Cooking legend Prue Leith’s child-friendly kitchen gadget she designed 50 years ago and STILL uses daily
Cooking legend Prue Leith’s child-friendly kitchen gadget she designed 50 years ago and STILL uses daily
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DAME Prue Leith is known by most for her top-class cooking skills and honest judgement on Great British Bake Off. But many people might be unaware of her other secret talent - engineering design. It's a bespoke, rotating utensil organiser she designed herself, 50 years ago!. Prue said to viewers she "drew it all on a piece of paper" while on a family holiday. Once the brood had arrived home, she contacted a carpenter who was able to build it for her.
![[Prue Leith at the Mary Poppins Returns European premiere.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/marypoppins102_20181213120720075jpg-JS710656894.jpg?strip=all&w=702)
The rotating organiser is split into several levels, with wooden spoons, spatulas and other longer utensils at the top. The level below wraps around it, and is designed to act as a knife block, neatly tucking away the sharp kitchen accessories. On the third and fourth shelves below, Prue keeps her bottles of oils and spices - and there's plenty of room for them. When she needs something, she just gives the contraption a gentle push and it rotates to bring the item closer to her.
![[Prue Leith's bespoke lazy Susan spice rack.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Prue_leith_-vlcsnap-2025-02-01-12h57m02s313png-JS968339192.jpg?strip=all&w=540)
Surprisingly, nobody has been able to definitively trace the history behind the name 'lazy susan' - despite it being added to Webster's Dictionary in 1933. There are a few theories:. Prue explained that when she designed the organiser, her children were young - which posed a risk while she was working as a chef and frequently handling sharp knives. While designing her custom lazy susan, she made sure it could store away any sharp objects, to keep her children safe.
![[Prue Leith in her kitchen using a bespoke lazy Susan.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Prue_leith_-_vlcsnap-2025-02-01-12h57m37s811png-JS968339191.jpg?strip=all&w=540)
"It's brilliant because when the children were young I wanted the the knives out of their reach," Prue explained. And despite her children now being in their fifties, Prue's kept the custom gadget ever since. "I've had it for about 50 years now and it goes with me from house to house," she said. Viewers in the comments absolutely loved Prue's design. One person wrote: "It’s a Lazy Prue-san". While somebody else said: "She should start selling these!".
