Whether you're using your built-in cutting board for extra surface space (or for cutting veggies), you'll want to make sure it's been cleaned. Even though we just moved in, we could tell our wood cutting board has been around the block a few times. So we gave our friend a call (who happens to be a chef) to learn how to properly clean our built-in cutting board.
What You Need
Materials
Non-Chlorine disinfectant
Dish soap
Tools
Sandpaper
Instructions
1. If you can remove your built-in cutting board, take it outside and sand with sandpaper.
2. Once you've removed the top layer with sandpaper, rinse the cutting board with water.
3. Then grab your non-chlorine disinfectant. We didn't have one so we made a quick and easy recipe we found on eHow using Tea Tree Oil, dish soap, white vinegar and water. Spray the cutting board and let the mixture seep into the wood. We sprayed ours down a few times with the disinfectant while using a scouring pad in a circular motion. Once you've thoroughly cleaned the cutting board with disinfectant, rinse and let dry.
4. Give the cutting board a final sand, then wash down with dish soap and water.
5. After the cutting board is dry, it's ready to be put to use in the kitchen.
Additional Notes: We only had coarse sandpaper on hand but believe that a more fine grain sandpaper would have worked best on the final sanding step.
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(Images: Beth Zeigler)
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Do you think this would work well for smelly built in cutting boards? The one in our new place smells like a nasty combo of tuna and pickles! Gross!
Maybe once it's not so snowy outside, I may try this!
For any wood cutting board you will definitely want to finish with a fine sandpaper to tighten up the wood, and some food-safe mineral oil to season the wood and prevent splinters from popping up. That said, this particular cutting board looks to be a pretty low-grade plywood. You might consider replacing it if you want to use it for actual food prep, not just an extra surface where you can place things.
@Miss Upsetter - vinegar works as disinfectant and smell remover for wood. Spray it on and let it sit a while before wiping off with a scrub sponge.
The one thing that might bother me about a cutting board like this is the gap where the cutting board slides into the cabinet. I can see the potential for crumbs getting swept in there. I am imagining a little door sweep/gasket that would prevent crumbs from getting in there.
Huh. Mine is so gross I forgot I had one. Perhaps I'll follow these steps and then use a plastic cutting board on top...
I have one of these in my 1950s kitchen. I'm not sure who would use it or why anyone thinks it is OK. What are the chances that it has been cleaned properly every single time it has been used? Slim to none. So bacteria ridden food scraps are on the inside case of my cutting board, and sliding it in and out re-coats it with decades of filth. Not my idea of appetizing.
You can also condition the wood with olive oil and lemon juice.
Vinegar is excellent at killing smells and germs. If you use it outside it will also kill grass or weeds.
I don't have one, but really want one in my kitchen. Not to use as a cutting board, but as a nice instant counter top when you really need to put the pot of hot boiling water down, but the counter top is full of stuff.
Those thin flexible poly cutting board sheets you can get at BBB work great as prophylactics for any questionable surface (such as plywood). Added benefits are you can move the food easily, use colour-coded multiples to avoid cross-contamination, and the sheets can go in the dishwasher.
Thank god for this...I have been in my apartment for nearly 2 years and refuse to use the built in because it weirds me out...I'm off to clean it!!
http://www.abbeycatchat.com
Julia Child described using cut lemon and salt to scrub wood worksurfaces which I think is a perfect solution to de-stink AND de-germ. Plus, if you have an already squeezed lemon half from your meal prep anyway, it's recycling. I always try to remember to save mine until the end of prep to do this with.
Thanks for this! I'm moving into a duplex that was built in 1912 and the built-in cutting board looks really nasty. Don't know if I'll actually use it for food prep once it's clean, but at least it will look better!
Raven - take comfort! The bacteria on "decades worth of food scraps" could not have survived without a continuing supply of food. Since you haven't used the board for ages, those nasty germs succumbed long ago.
At the least, clean the board so it can exist as a pullout that doesn't look nasty and can provide some temporary extra space in a pinch.
this was a great find in my tiny chicago kitchen. it comes in handy for food prep. love it. i just used mrs. meyer's countertop spray on it--and i don't cut food directly on it.
good tips.
Home Depot carries fresh replacement boards. Toss the one with the dubious past and get a new one you can keep clean and sweet-smelling.
Wood has some natural antiseptic properties, so even very old ones should be nicely usable after being cleaned up.
My mom once bought a house because the kitchen had TWO built-in cutting boards. We did not put raw meat on the cutting boards, but used them all the time for supplemental work space, to would make sandwiches, cut vegetables, etc. on them.
When the kitchen was remodeled, I took one of the boards---it weighs a ton. By my calculations, the board construction must be around 80 years old. Hard rock maple.