and it proved especially springy during vigorous tasks such as cleaving chicken parts or pounding cutlets.
The thinner the board, the more likely it was to warp (and frustrate users).
- Smooth Plastic Boards: Smooth plastic boards give you the most usable space to work on and are easy to clean. But with no rubbery grips, these boards skidded and spun occasionally when we pounded cutlets or cleaved chicken parts. If you’re committed to using a damp paper towel or gripper mat every time you use your cutting board, a smooth plastic board might work for you; we’d just prefer not to employ an extra tool if we don’t have to.
Other Considerations
- Type of Plastic: The boards we tested were made from different types (and blends) of plastic, but we didn’t notice any significant differences in performance or durability as a result of their material.
- Rulers: Some boards come with a ruler of sorts along the bottom edge, allowing for accurate measurements while chopping or making pastry. While some testers loved having this information handy, others thought that the raised numbers were hard to read or that they got in the way when they were chopping, limiting workspace.
- Juice Trenches: A few boards had sides with trenches around their perimeters to collect any water from wet vegetables or juices from a roast, theoretically allowing them to serve as carving boards as well as cutting boards. While many testers liked the versatility and the safeguard that these trenches provided, the trenches themselves didn’t actually hold all that much liquid—just 3 to 4 tablespoons—a fifth of the capacity of our favorite dedicated carving board. And those trenches collected debris, requiring some extra work during cleaning.
- Innovative Designs: One cutting board was actually a set: It came with several very thin boards that had to be placed inside a separate frame. While testers initially liked the idea that the mat could be replaced (an extra mat was included), the fact that there were two parts to scrub instead of just one made this set more trouble than it was worth, especially when we had to deep clean it after pounding and cleaving raw chicken.
One cutting board set had several thin boards that were meant to be used inside a plastic frame. Unfortunately, the set was more trouble than it was worth, with more parts that needed to be cleaned after every use.
- Transportation Loops: Several boards came with loops or holes cut out of their corners; some testers liked that these loops helped them get a better grip on the boards while transporting or cleaning, but others thought that the loops and holes subtracted from usable workspace.
How We Tested
The Tests
- Mince parsley
- Dice onion
- Slice crusty loaf of bread
- Pound chicken breasts into cutlets
- Cleave chicken parts
- Smear with chipotle chiles in adobo sauce and leave overnight
- Wash by hand and in dishwasher for total of 50 washes
- Send 2 copies of each board home with different users
How We Rated:
- Ease of Use: We evaluated how easy the boards were to lift, maneuver, and clean; we also assessed how pleasant they were to cut on.
- Stability: We evaluated the boards on how securely they sat on the counter.
- Durability: We rated the boards on how well they resisted scarring, staining, and warping.
