A good cutting board is an essential kitchen tool that provides a layer of protection between your knife and your countertop. But the best cutting boards do more than just protect your counters during food prep—they provide a stable surface when you’re vigorously chopping, and a relatively soft surface with enough give not to dull the blades on your kitchen knives . These are attributes you can get to different degrees with plastic, wood, and rubber boards, and after testing more than 20, these are the five we recommend. The best wood cutting board: John Boos Maple R-Board A budget Boos board: John Boos Chop-N-Slice A splurge-worthy upgrade: Boardsmith Maple End-Grain Cutting Board An easy-to-sanitize rubber board: Yoshihiro Hi-Soft High Best plastic cutting board: Oxo Good Grips Plastic Utility Cutting Board New in this update: Our former top pick from Material, the (Re)Grippy Board, has been discontinued, so we have a new top pick for best plastic cutting board: Oxo Good Grips Plastic Utility Cutting Board…