Woodware

The tactile nature of wood is one of the many reasons why websites can in no way replicate the experience of being in a kitchen shop, feeling the unique warmth of beautiful wooden objects.

Olivewood is perhaps the most glamorous. It is a very hard, dense wood with a glossy finish and bold dark patterns in the rich grain. Olivewood makes an impact and is great for spoons, salad servers, bowls, cheese platters and pestle & mortars.

It's not so good for chopping boards, because it's hard on your knives and as it is cut from one piece of wood, it will tend to warp in larger sizes.

Traditional kitchen woodware in the UK is beech, which is an indigenous hardwood. In the US maple is more prevalent. Our wooden spoons and boards are mainly beech or maple, though we do have some attractive oak pieces, at the top end of the price spectrum.

Hevea is a much cheaper wood which looks similar to beech but is slightly softer and unlikely to be grown locally. Wooden trays and serving boards can be hevea, but they are often varnished, so don't use knives on them.

If you care about such things (which we do) you should be able to check that your woodware comes from sustainable sources. (This is quite hard in the case of olivewood, as it takes 200 years for an olive tree to grow.)

A word about chopping boards

Some people think wood is unclean and harbours germs (see Cookware Care). They therefore prefer to use plastic (nylon) or glass chopping boards. We don't sell either, because we hold very different views.

For a start nylon and glass will ruin your knives. Wood is a softer, kinder surface which will not blunt knives. Butchers blocks are traditionally made of wood for this reason. End grain boards (where the board is made up of squares of wood) are kindest to your knives. Edge grain (strips of wood) is next best.

If you truly won't be convinced about the hygiene safety of wood, then Top Gourmet boards are for you. They are made of compressed hardwood (a bit like MDF), which is lightweight, tough, durable, rigid and ... yes! ... dishwasherable. What's more, they come in two beautiful colours: natural (wood colour) and slate (er, black.) If you insist we might sell you a nylon board, but we'd really rather not.