In my cooking classes, so many of you ask me about cutting boards. Wooden? Plastic? Glass? Are they dishwasher safe? Which one do you use for raw chicken? Read on and get your questions answered.

Wooden

Best for all your regular cutting and chopping. I have one big board that practically never leaves my counter. I chop onions, slice bread, crush garlic... mostly everything. To clean these, just wipe them down with a rag after every use. Then every couple of months, treat your board with a mineral oil meant for wood. I've gotten bottles at IKEA, Target, and Walmart on the cutting board aisle. They'll run you about five bucks a bottle, and treatment instructions are on the back of the bottle. Plus, wooden boards are really pretty and won't hurt your knives.

Plastic

Best for messy cutting jobs, especially raw meats. These can be washed in the dishwasher, so you don't have to worry about nasty chicken germs getting deep into cutting board pores. They're cheap, easy on your knives, and come in lots of pretty colors.

Glass

In my opinion, not good for much. They're not great for your knives, they're harder to store, and plastic and wood accomplish the same purposes with more ease. Just avoid them.

So my recommendation? A really big wooden board that you love that can stay on your counter and three or four plastic boards for meat and small tasks so that even if a couple are in the dishwasher, you still have one or two to use.