So much of how we stock a kitchen ends up being about timing. When you are first moving in and someone hands you a few hand-me-downs, those items can often stick around longer than intended. I am so guilty of this - I have ladles I never use or semi-cracked strainers that I should just give up on. But the place with the most knick-knacks in my kitchen is cutting boards.

My cutting boards are like varying stages of my life: cheap plastic ones to get the job done; a tiny one that I bought once for a picnic; a wooden one I bought as a surfboard for my son's halloween costume (true story) that now I just use; and a really nice one from when we got married.

But of all the items in your kitchen, there are few we actually use more than the cutting board. So shouldn't we have a more purposeful collection that can work in any scenario? I went to Gotham Bar & Grill to sit down and chat about it with Chef and Owner Alfred Portale. When I had stopped in recently to try their new bar menu I was enamored with their cutting boards - and then someone informed me that he makes them. I can barely make it out of my house in the morning. So I knew I had to sit down with Alfred and get his take on how we should all be using out cutting boards.

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