Plastic, Maple or Bamboo: The Best Cutting Board Budget Picks

A cutting board takes more abuse than almost anything else in a kitchen. It gets knifed, soaked, scrubbed and, if it is plastic, put through the dishwasher night after night. Good news: the boards that do this job well are often the plain ones at the bottom of each maker’s range. In a restaurant kitchen, the boards on the line are simple slabs that get replaced when they wear out, not heirlooms.

This guide covers the entry tier only: the starter boards and sets from OXO, Farberware, John Boos, Epicurean, Totally Bamboo, KitchenAid, Gorilla Grip and Joseph Joseph. We do not quote prices, which change daily. Instead, each pick explains what you get, what you give up compared with the boards in our main best cutting board guide, and what the maker says about warranty and care.

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Quick verdict: the best cutting board budget pick

The table compares five standouts, one for each kind of buyer. All eight boards are reviewed in full below it.

Five budget cutting boards compared

Material, pieces and the maker’s warranty, as each Amazon listing states them.

Product images from Amazon. Warranty wording is taken from each Amazon listing or the maker; “Not stated” means we could not find it.

Our picks for the best cutting board budget buyers

These eight cover the ways people save on a cutting board: starter plastic sets from housewares makers, the smallest boards in two well-known wood and composite ranges, a bamboo trio, and two boards with a trick or two. Each pick ends with one honest reason to skip it.

How to judge value in a budget cutting board

A cutting board is a simple object, so value comes down to a few details. These are the ones a kitchen checks.

Material and care

Plastic and composite boards go in the dishwasher; wood and bamboo do not. That one fact decides a lot. If you want to sanitize a board after raw chicken without thinking about it, plastic or composite is the easier choice. If you want a board that is gentler on your knives and you do not mind oiling it, an entry maple board like the Boos is worth the extra care. Our plastic cutting board and wood cutting board guides go deeper on each.

More than one board

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service advises, “If possible, use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood,” in its cutting board guidance. That is why sets dominate this page: two or three cheap boards do more for food safety than one expensive one. For boards built around raw meat, see our cutting board for meat guide.

Size

Buy at least one board big enough for your biggest regular job. Small boards are cheap, but chopping a pile of onions on a board the size of a paperback means half of it ends up on the counter. If you only buy one, make it about 12 x 16 inches or larger.

Grip and grooves

A board that slides is a safety problem. Look for non-slip feet or a rubber edge, as on the OXO, KitchenAid, Gorilla Grip and Joseph Joseph boards. If a board has none, a damp towel underneath does the job. A juice groove matters for carving and juicy fruit, less for herbs and onions.

Warranty and lifespan

This is where entry boards differ most. Farberware states a limited lifetime warranty, Epicurean a one-year full warranty, John Boos a one-year guarantee against defects, and OXO’s Better Guarantee covers defects in material and workmanship. Several listings state none. Remember that plastic boards are meant to be replaced: FSIS says that once boards “become excessively worn or develop hard-to-clean grooves, replace them.” A cheap board you replace on time is a better deal than a costly one you keep too long.

What you give up compared with our top picks

The boards in our main guide add size, thickness and weight: big teak and maple boards that stay put on their own, end-grain blocks that are kindest of all to knife edges, and large carving boards with deep grooves. Entry boards are smaller and thinner, so they slide more, warp more easily if left wet, and wear out faster. What you keep is the job itself. A clean, steady, right-sized board does everything a home kitchen needs.

If you have good Japanese knives, a softer board is worth more than a cheaper one; our cutting board for Japanese knives guide covers rubber and hinoki options.

How we chose these eight boards

We started from each maker’s cutting board range and picked the entry board or set, then checked that each one was in stock on Amazon when we wrote this. Specifications, materials and warranty wording come from the makers’ Amazon listings and, for OXO’s guarantee, from OXO’s own site. We did not repeat any exact listing from our main cutting board guide or its sister pages. Two picks are a smaller size of a board those guides recommend, which we say in each write-up: the Epicurean Kitchen Series and the John Boos Chop-N-Slice. We limited Amazon-focused brands to one, Gorilla Grip. Food safety advice comes from USDA FSIS guidance and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s cutting board safety article. We searched the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall notices for these brands and found no cutting board recalls for them. We did not use these boards for this guide, and we do not quote prices, which change constantly.

Cheap cutting board questions, answered

What is the best cutting board on a budget?

For most kitchens, a plastic set like the OXO Good Grips 2-Piece or Farberware 3-Piece. You get more than one board for food safety, they go in the dishwasher, and you can replace them when they wear out without regret.

What is the best cutting board under 50 or under 100?

Prices move too often for us to quote, but every board on this page sits at the entry end of its maker’s range. Plastic sets are usually the least expensive; the John Boos maple board is usually the most expensive pick here. Check the current price through the links above.

Is a cheap cutting board safe?

Yes, if you clean it properly and replace it when it is deeply scored. FSIS says to wash boards with hot, soapy water after preparing each food item, and you can sanitize them with 1 tablespoon of unscented liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water. Use separate boards for raw meat and for produce.

Is plastic or wood better on a budget?

Plastic costs less and goes in the dishwasher, which makes it the easy choice for raw meat. Wood costs more and needs oiling, but it is gentler on knives and lasts for years. Many cooks keep one of each.

When should I replace a cutting board?

When the surface has deep grooves you cannot scrub clean. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension says worn boards “develop deep grooves that make cleaning difficult,” and that is the time to replace them.

Our final pick for a cutting board on a budget

Buy the OXO Good Grips 2-Piece set if you want two steady, dishwasher-safe boards for daily prep. Choose the Farberware 3-Piece for three plastic boards and the longest warranty, the John Boos Chop-N-Slice if you want real maple, and the Epicurean if you want a slim second board. For larger and premium boards, see our full best cutting board guide, and for the rest of the kit, our Mexican cooking tools guide. A good board is where every salsa starts; our salsa roja vs salsa verde guide explains the two.

And when you would rather someone else did the chopping, see Julia’s menu or call to order.