Giants
Typical rectangle: about 25 × 16 in.
For generous counters, big carving jobs, and cooks who like room to spread out.
What we make, and how we make it
A good board earns
its place in your kitchen.
Beautiful hardwood. Thoughtful details. More hours at the bench than either brother cares to count.
A Misfit begins with a trip to find the right wood. Then come the cutting, recutting, glue-ups, carving, sanding and finishing—each step shaping a useful, one-of-a-kind companion for your Forever Kitchen.
That’s where the value lives: in the material, the work, and the little things that make dinner easier.
Meet your Misfit →
Selected by handMade in Montclair, NJBuilt for everyday cooking
01 / A family resemblance
Four families. Plenty of individuals.
Start with the space you have and the way you cook. Then meet the board whose character feels right. The three regular rectangular families share our broad, practical proportions; Mutts follow their own noses.
Workers
Typical rectangle: about 22 × 14 in.
Everyday prep partners, with room for the chopping and the ingredients waiting their turn.
Puppies
Typical rectangle: about 19 × 12 in.
A smaller footprint, with the same attention to the work that goes into it.
Mutts
Individual shapes, sizes and personalities
Unexpected outlines, mixed woods, and serving boards with a mind of their own.
Sizes above describe our typical rectangular designs. Every Misfit has its own measurements and features; check the individual board’s listing.
02 / There’s a reason for that shape
A little mathematics.
A lot of elbow room.
Our regular rectangular designs take their cue from the golden ratio—approximately 1.618 across to 1 front-to-back. It’s a proportion associated with patterns in nature, and we like the way it feels on a kitchen counter.
The broad working area gives you room to prep on one side, gather ingredients on the other, and lay out a roast without everything getting crowded.
Our standard rectangular build starts at two inches thick: a substantial base for everyday work, with material to carve the underside tray channels on equipped boards.
Kaycee has a theory. Jaycee has a folding ruler. Eventually, they agree.
A design principle, not a promise that every board is identical
The golden ratio guides our proportions; final dimensions vary with the wood and the individual design. Some older boards, round pizza boards, and smaller serving pieces have different thicknesses or proportions. Their listings give the exact measurements.
Some boards take a different route
And then there’s pizza night.
A round pizza board has a different job from a thick carving board. A lower profile makes sense at the table, while a generous circle gives the slices room to gather.
Mutts bring the same freedom to serving: mixed patterns, unexpected outlines, and proportions chosen for the job. The care stays the same, even when the shape wanders.
03 / The work starts before the workshop
Good wood doesn’t
find itself.
We travel to rural Pennsylvania and upstate New York to select maple, cherry and walnut in person. There are hours in the looking, the choosing, the loading—and the drive back to Montclair.
We study the grain, color and condition with a finished board in mind. Some pieces belong together. Some need a different plan. Jaycee usually sees it first.
Choosing regional hardwoods lets us stay close to the material and make those decisions ourselves. The first act of craftsmanship happens at the lumber pile.
Three woods we know and love
Maple. Cherry. Walnut.
We choose these hardwoods for their combination of working character, durability, and beautiful grain. Quality begins with the individual piece we select and continues through every cut and glue joint.
Maple
Pale, bright, and hard-wearing. Its fine grain gives a clean look, whether it stands alone or adds a little light to a mixed-wood pattern.
Cherry
Warm reddish tones and a gentler visual rhythm. We love the way cherry brings warmth to the counter and develops a richer color with time.
Walnut
Deep brown tones, lively figure, and plenty of character. Its darker grain makes a striking working surface—and a handsome place to serve supper.
04 / A place for the good bits
A useful little
change of pan.
On tray-equipped boards, a shallow stainless-steel restaurant pan tucks beneath the working surface. Catch steak juices and carving drippings, collect scraps and trimmings, or sweep freshly chopped vegetables through the cutout into the pan below.
Slide the pan out when you need it. Carrots, onions and celery can go straight from prep to covered storage, ready for the next meal. The matching white flexible lids cover the small and medium pans for storing chopped fresh vegetables in the refrigerator.
They’re proper commercial kitchen pans, chosen for useful everyday work.
Tray sizes, materials and covers
Our trays are commercial restaurant pans made from 22-gauge, 300-series stainless steel. Rounded corners make scooping and pouring easier; the rim and anti-jam design help the pans stack and separate.
| Our size | Restaurant size | Approx. outside size |
|---|---|---|
| Small | ¼ pan | 10⅜ × 6⅜ × 1¼ in. |
| Medium | ⅓ pan | 12¾ × 6⅞ × 1¼ in. |
| Large | Full pan | 20¾ × 12¾ × 1¼ in. |
Small and medium are our most-used sizes. Each board is fitted for its specified pan; sizes are not interchangeable. Check the listing for tray size and included accessories.
