Tested by CONOR POPE

Wusthoff chopping board, €56.35

Highs: This large and very, very heavy chopping board is made with beech wood and has just two seams running through it which should reduce the warp factor. It is made by a well-known company which specialises in knives so they presumable know a thing or two about chopping. It is ridiculously sturdy and will hopefully last, if not a lifetime, at least a substantial part of one.

Lows: While it is a heavyweight option, it will certainly be too heavy for many wrists. A big kitchen is an absolute must for a product like this as without one, it will be almost impossible to store. It is undoubtedly a fine product and one which is ideal when jointing a chicken or chopping a mountain of vegetable but it is not the first board we'd pick for smaller jobs. It's pricey too.

Verdict: Heavyweight

Star rating: ***

Bunbury board, €99.99

Highs: This Irish-made, eco-friendly board undoubtedly costs a bonkers amount of money but it does have a couple of remarkable features you won't find anywhere else. It is beautifully made with very grainy oak, and sizeable, but is also slender and lightweight. The best thing about this is neither aesthetic nor practical, but the fact that it is a board with a back story. We got a picture of the Wicklow tree that was used to make it, as well as details of how and why the tree ended up as chopping board – it blew down in a storm four years ago. This would make for a fine – if odd – wedding present.

Lows: The only disadvantage is the price – it costs nearly twice as much as the next dearest option and is six times more expensive than the cheapest board we reviewed.

Verdict: Fantastic. Expensive, but fantastic.

Star rating: *****

Joseph Joseph Chop2Pot Folding chopping board, €21.95

Highs: This plastic board is the only one of the boards we tried that departed from the traditional model and in quite a novel way too, quite apart from its colour. It has two sturdy hinges which allow you to fold it into a funnel shape to aid with pouring of chopped food and it certainly works for small amounts. It is lightweight and very easy to store, very easy to wash and very popular – the store where we bought it told us it was flying off the shelves.

Lows: The fluorescent pink colour wasn't really to our taste even if we did choose it over a range of other equally fluorescent options. It is too small for many of the things we'd like to chop and we'd have concerns that it might just be a little too faddy. We reckoned the price was a little too high.

Verdict: Funky and faddy

Star rating: ***

Typhoon chopping board, €44

Highs: This company makes a range of kitchen equipment so it is no surprise it also makes chopping boards. It is a fine, sturdy product that the manufacturer has decided to put on little stilts to made it more non-slip.

Lows: The board is made with small pieces of wood which are glued together to form a chequerboard look with multiple seams. While in the short and medium term, this probably won't make any difference, we'd have concerns that the number of joints could make this more likely to warp or crack in the long term. The little legs might make it slightly more secure but it also makes it impossible to simply flip the board to continue chopping on a clean, dry surface. We also thought this price was a little on the steep side.

Verdict: Okay

Star rating: ***

Master Class Professional Non-slip chopping board, €16.95

Highs: This was the cheapest of the boards we tried. It is also surprisingly heavy given that it's made of plastic. It is compact and dishwasher safe and is less harsh on blades than many plastic boards on the market. It won't chip, crack or even stain, the makers promise us, backing it up with a five-year guarantee.

Lows: While the handles are described as a plus and do make it less likely to slip, we found that they took away from the surface chopping area.

Verdict: Excellent for everyday use

Star rating: ****