Silicone Cutting Board

This has got to be the most unusual cutting board in my arsenal. I've got wooden ones, plastic ones, flexible plastic ones, and one made of ... something like plastic, but isn't.

This is thick, flexible, sort of squishy/spongy. It's made from a textured, rubbery-feeling silicone, and sold by a company called Foodie's Kitchen.

I was skeptical. Wouldn't I be slicing and dicing it right along with my meat and vegetables? Hmmm? 

So, I tossed it in the dishwasher to make sure it was clean (I wash everything before I use it, even if it's securely packaged - don't you?) and then it landed on my kitchen counter. Cutting on it was interesting. Unlike cutting on a hard surface, there was no thunk or feeling that I'd bottomed out on the cutting surface. Instead, there was a soft, bouncy "give" and bounce-back when I hit the board.

Interesting. The silicone didn't get cut - I checked.

Now, I'm not saying that this think will never get cut. If you're whacking through frozen meat and you really hit the board hard, I'm guessing it will cut the board. Or if you're sawing like mad and keep going when you hit bottom, you'll probably gash the board. But that sort of knife-abuse shouldn't happen very often, right?

The real test of this is whether it's still usable after 6 months or a year. I'll reserve final judgement until then. For now, it seems like it could be useful in ways that my other boards aren't. For one thing, the flexibility means that I can bend the board to help me get food neatly into a pot or bowl. For another, it's very heat-resistant, so I can use it as a trivet. I could put it on top of a pot to cover it, if I didn't have a lid at hand, I could put it in the microwave - I'm not sure why I'd do that, but I could. I could put it in the oven. Again, I'm not sure why I would do that, but I could.

Unlike my wooden boards, it's dishwasher safe, which is important. Since it's flexible, I can bend it to make it fit a different way if I need to. Unlike my thin, bendy plastic boards, it's sturdy enough to not bend permanently. And the handle slips into the hole on the opposite edge, so you can keep it in a tubular shape, if that's something that's useful for you.

And since it's silicone and not a harder material, it grips my counter surface, so it's less likely to move around.

Who's it for: Everyone needs a decent cutting board. This is one option.

Pros: So far, it seems like a really good idea. It has measurements along the edges, if you need them.

Cons: Time will tell if it remains to be useful. But if I can't cut on it, I imagine it will still have use as a trivet.

Wishes: It seems that blue is the only color. It would be great if it was available in other colors to match decor or color-code uses, or just for the fun of it.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.