TruBamboo Bermuda Collection 2-Tone Cutting Board with Built-In Ceramic Knife Sharpener and Dual Ha

I am a serious gourmet cook who has used just about every type of cutting board on the market, and as far as bamboo goes, TruBamboo is the best. In the more pretentious days of my youth, I tended to use those massive, block style cutting boards almost exclusively (the kind with the cut grain of the wood facing up that cost about a year's salary), because if performance is all you care about, they are really hard to beat. Later, however, I realized that if you are NOT a chef in a large restaraunt who will be using them all day long and who has plenty of underlings to lug them down to your industrial-sized sink and clean them up at the end of the night, they're really not worth the trouble. So, when I was tired of expending as much effort cleaning my cutting boards as preparing my food, I started turning to lighter, more reasonably sized versions for daily use.

It didn't take long, however, for me to realize that the majority of those lighter boards were pretty flimsy and short-lived. Yes, they were easier to clean and store, but with daily use, they never lasted longer than a year before they started to crack and warp. And they would start to look "washed-out" and unattractive long, long before that happened--really within the first month. I experienced this phenomenon with every slab wood cutting board (bamboo or otherwise) I have ever owned, and I really did not think there was a way around it until I bought some Tru Bamboo boards.

I had my first set for five years with absolutely no splitting, cracking, or warping. They are strong, attractive, water-resistant, and durable, and with proper oiling even manage to resist fading. When my first set was carted off by my brother after an extended house visit, I wanted to buy some more, but didn't want to spend $45 at the TruBamboo website. So I was thrilled to find them here on Amazon for so much less. I am sure they will last me for years to come.

One note of caution, though. If you want to get years of use out of these boards, you MUST follow the manufacturer's directions for priming them before use. This is basically just the application of a food-grade mineral oil (you can get it at the drugstore for a dollar or two) to the boards every day for a week. The oil soaks into the boards, improves the texture, and makes them much more durable. And before you ask, yes, I have tried this process with cheaper bamboo cutting boards, and it just doesn't give the same results. Maybe it has something to do with TruBamboo's curing process. Whatever, it is, it works!