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The Best Flexible Cutting Mats

Thin, lightweight plastic mats are easier to lift, wash, and store than conventional cutting boards. Does it matter which model you buy?

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Published Mar. 1, 2018. Appears in America's Test Kitchen TV Season 21: Bistro Classics at Home

The Best Flexible Cutting Mats
See Everything We Tested

What You Need To Know

A good-quality cutting board is essential. Our favorites are big, sturdy, and durable, but sometimes we like to supplement them with lighter-weight options. Enter flexible cutting mats. Lightweight and made from dishwasher-safe plastic, they can be easily tucked into the dishwasher after use—a convenience that we especially appreciate when working with messy raw proteins. They're also generally flexible enough to roll up like a newspaper and funnel ingredients directly into a skillet or bowl. We purchased eight, including products sold in packs of four or five and one that's sold individually, priced from about $2.00 to about $8.00 per mat. We put them through their paces with a slew of cutting and chopping tasks, evaluating how well they stood up to stains, odors, repeated knife strokes, and washing.

We Wanted Mats That Stay in Place

Flexible cutting mats are often double-sided, and they can be used directly on the counter or placed atop a larger cutting board. We tried them in each position. No matter how they're arranged, they're simply more prone to slipping than standard cutting boards. Some rocked back and forth or spun in circles, even when we used a damp paper towel to try to anchor them in place. Slick foods, such as halved onions and raw chicken, also sometimes slid on the mats. In this evaluation, the surfaces of the mats proved to be more important than their thickness or weight. Perfectly smooth mats tended to slip or skate around on the counter. The mats that felt most stable—both on the counter and atop a cutting board—had swirls, tiny raised dots, or grid patterns. If they were textured on only one side, we preferred to place that side on the counter for extra stability, but mats that were textured on both sides stayed put better and provided more traction for slick foods.

Are Bigger Mats Better?

We also preferred midsize mats. Some were so dinky that chicken pieces slid off as we pounded them and diced onion spilled onto the counter. But one mat was too big to be convenient; the extra space was useful for cutting, but at 18 by 24 inches, it was difficult to store and wouldn't fit in most dishwashers. The most versatile boards measured about 11 by 14 inches (the same as our winning small cutting board), making them big enough to contain all the food we were preparing but still compact enough to easily maneuver around the kitchen and put in the dishwasher.

The Best Mats Combine Strength and Flexibility

A handy benefit of flexible cutting mats is that you can bend them to funnel ingredients into bowls and cookware, so we used the mats to ferry chopped onions, carrots, celery, and broccoli around the kitchen after...

Everything We Tested

Good : 3 stars out of 3.Fair : 2 stars out of 3.Poor : 1 stars out of 3.
*All products reviewed by America’s Test Kitchen are independently chosen, researched, and reviewed by our editors. We buy products for testing at retail locations and do not accept unsolicited samples for testing. We list suggested sources for recommended products as a convenience to our readers but do not endorse specific retailers. When you choose to purchase our editorial recommendations from the links we provide, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices are subject to change.
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Reviews you can trust

Reviews you can trust

The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.

Kate Shannon

Kate Shannon

Kate is a deputy editor for ATK Reviews. She's a culinary school graduate and former line cook and cheesemonger.

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