Can You Cut Food Directly on Your Countertops?

 

As frustrating as washing the same two cutting boards over and over can be, you probably shouldn’t be cutting food directly on your kitchen countertops. 

Can You Cut Food Directly on Your Countertops?

Depending on the material used to create your countertops, cutting food directly on them could:

• Damage your countertops over time
• Damage your knives
• Present a health hazard

Even sintered stone kitchen countertops, which are built to be scratch-resistant and completely non-porous, shouldn’t have knives used on them because their hard surface will blunt your blades over time. 

However, we all know the threat of maybe, one day having a dull knife may not be enough to always keep you from cutting directly on your countertop when you’ve had a particularly long day. That’s why we’re going to discuss how cutting directly on countertops relates to different materials, allowing you to decide for yourself when, if ever, it is safe to cut on your countertop. 

Formica

In some cases, Formica can look really nice. Unfortunately, the ability to look like granite doesn’t mean you can treat it like granite. Formica countertops are made by fusing layers of plastic to particleboard. You should never expose these countertops to heat or knives because they will get seriously damaged the very first time you do it.  

Tile

Tile countertops are pretty sturdy. As long as they’re made with ceramic tiles, they can typically withstand some heat, but you have to be careful with the surrounding grout. With that said, tile is very prone to scratching because it’s only a 7 on the Mohs hardness scale, which is about the same as your average knife. Some coatings can be applied to increase the hardness of ceramic, but cutting on tile will leave scratches. There is also the risk of bacteria seeping into your tile depending on the coating applied.

Granite

Granite used to be the gold standard in kitchen countertops, but they’ve mostly gone out of style thanks to their excruciating weight and high maintenance requirements. Although granite is hard enough to withstand your average knife, it is naturally porous. Anything you cut on granite will seep into your countertops if there is any variation in the sealant. That is why cutting food directly on granite countertops or any other porous surface is considered a health hazard. 

Marble

Marble is very pretty, and it’s ideal for bakers who are constantly laminating dough or tempering chocolate. Otherwise, it isn’t a very practical choice. Marble only ranks at 2-3 on the Mohs hardness scale, making it very susceptible to heavy scratching. It’s also sensitive to heat and acids, so marble really isn’t something you want in a working kitchen outside of very specific circumstances. 

Quartz

Quartz countertops are manufactured from stone fragments sealed together with resin. They can look very cool and offer a good alternative to some natural stones, especially if you don’t want to worry about resealing your countertops every few months. Unfortunately, using resin as a binding material makes quartz more susceptible to heat and acids. These countertops have a similar hardness to granite, so cutting on them every once in a blue moon may not be the end of the world. However, doing so regularly will likely result in visible damage and blunted knives.

Sintered Stone

Of the materials listed, sintered stone is the hardest, typically ranking around 8 on the Mohs hardness scale. That means when it comes down to you cutting directly on the surface, your countertop is going to win almost every time. On the other hand, your knives will take a beating trying to cut against sintered stone. Sintered stone from Neolith is manufactured using a sped-up version of the natural metamorphic process. Through the use of extreme temperatures and pressure, Neolith ensures that there’s no need for resin. 

Ultimately, sintered stone offers the best of all worlds. The material is the hardest, non-porous, and highly heat resistant. It’s so strong that it can even be cut into super-thin sheets to avoid the costly weight reinforcements needed for natural stone. Even so, you really shouldn’t be cutting directly on them if you don’t want to sharpen your knives every day.