This is an excellent cutting board. It's nice to have a large board with a juice groove that is dishwasher safe. I prefer wood for cutting non-bacterial stuff like produce, but this is perfect for things like poultry. I also used it to carve a rotisserre chicken, and was quite pleased. The one minor flaw is that I have a granite countertop, and unless I place a towel underneath it slides a little if I'm doing some serious chopping. But as it's meant to be usable on two sides, I don't mind very much.
The board is very light for its size and appears to be quite durable. And it's easy to clean.
But it has a very hard feel--more like cutting on glass or granite than on a traditional wood or plastic board. If you do any chopping, it sounds like machine gun fire. And if you do slicing/rocking with a curved chef's knife, it's still has a pretty harsh feel. I still haven't used it long enough to judge whether it really doesn't dull knives any faster than wood--but I have doubts, given how it feels.
Also, out of the box it had a horrible smell--like a wet dog wearing a wet wool sweater. But after a run through the dishwasher, it went away. Not sure if it will ever reappear (tho I note that Cook's Illustrated described the device as having a bad, lasting odor).
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I've had this slate w/ black juice groove board in the 13 x 18 size for 2 years now. It is our only cutting board and we use it for cutting meat, veggies, and bread. Really, it had only the faintest of cutting marks on it up until a month or so ago. It was at that time a month ago that I started using a heavy meat cleaver to hack through turkey necks for our dogs' raw diet. Yes, it's showing considerable marks from hacking apart over 50 pounds of turkey necks with that meat cleaver, as you might have guessed.
It has no stains on it, though I suppose we don't really cut anything on it that would stain it, but I thought it worth mentioning that it hasn't discolored at all. It is a bit of a hassle to store it in our cupboards so we leave it out all the time, propped up on our counter. When we first got it I washed it a few times in the dishwasher but it does take up quite a bit of space so now we just give it a quick wash in the sink, easy breezy.
It still is a handsome cutting board even with those meat cleaver hacks and we'll continue to use it.
**UPDATE** Well, when I used the meat cleaver to cut apart 50 lbs of turkey necks with this cutting board, it survived. The same can't be said when my husband helped me out by hacking apart 30 lbs of turkey necks for our dogs' raw diet... he can swing the cleaver a lot harder than I can to cut through a turkey neck in one swing. The cutting board has met its end, the top layer has been chopped and marked up enough that it has peeled up, revealing a composite-type material underneath the pretty exterior. We'll continue to use this cutting board for raw turkey necks but we had to get a new cutting board for other tasks. So, to make a long story short, don't bring a meat cleaver down hard repeatedly upon this Epicurean cutting board. Yes, we should have known better. :)
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Sharp looking cutting board, especially for those with black or dark countertops. I bought two and leave them out. They look best when oiled occassionally. This size is too big for the dishwasher, but it gets washed after every use anyway.
The board is a bit slippery, so I put 4 silicome dot feet on the juice groove side. I normally use the flat side because it is easier to slide chopped food off into the pot that way.
The board is noisy when you chop.
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I've read other comments from the other Epicurean cutting surfaces reviewed here. Most give this product high praises...and a handfull do not.
I like it, so far (two weeks at the time of this writing)...haven't had issues with marks or gouges, or an odd odor or warping as experienced by some. My theory (at least with minimizing marks/gouges) is that you need to have sharp knives when cutting/chopping your food on this product. The knife is supposed to do all the work, with minimal effort on your part. If you work through your food with ease, you minimize your forcing through the food, and thus avoid digging into your board. Look for a professional knife sharpening service and have your knives sharpened on occasion.
Overall I liked this case. It is well made, easy to use and handy. My only complaint is I wish there were a little more space between each knife "pocket". You really need to be careful as larger (chef, etc) knifes end up being close to each other. And if you go to pull one out, you want to really watch what your doing or you could cut yourself on the knife next to it.
