Well, let's see. You need a small one to take out to the living room to cut cheese on while you listen to tunes.

The built-in one in the kitchen (about 12 inches wide) does OK for most jobs such as cutting bread. However, a second portable medium sized cutting board comes in handy on occasions.

Then there is the jumbo-sized turkey-specific unit with built-in studs and a small moat for juices. This one is only used at Thanksgiving dinner but is indispensable.

That's four.

Cutting boards should only be made with 'closed grain' woods. Maple is ideal. Oak, ash and other 'open grain' woods may be hard enough to stand up to knives, but the open cells collect fluids and debris and serve as breeding grounds for bacteria.

Please wash and disinfect cutting boards often. I have a 'squirt bottle' taken from a science lab, filled with 70% isopropyl alcohol. Note: not 'rubbing alcohol' which may contain lanolin or other additives. I spray the entire kitchen counter and wipe-off with paper towels once every day. Each time a cutting board is used for meat, raw or not, it is wiped clean from debris and disinfected with the same isopropyl alcohol.