Color-Coded Cutting Boards - A good idea with practical problems...

Color-coded cutting boards are out there in various incarnations, and they're certainly not a bad idea: use one color/logo (or in those pictured at left, both) per type of food that you don't want to mingle. Keeping your raw fish separate from your fresh veggies is a worthy goal! However, I've always found that in actual use, these boards just don't serve their purpose. And here's why: I don't know anyone who has enough cutting boards to be able to play by the color-coding rules all the time. It invariably ends up that, oh well, turns out you need to use the "fish-coded" board for chicken, and so it just happens in the craziness of the kitchen. And once that rule is broken, even once, it's tough to ever trust it again; it's back to good ol' memory (and looking at what appears to have been on a board) to determine whether it's good to use. Oh well...