Heirloom cutting boards of American black walnut and white oak — cut, joined, and cured by one pair of hands. From $125.
A cutting board is not a commodity but a canvas — the foundation upon which meals become memories.
In an era of mass production and disposable kitchenware, the soul of the kitchen has been hollowed out. Kokariki was born in a mountain workshop where the air smells of white oak and walnut shavings. What leaves it is an heirloom — a surface that will bear witness to decades of holiday feasts, weeknight dinners, and Sunday morning brunches.
Deep chocolate heartwood with smoke and honey in the figure. Dense enough for decades of knife work; dark enough to make even a Tuesday dinner look like a still life.
The wood of whiskey barrels and boat hulls. Its closed pores shrug off moisture, and its ray fleck catches the morning light like nothing else in the kitchen.
Each board is made by hand without the aid of a production line — just good old-fashioned American craftsmanship fused with Japanese joinery.
Every board begins as rough-sawn American hardwood, selected one plank at a time for grain, figure, and density. Most wood doesn’t make the cut.
Rough-sawn · hand-selectedJapanese joinery techniques passed down through generations — no metal fasteners to corrode or loosen over time. Wood holding wood.
Japanese joinery · zero hardwareEach board rests through a 14-day curing process before final finishing, so it arrives stable and stays that way. Patience is a material.
14-day cure · dimensional stabilityFood-safe oil and wax, burnished until the grain wakes up. Then the maker’s mark, burned in — a quiet, certain declaration of quality.
Food-safe finish · branded by hand
One long plank, ending in a halo. For the slow parade from kitchen to table.
A long, generous serving plank for bread, cheese, roast vegetables, and the full table spread.
The everyday board. End grain that closes behind the knife and keeps your edge honest.
Two inches of end grain that does not move when you do. The anchor of a serious kitchen.
An 18-inch round end-grain block for carving, prep, and a permanent place on the counter.
Three volumes, branded by use — fruit, alliums, meat — shelved like a well-used library.
Every Kokariki board is cut, joined, and finished by hand. Grain, figure, and tone vary from board to board, so yours may differ slightly from what’s pictured. What arrives is the only one of its kind — chosen from the tree, not from a mold.
Three 10 × 12 end-grain boards, each branded on the spine for its work — so last night’s garlic never haunts this morning’s peaches. Shelved upright, they read like volumes of a book your family will keep opening for decades.
A cutting board earns its keep the way weather happens — daily, without ceremony. Here is an ordinary week, met by one extraordinary surface.
Mise en place at 6:15, dinner by 7. Wiped dry in under a minute.
Chef’s Cutting BoardCarried whole to the table, crumbs and all. The halo hangs it up after.
Halo Serving BoardAn onion, three carrots, no hurry. End grain holds the knife line true.
The Allium BoardSeared, then rested right where it will be carved. Two inches don’t flinch.
Chef’s Chopping BlockWalnut makes even a Tuesday brie look like a still life. Friday, more so.
Halo Serving BoardWet greens, muddy beets. White oak shrugs off the moisture.
Chef’s Cutting Board · OakThe week ends where it began — everyone standing around the board.
Chef’s Chopping BlockA $30 board is a subscription. It scars, stains, warps, and lands in a drawer — then a landfill — every couple of years, taking your knife’s edge with it.
You will buy fifteen of them while one Kokariki is just getting good.
End grain that closes behind the knife. Joinery with nothing to loosen. A monthly minute of oil while the kettle boils. That is the entire arrangement.
Bought once. Argued over by grandchildren.
Satin-oiled and quiet, the grain still shy. It arrives wrapped in paper, smelling faintly of the workshop.
A deeper tone, a faint constellation of knife work, the low sheen of a thousand dinners. This is the board at its best — so far.
Someone else’s kitchen now. Same board, same joinery, better stories. This was always the plan.
Kokariki was born in a mountain workshop where the air smells of white oak and walnut shavings.
Founded on the belief that quality is worth waiting for, every board is made for the discerning home cook who wants quality over anything else. Rough-sawn American hardwood in; an heirloom out. Nothing in between but hands, steel, and time.
— Daniel and Hawkins · Founder & Master CraftsmanEach board rests through a two-week cure before finishing. It arrives stable, and it stays flat — season after season.
End-grain construction closes behind the knife, self-healing fine cut marks — kind to your edge, kinder to the board.
No metal fasteners to corrode or loosen. If a joint ever fails in normal use, we repair or replace it. Wood holding wood, for good.
“We stopped hiding the cutting board when guests come over. It lives on the counter now, like furniture.”M.H. · Seattle, WA · Chopping Block, Walnut
“A year of daily use and it still sits dead flat. My knives noticed before I did.”R.T. · Portland, OR · Cutting Board, White Oak
“Bought the Book of Boards for my parents’ anniversary. My mother sent a photo of it shelved like a library.”J.C. · Bend, OR · Book of Boards, Walnut
Anything else, write to the workshop directly — hello@kokariki.com
No — and that’s deliberate. Each board is handmade, so grain, figure, and tone vary from board to board. Yours may differ slightly from what’s pictured; what arrives is the only one of its kind.
Yes. The blade slips between the wood fibers instead of severing them, so the surface closes behind the knife and fine cut marks self-heal. Your edge stays sharper longer, and the board stays handsome.
About one minute a month. Rinse warm, wipe dry, stand it up — never the dishwasher, never a soak. A regular coat of board oil is part of proper care; if the wood is left to dry out, joints can open and the board can fail.
Most boards are ready to ship right away and leave the workshop quickly, wrapped in paper, never plastic. Free US shipping over $250.
It’s the rare gift that gets used daily and kept forever. Weddings, anniversaries, first houses. Add a note at checkout and we’ll include it, handwritten.
With normal use and proper care, we repair or replace it. There are no metal fasteners to corrode or loosen — wood holding wood — so this promise has been easy to keep. Damage from soaking, dishwashers, or never oiling the board is not covered.
New boards, restocks, and notes on wood. No noise — the workshop is too busy for that.
Choose the wood. Choose the size. The workshop takes it from there — fourteen days of patience included.
