The Little Store that Offers So Much More

Cutting Boards and More and its amazing woodworking story
By | June 09, 2021
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LEFT: Spoons RIGHT: A round end-grain cutting board featured at Cutting Boards and More in Sturgeon Bay. Photos by Leslie Gast

In these challenging of times, it’s not necessarily the size of the store in the fight that survives, but rather the amount of fight in a business that matters.

One such store sits on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Jefferson Street in Sturgeon Bay. The store with the blue awning is more than welcoming but, as the name implies, it is so much more.

Cutting Boards and More offers a collection of Door County products, a marketplace of sorts that owner Rose Miranda sums up as a place “where every day is a Fine Art Fair!”

But as the store name indicates, cutting boards carry a particular signifi cance. It is an outlet for some of the finest kitchen-related wood products in the country. Miranda is the marketing arm to her husband Richard Odea’s stunning wood products that have seamlessly blended into Richard Rose Culinary, a catchy moniker representing a marriage of the two names.

Odea’s handcrafted end-grain cutting boards, butcher block tables, serving trays, utensils and other custom pieces that he can fit into his busy schedule are the culmination of a passion that is rooted in three generations of woodworking.

“My grandfather worked at a wood and box company, and I followed my dad around,” said Odea, who mixed his budding woodworking skills with a passion for music. “I’m a drummer,” he added with a smile, proudly announcing his involvement with the Peninsula Symphonic Band.

But as he smiles at his wife, Odea tries to explain the path that has led the couple to the quaint little downtown store that is an outlet for his workshop, which is inside the Door County Economic Development Corp. Business Center on Sturgeon Bay’s West Side industrial park. That’s always away from Arizona, where Odea started his odyssey in 2002 by purchasing Ozark West.

“The previous owner had a relationship with Food Network,” he said. “The ‘foodie’ movement was just starting to develop, and our company couldn't have timed it any better,” he said. “Our solid cherry and walnut end-grain cutting boards were spotted at Dean and DeLuca's in New York City by a set designer/producer for Food Network. They were ‘fresh’ and very different from the status quo maple cutting boards that were being used. Under the lights of the studios set, the background of the Walnut End Grain made the food 'pop' on TV.”

Over the past 17 years Odea’s cutting boards have collectively appeared on over 14 Food Network and The Cooking Channel cooking shows. It has generated “fan mail” from the likes of Giada De Laurentiis and an order at the time of this interview that had Odea pressed to produce dozens of striking wooden spoons for an Emeril Lagasse event.

But as successful as Odea was as his Ozark West product rode the budding “foodie” wave, the recession of 2008 hit, and Odea realized for the first time how economic downturns can affect the food-related industry and those businesses reliant on it. Coming off divorce, Odea admits he struggled to get his business back off the ground.

“Business just wasn’t happening,” he admitted. But then, as fate would have it, Odea met Miranda. Both were living in Tucson, and during a trip to Wisconsin for an Odeafamily wedding, Richard Rose Culinary started to take form.

Food Network celebrity chef Guy Fieri working on a Richard Rose cutting board. Contributed board
Food Network celebrity chef Guy Fieri working on a Richard Rose cutting board. Contributed photo.

“She had the vision,” said Odea, motioning towards his wife. The couple relocated to Manitowoc, but Miranda saw the potential Door County offered in expanding the business beyond Odea’s restaurant- based clients. A retail shop could tap the county’s tourism draw and provide online business.

Her vision was right on, as Odea said the move has allowed us “to meet a lot of people and build relationships,” said Odea.

But Miranda’s vision for the Richard Rose brand has allowed the couple to withstand a second and possibly even more severe economic hardship when the pandemic hit the restaurant industry.

While Odea saw some of his custom restaurant orders dry up, the internet and the store helped fill the gap.

“We have three parts to the business,” said Miranda. As much as Odea’s work is the centerpiece to the Cutting Boards & More inventory, Miranda takes equal pride in the work of other Door County artisans. It provides shoppers a cross-section of the Peninsula’s diverse creative talents from pottery and photography as well as some of the county’s most well-known food brands.

Still, cutting boards are the signature item in the Richard Rose collection, and it took a question to best understand the importance of the end-grain technique.

“End-grain cutting boards are the finest wood surface to cut or chop on,” said Odea. “As your knife passes over the end grain, the knife does not sever the wood fiber and the end grain self-heals. Consequently, the boards show minimal cut marks and keep your knives sharper longer.”


Left: Rose Miranda and Richard Rose in front of their Cutting Boards and More store. Photo by Leslie Gast. Right: The end-grain cutting board with a griddle cover. Contributed photo.

Richard Rose also feature specialized cutting boards in the store and online for charcuterie bread, cheese, meat and pizza. A wide assortment of wooden utensils is also for sale. The pandemic has brought with it more in-house cooking and kitchen remodels. Custom island tops are one Odea’s particular favorites, and also proving popular is the classic butcher block table, which ranges from the top-end cherry to blends such as maple/cherry and red oak/walnut.

One of Odea’s most creative designs are the stovetop covers.

“We designed and created these covers more than 15 years ago,” Odea explains. “FoodNetwork requested a cover for Giada De Laurentiis’ kitchen stove made out of face grain maple. We took that idea and continued to develop the cover with end grain, front handles, side handles and juice grooves.”

The covers resemble the end-grain cutting boards and can be custom- made to cover the desired area of a gas stove.

Whether it’s the stunning custom work that accents a new kitchen or restaurant or a piece that sets off the work of a high-profile television chef, Odea seems as comfortable today sitting at the back of the Cutting Boards & More store.

Thanks to Miranda, the couple seems to have found the right formula to weather whatever comes their way.