Teak, olive, acacia or End Grain: which board you really need

Almost everyone picks a board by colour. That is understandable, because in a photo it is the only thing you can see.

But between a teak board and an olive wood one there are differences that do not show up in the photo and that you will notice every day: how much it weighs, how well it handles water, how hard it is on your knives and how much maintenance it will ask of you.

Let us get to it, wood by wood. At the end of each one we tell you which of our cutting boards suits each use. And we will start with the figure that surprises people most.

In short

• You cook every day and own good knives: end grain teak. The BALI, 44 × 30 cm is our best seller.
• You want it for serving and to look good on the table: olive wood. The CÓRCEGA, 39 cm for two, the ATENAS, 43 cm for four.
• You want solid wood at the lowest price: flat teak. The FORTALEZA, 39 × 25 cm, knowing it is less gentle on the edge.
• You want a statement piece for the island: live edge acacia, the ZANZIBAR, 55 × 35 cm.
• The rule that orders everything: the hardest wood is not the best board. Olive lasts forever but punishes the edge; teak gives just enough. We explain below.

The hardest wood does not make the best board

There is a scale for measuring the hardness of a wood, the Janka scale, which measures the force needed to press a steel ball into the surface. These are the numbers for our four options:

• Olive wood: around 2,700
• Acacia: between 1,430 and 2,300 depending on the species
• Teak: between 1,000 and 1,150

Olive wood is more than twice as hard as teak. And yet, for everyday chopping, teak makes the better board.

The reason is simple. The board and the knife are two surfaces meeting each other, and one of them has to give. If the board is very hard, the edge is what gives. An olive wood board will last you forever, but you will be reaching for the sharpening stone considerably more often.

Hold on to that idea, because it organises everything that comes next.

Teak: the one that handles water best

Teak has been used on ship decks for two hundred years, and not because it looks good. The wood contains natural oils and a substance called tectoquinone that make it highly resistant to moisture and fungi. It also has a closed pore, so it absorbs very little water.

In a kitchen that translates into the wood that moves least. Less swelling, less warping, fewer cracks.

Its medium hardness is what makes it comfortable to use: firm under the knife but yielding just enough not to dull it. Golden brown colour, straight and quiet grain.

This is your board if: you cook most days, you chop everything, and you want a board you wash, dry and find just the same in ten years.

In flat teak you have the FORTALEZA at 39 × 25 cm with a handle, which is our most affordable entry point, the MIAMI reversible at 40 × 28 cm with one grooved face and one flat, and the JAVA, which has a face with open channels designed for bread.

That said, being transparent about it: most of our customers do not stop at flat teak. They end up choosing teak in End Grain construction, which is more expensive but looks after the edge. We explain it a few sections down, because it is worth understanding before you decide.

Olive wood: the one that goes to the table

No two olive wood boards are alike. The olive tree grows twisted and slowly, and that history stays written in the grain: swirls of cream and dark brown that never repeat across two pieces.

It is the hardest of the four and the densest. It is also the most expensive, and there is a physical reason behind that: the olive is a small, gnarled tree, so each trunk yields few straight, large pieces. That is why olive wood boards tend to be smaller and sometimes have irregular shapes, with the natural edge of the tree.

That is its strength. An olive wood board with cheese and cured meat on it is a serving board that goes to the centre of the table, and no teak board competes there.

This is your board if: you want it for serving, for cheese boards, for weekend breakfasts and to have it on display. As an everyday chopping board it works, but you will feel the toll on the edge.

In olive wood we work with three sizes and each has its moment.

39 centimetres, for an aperitif for two or to keep permanently within reach on the worktop. The CÓRCEGA is the plain one, the CERDEÑA has a juice groove and the VALENCIA has a handle for carrying it to the table.

43 centimetres, the size that moves best. The ATENAS and the BUDAPEST, which is the same size with a groove. Enough to lay out a board for four without it looking cramped.

51 and 53 centimetres, the MALLORCA and the MÁLAGA, our large olive wood board with a handle, when the table is long or you want room to spare.

If you are going to serve juicy things, cheeses that sweat or cut fruit, take one with a groove. They are all together in our olive wood cutting boards.

Acacia: the one with the most presence

Acacia is a fast growing tree, which makes it easy to cultivate sustainably. Its hardness sits between teak and olive wood, and the colour is pale honey with visible grain.

With us acacia is not the entry level option, quite the opposite. We work it in two formats that are the most striking in the catalogue.

Live edge. The board keeps the irregular original outline of the trunk, untrimmed. Every piece has a different silhouette and these are the ones that most often go to the table because of how good they look. The BOMBAY at 40 × 30 cm is the 2.5 cm thick version, and the MALABAR and the ZANZIBAR go up to 5 cm, which is already the weight of a board that does not shift.

Butcher block. The end grain ones, DECCAN at 50 × 38 and MANDALAY at 46 × 46, at 6.5 and 7.5 cm thick. These are the most serious boards we sell.

If you are after several sizes at once, the KERALA set brings four boards with a vertical stand, which also solves upright drying without taking up worktop space.

One thing in exchange: acacia handles water less well than teak. It is not fragile, it is simply that it forgives you less if you leave it wet.

This is your board if: you want a piece with presence, something that gets noticed. It is not the option for tightening the budget.

End Grain: the one that looks after the edge

Here we change category. End Grain is not a wood, it is a way of building the board.

