How to Care & Maintain Borough Kitchen Wood Fibre Boards
Our Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards are best-sellers for a reason. Made in England from natural recycled wood fibre (Richlite), they are true workhorses, made to be used multiple times a day while being kind to knife blades. Unlike plastic boards, which incur deep knife grooves when used, our Borough Kitchen boards only incur surface level knife marks, making them far more hygienic. You can use them in the dishwasher or wash them by hand. The material is heat-safe up to 167°C, so you can place hot pans on these boards when needed and use them as trivets. Ultra-durable, they are built to last decades of use.
Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards combine the hygiene and knife-friendliness of wooden boards, but are significantly easier to clean and maintain. (That's why we use them in our London cook school – where they've been used in classes and cleaned in the dishwasher for years.) However, they are still derived from natural wood fibre – therefore, they require some care and maintenance to prevent the surfaces from drying.
Why Do Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards Fade?
Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards are dishwasher-safe. However, harsh detergents, prolonged contact with water, and heavy-drying heat treatment will put the chopping boards through more stress than hand-washing. (This is true of any dishwasher-safe product.) So in order to keep boards looking fresh and to extend durability, they must be occasionally rubbed with wood butter or cutting board mineral oil – as you would for any other wood product – to prevent excess dryness. There are no hard and fast rules for how often this needs to be done – just whenever the board looks dull or faded.
Note that when a Borough Kitchen Chopping Board is excessively dry, the material might flake off, so it is important to treat the board with oil if it is looking dull.
Note that when a Borough Kitchen Chopping Board is excessively dry, the material might flake off, so it is important to treat the board with oil if it is looking dull.
A Borough Kitchen Chopping Board after standard wear-and-tear, with fading and surface-level knife marks.
Surface-Level Knife Marks vs. Deep Knife Grooves
Each cut will make a tiny mark on the board – because this material is made of natural wood fibre, after all. However, they are surface-level cuts, given the durability of Richlite. Knife cuts on plastic boards go much deeper into the material, where bacteria can become difficult to remove even in the dishwasher. We love how our Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards are more hygienic in comparison.
The more aggressive a blade, the more they cut into any wooden board. Bread knives and meat cleavers can leave deeper marks than standard kitchen knives, so it's best to use these with a little more care. (Please note that all well-used wooden boards and butchers’ blocks typically have knife marks on their surfaces.) If you would like to level these marks, rub the area down with fine-grit sandpaper to smooth the surface.
How to Restore a Borough Kitchen Chopping Board
If your Borough Kitchen Chopping Board is looking dull and chalky, and you'd like to restore it to a better condition, follow these instructions:
- Use fine-grit sandpaper to reduce the appearance of surface-level marks. (You can skip this step if the knife marks don't bother you and you simply want to reduce a faded appearance.)
- Rub a layer of food-safe mineral oil on both sides of the chopping board.
- Leave the oiled board to dry for a couple of hours, in a place where both sides are exposed to air (e.g. on a dish rack). The faded, chalky appearance will disappear, making the knife marks less noticeable.
Do Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards Shed Microplastics?
Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards are made from Richlite, which is made of compressed paper and thermoset resin that is crosslinked during manufacturing. This structure does not soften, dissolve, or shed plastic fragments, even under heat, water exposure, or mechanical stress. Richlite is 100% food-safe and meets the strict health and safety standards of professional kitchens. The material has been independently tested in the US and in France, and recent testing reconfirms it does not release microplastics. (Richlite has shared this information here.)
How Do Borough Kitchen Boards Compare to Other Chopping Boards?
The reason our Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards are popular is because they combine the hygiene and knife-friendliness of wooden boards, but are much easier to clean and maintain. They take up less space and are easy to manoeuvre around the kitchen.
'All the chopping boards in our shop are kind to knife blades. It's just a question of the effort you’re willing to put into maintenance,’ says our Islington Store Manager Joe. ‘If you want ease of care and no risk of ingesting microplastics, go for a Borough Kitchen Chopping Board. If you want something a little easier on your knife blades and without plastic – and don't mind upkeep – go with our traditional olive ash, end-grain, or oak chopping boards. Ultimately, Borough Kitchen Chopping Boards are the easiest to care for, which is why they are so popular.'
