Writing about the ChopBox instantly makes me feel like I’m writing one of those old TV informercials, so bear with me. Launched on KickStarter yesterday, the ChopBox is cutting board that also is a scale, a kitchen timer, a knife sharpener, a sanitizer, and oh-by-the-way, it’s also waterproof and made from organic bamboo.
But wait! There’s more! There’s actually a second cutting board that slides out for an additional cutting surface.
The ChopBox campaign is only on its second day but has already raised nearly $300,000, blowing past (which almost feels like too tame a description here) its initial goal of $10,000.
Full disclosure: I backed it. And while yes, I’m a sucker for cool food tech equipment, this cutting board actually looks like it could be extremely useful.
In addition to the ChopBox being a shiny new cutting surface, its most handy feature to me is the built-in scale. Being able to chop and then measure out precise amounts of ingredients on the same surface is smart and a time saver. And since I’m a germaphobe and paranoid about making people sick from cooking, I’m also intrigued by the sanitizer because it uses a built-in ultra-violet light to disinfect the knife and boards. From the ChopBox campaign page:
Now you can place your knife in between the two cutting surfaces and activate the small but powerful 254nm UVC light to sanitize up to 3 knives at once AND both cutting surfaces at the same time! Just one minute of UVC light exposure is guaranteed to kill 99.99% of germs and bacteria.
I’m less enthused by the built-in timer as my house is lousy with Alexas that are far more convenient for that sort of thing. And I guess the knife sharpener might come in handy in a pinch, but I know that it’s best to get knives professionally sharpened.
The ChopBox uses USB-C to charge, which is supposed to last for thirty days.
The ChopBox is faring far better than the NutriScale, which we wrote about a couple years back. That cutting board + food scale combo never met its campaign goal. Of course, it also didn’t blast your knives with UV rays.
The ChopBox cost me $99 plus $20 for shipping, but that was the super-early-bird pricing. The “early-bird” next tier is $119 plus $20 for shipping. The campaign page says the retail price will be $199. FWIW, you can pick up a bamboo cutting board and scale on Amazon for $30. But again, no UV rays.
Even though I backed this project, I’ve written about enough crowdfunded hardware projects to know that things can easily go south for the fully funded ChopBox and that my high-tech cutting board may never actually make it to market (just ask the folks who backed Rite-Press). The ChopBox is made by the Yes Company which is “a remote team with designers, production, and engineers all over the world, including the US and Shenzhen.” Not exactly a household name, and they have a rather aggressive December 2019 ship time.
Hopefully I’ll have my ChopBox in time for the holidays, where I’ll be able to use it to slice, dice and even make julienne fries.