In a normal board the wood fibres lie flat, parallel to the cutting surface. The knife edge comes down, hits them side on, crushes them and wears itself out against them.

In an End Grain board the fibres stand upright, perpendicular to the surface. The edge does not collide: it slips between the fibres, which move aside and then close again. Hence the mosaic of small squares these boards have, which is literally the cross section of the wood blocks seen from their end.

Two things follow from that. Your knife stays sharp far longer. And the cut marks close up on their own, so the board ages much better.

What you pay for it: weight and price. An End Grain board is made by gluing dozens of wood blocks one by one, so it is more expensive, it is thick and it is heavy. It also asks for more oil and more often, because it has far more open fibre surface drinking it up.

This is your board if: you have good knives and you care about them continuing to cut. It is the only one of the four you buy for a technical reason rather than an aesthetic one.

Our teak End Grain boards go by size: the RIO at 30 × 20.5 cm if you are short on worktop, the BALI at 44 × 30 as the standard size, the SIDNEY at 58 × 38 for cooking seriously, and the BANGKOK at 50 × 35 × 5 cm, which is already a block.

There are two versions of BALI and SIDNEY, the standard and the PLUS. The difference is thickness: 3.2 cm against 3.8 cm. The PLUS weighs more and handles heavy work better. If in doubt, BALI PLUS is the sweet spot between size, thickness and price. You will find them all together in end grain cutting boards.

The four, at a glance

	Teak	Olive wood	Acacia	End Grain
Hardness (Janka)	1,000 to 1,150	~2,700	1,430 to 2,300	Depends on the wood
Water resistance	Very high	High	Medium	Medium
Treatment of the knife	Very good	Fair	Good	The best
Weight	Medium	High	Medium	Very high
Maintenance	The easiest	Easy	Needs fast drying	Needs the most oil
Price at Erreke	From 21.90 €	From 35.90 €	From 39.90 €	From 35.90 €
Look	Golden brown, straight grain	Wild, unique grain	Pale honey, live edge	Mosaic of squares
Best for	Everyday chopping	Presenting and serving	Being seen	Anyone who looks after their knives

Size and thickness, which matter more than they seem

A small board is uncomfortable and forces you to pile up what you have cut on top of it. For daily use, from around 39 by 25 centimetres you work comfortably, which is the size of the FORTALEZA and the JAVA. If you do a fair amount of meat or chop vegetables for several people, move up to the 44 × 30 of the BALI or the 58 × 38 of the SIDNEY.

Thickness is tied to stability. Below two centimetres the board moves more with humidity. Between two and three is the comfortable point. Above three and a half you are into block territory, with the stability of a brick and the weight to match.

And one check almost nobody does: measure the space where you are going to store it before you buy it. It is the silliest reason for a return there is. A SIDNEY at 58 centimetres does not fit in every cupboard.

Our recommendation based on how you cook

You cook every day and want a single board. The BALI in teak End Grain, 44 × 30 × 3.2 cm. It is the board we sell most of, and not by accident: the size is enough to work on without it taking over half the worktop, teak handles water better than anything else, and the End Grain construction keeps your knives sharp. If you want more thickness, the BALI PLUS is the same board at 3.8 cm.

You have little worktop or cook for one or two. The RIO at 30 × 20.5 cm. It is the smallest End Grain and the cheapest way into this type of board. It fits anywhere and weighs just little enough to move with one hand.

You cook seriously, do a lot of meat or chop for several people. The SIDNEY at 58 × 38 cm, which is our second best seller. It has handles and non slip feet, which at this size are not decorative. Measure the cupboard before you buy it.

You want one for chopping and one for presenting. BALI in teak for the work and CÓRCEGA in olive wood for the table. If you take them together, Build your board set works out cheaper.

You want the tightest price in solid wood. The FORTALEZA in teak, 39 × 25 cm with a handle. It is our most affordable entry point. Note that it is flat teak, not End Grain, so do not expect the same treatment of the edge.

You want a piece that gets noticed, for serving and for photos. Live edge acacia: the BOMBAY if you are going to move it, the ZANZIBAR at 55 × 35 × 5 cm if it stays put on the island.

If you are still not clear on how to look after a wooden board, start with the care guide: half an hour of reading that adds years to any of the four.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best wood for a cutting board? For everyday chopping, teak, because it combines good water resistance with a medium hardness that does not punish the edge. If you want a board for presenting, olive wood. If you have good knives, an End Grain.

Is a harder board better? Not necessarily. A very hard board like olive wood lasts longer, but it dulls knives sooner because the edge is what gives on every cut. For daily use a medium hardness usually pays off.

Why are olive wood boards more expensive and smaller? Because the olive is a small tree, slow growing and with a twisted trunk. Each tree yields few large, straight pieces, so the material is scarce and the boards tend to be smaller or irregularly shaped.

What is an End Grain board? It is a board built with the wood fibres running vertically, perpendicular to the cutting surface, instead of lying flat. The knife edge enters between the fibres instead of striking them, so it dulls far less and the cut marks close up on their own.

Is acacia good for a kitchen board? Yes. It is hard, it looks good and it has plenty of presence. Its only weak point against teak is that it handles humidity less well, so you have to dry it properly and stand it upright after every wash.

How thick should a cutting board be? Between two and two and a half centimetres for daily use. Below two centimetres the board moves more with changes in humidity and tends to warp.