The white, translucent flexible covers shown fit the small and medium pans for covered storage. They are not oven lids. Keep the wood board out of the dishwasher.
A precise fit beneath the surface
The clever bit
is underneath.
We use professional CNC carving to cut a precise T-slot into the underside of tray-equipped boards. The channel supports the pan’s rim, letting the tray slide into place beneath the cutout.
It’s a detail you might not notice at first. You will when you’re clearing chopped vegetables from the board.
Jaycee handles the carving and fit. Kaycee handles the clipboard. Both are very serious about the fit.
From drawing to cutting board
Considered from every angle.
Before the cutter meets the wood, we work out how the details fit together. These renderings of our CAD design reveal what a finished board keeps tucked away: room for your hands, a home for the tray, and a carefully shaped path for the juices.
Illustrative renderings based on our CAD design, with translucent surfaces revealing the hidden cuts. CNC precision sets the shape; careful fitting, sanding and hand-finishing complete it.
Different openings. Different jobs.
Room for the way you prep.
Some cutouts give ingredients a broad entrance. Others leave more uninterrupted board around a smaller opening. We choose the opening and tray together, keeping the working surface useful.
Let gravity lend a paw
The board stays level.
The groove does the work.
A standard juice groove helps contain drips. On our sloping-groove designs, the channel gets deeper as it approaches the front opening—from ⅛ inch at the back to ⅝ inch at the front.
That gradual fall gives juices a path toward the tray below. The work surface itself stays level.
Gravity: the one shop assistant who never asks for lunch.
Does every board have this groove?
No. Some boards have a uniform groove, some have the sloping design, and some leave the entire surface clear for prep. The individual listing tells you which features your Misfit has.
A good footing
Three ways to
put your feet up.
Rubber keeps the look quiet and practical. Stainless steel adds a crisp metallic finish. Brass brings a warmer accent.
Feet raise the board above the counter and help create clearance beneath it. Tray-equipped boards need feet; the available options depend on the board. On boards without a tray, feet can be optional.
Choose from the options offered on your board’s product page—we match them to the design.
Our signature cup handles
A proper place
for your paws.
Look underneath the side edges. Those sculpted cups are carved into the wood, giving your fingers room to get under the board when you lift and carry it.
We shape and hand-finish the recesses so they feel as considered as the top. The handles belong to the board itself, keeping the outline clean.
Some specialty shapes use a different underside grip. As always, the individual board has the last word.
05 / The long way is worth it
Cut. Glue. Cut again.
Turn the grain. Glue again.
End-grain construction takes patience. We begin by milling and arranging the wood, gluing it into a first assembly, and letting that glue-up cure. Then we crosscut it, turn the pieces so the ends of the fibers face upward, and build the final pattern.
Another careful glue-up. Another round of flattening. Then the shaping and finishing can begin.
The result is a substantial cutting surface with the wood’s end grain on show. It takes more material, more steps, and more time. We think you can see—and feel—why we bother.
Why arrange the wood this way?
Turning the grain puts the ends of the wood fibers at the working surface and reveals the patterns hidden inside the timber. Careful milling, sound glue joints and a flat final surface matter at every stage. We use Titebond III wood glue, allow the glue-ups to cure, and inspect the work before moving on.
Our main rectangular collection centers on end grain. Some individual Mutts use a different construction; their descriptions say so.
06 / Yes, still sanding
Sanding. Sanding.
A little more sanding.
Flat is only the beginning. We work through progressively finer abrasives, refine the edges, and give the grooves and handle cups their own attention.
Then we look again. Feel again. Sand the bit that isn’t quite there yet.
Kaycee asks if it’s finished.
Jaycee reaches for another piece of sandpaper.
07 / Ready for a Forever Kitchen
A proper bath.
A final buff. A fond farewell.
Each board is submerged in a bath of food-safe mineral oil. After it drains and the excess is wiped away, we hand-buff a beeswax finish to bring out the grain and help resist moisture.
Then come the final check, careful packing, and the journey to a kitchen where the real work begins.
A little regular oil and wax keeps that relationship going. These boards are made to be used, washed gently by hand, dried well, and loved.
See how to care for your board →